Sainsbury’s Inclusive Community Training "is very good"
A volunteer support worker has explained how participating in a Sainsbury’s Inclusive Community Training workshop has helped to significantly improve both her skillset and delivery.
Rachel Lane, formerly a Physical and Sport Education student at St Mary’s University in London, enjoyed her training opportunity in April.
“I wanted to do Sainsbury’s Inclusive Community Training because I already knew a little about an adapting a session, but not really that much. I’d had no real training on disability-specific adaptations,” Rachel told the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS).
“The purpose of the training from my perspective was to learn more about the Inclusion Spectrum and also develop skills and knowledge that I may not have known or even thought about before, when it came to delivering an inclusive session.”
Like Rachel, over 4,500 individuals have taken advantage of the training which is designed to improve the skills and confidence of those who support disabled people to be more active, and is a creative and informal development opportunity.
It is for those who support disabled people of all ages within the community, and have an opportunity to put the training into practice.
“As a support worker volunteer I do almost everything, from personal care to helping with residential trips,” said Rachel.
“I often have to adapt various activities, to make them more inclusive. For example, a young disabled girl I was supporting used a wheelchair and had severe cerebral palsy. So I had to tailor activities to suit her while not impacting too much on the group as a whole.
“So instead of all participating in a group mountain hike we hiked a shorter distance on level ground, rather than having to climb. That allowed students to all feel involved.”
Sainsbury’s Inclusive Community Training is three hours of informal, informative training from programme partners sports coach UK, complimented by online resources. Rachel’s workshop was arranged by the local County Sports Partnership, London Sport.
Over the last 18 months, EFDS has been documenting the positive experiences of many who have participated in workshops.
“Sainsbury’s Inclusive Community Training is very good – you learn more about inclusion in the context of sport and physical activity.
“It has already helped me to develop and plan inclusive sessions. It helped me think of including wider audiences and engaging them. I have developed the ability to keep participants engaged and motivated by adapting an activity to make everyone feel part of the group.”
