We now offer free webinars for family members: More information
After 5 years of running very successful face-to-face training for professionals and organisations, we now also offer online training through our webinars and Virtual Training Packages via Microsoft Teams. The latter can be tailored to your organisation’s specific requirements.
We are bringing the same uniquely informed, hard-hitting and impactful training, but the online format allows us to focus on particular issues. We have created a series of excellent new training films to use as part of our online training.
Autumn 2021 Webinars
28 September 2021 – Having Difficult Conversations with Families
13 October 2021 – Duty of Candour – Why Does It Matter to Families?
19 October 2021 – Working with Families after Suicide
9 November 2021 – Managing Risk, Keeping People Safe – Working with Families in Mental Health
24 November 2021 – Having Difficult Conversations with Families
8 December 2021 – Using Positive Family Engagement to Transform NHS Serious Incident Investigations
“Your speakers were fantastic; really down to earth and impactful. I came away from the session with some tangible, practical things that I can start to use in my practice immediately. The message you are sending is very powerful and “spot on” for the people who attend your webinars.”
Amy Stanley, Clinical Investigations Manager, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
For more details, see below.
“Having Difficult Conversations with Families“
Dates: Tuesday 28 September 2021 or Wednesday 24 November 2021
Time: 12.30pm – 2.00pm
Price: £60 (£50 per person for group bookings of 5 or more people from the same organisation)
Having difficult conversations can be very difficult and emotionally draining. How am I delivering the news, and how is the subject receiving the news? What sort of impact is it going to have on that person and that family? Also, what sort of impact is it having on me in the long run? (NHS consultant)
Staff frequently express concerns about how to have difficult conversations with families. They are often unsure how to have these conversations, lacking confidence and worrying about getting it wrong. This webinar explores what doing it well looks like, what it achieves, and examines the effects of doing it badly and well – giving you a “how-to” guide.
- Presenters: Jan Fowler (NHS Executive Director retired), Rosi Reed (Making Families Count) and Jan Sunman (Making Families Count).
- All participants will receive the programme in advance, a resources pack with supporting information after the webinar, and a certificate of attendance.
Learning Outcomes
- After the webinar, you will have developed your appreciation of why effective and empathetic communication is important to families following a serious incident.
- You will have improved your awareness of the issues which can make conversations with families difficult.
- You will understand the importance of considering and developing a self-awareness of your own triggers and feelings which may impact upon how you communicate with certain families and in certain situations.
- You will be able to develop a strategy for effectively planning, structuring and opening a difficult conversation.
- You will have developed your understanding of what can make conversations difficult for families, and the potential long-term adverse impact upon families when communications are not done well.
- This learning reinforces the guidelines of NHS “Learning from Deaths” guidance 2018.
“Duty of Candour – Why Does It Matter to Families?“
Date: Wednesday 13 October 2021
Time: 12.30pm – 2.00pm
Price: £60 (£50 per person for group bookings of 5 or more people from the same organisation)
Since 2014, Duty of Candour has been a statutory duty and should be used with patients and families when something has gone wrong which has caused or could lead to significant harm, but many staff are still unsure how and when to use it after a serious incident.
This webinar focuses on the importance of using Duty of Candour correctly, understanding when and how to use it, and the difference it can make to patients and families. Includes a “how and when” guide by an NHS professional, a positive family experience of DoC done well, and the use of a “gold standard” DoC letter.
- Presenters: Lucien Champion (Head of Investigations, NHS England South) and Jan Sunman (Making Families Count)
- All participants will receive the programme in advance, a resources pack with supporting information after the webinar, and a certificate of attendance.
Learning Outcomes
- You will have improved learning and greater confidence around the delivery of the Duty of Candour.
- You will have a greater understanding of how correct use of Duty of Candour can greatly affect patients and their families, following a serious incident or investigation.
- You will have a greater understanding of where patient confidentiality, legal frameworks and Duty of Candour sit in your organisation and how to meet the necessary criteria.
- You will have greater confidence in knowing when, why and how you are using Duty of Candour, leading to improved learning and identification of issues in incident management.
- You will have improved learning around the importance of a collaborative incident investigation process that is thoughtful, compassionate and supportive to families and staff.
- This learning reinforces the conclusions in the CQC (2016) report “Learning, Candour and Accountability” and the guidelines of NHS “Learning from Deaths” guidance 2018.
“Working with Families after Suicide“
Date: Tuesday 19 October 2021
Time: 12.30pm – 2.00pm
Price: £60 (£50 per person for group bookings of 5 or more people from the same organisation)
“The National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England identifies improving support for people bereaved by suicide as a key objective and the NHS Long Term Plan highlights the aim of ensuring adequate services for all people bereaved by suicide. Much of this support will be community-based, but NHS providers also have a responsibility to offer both support and signposting to families and carers of service users who die by suicide.” (NHS Nurse Consultant, Suicide Prevention)
Understanding and supporting those who have lost someone to suicide can be difficult and sensitive, given the complex nature of suicide and its impact on both family members and friends. This webinar will raise awareness of these complex issues with the aim of helping us to better support families through this difficult and tragic event. Staff often find it difficult to engage with families when there has been a suicide and worry about saying the wrong thing or causing further distress. This webinar seeks to explore those complex issues and explain how health and care staff can better support and manage a family through the acute phase of dealing with their loss. The webinar will also help organisations to understand the unique and alarming event called ‘contagion’ or ‘clusters’, which can sometimes occur.
- Presenters: Stephen Habgood (Director, Making Families Count) and Karen Lascelles (Nurse Consultant, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust)
- All participants will receive the programme in advance, a resources pack with supporting information after the webinar, and a certificate of attendance.
Learning Outcomes
- You will have an understanding of approaches NHS Trusts can take to supporting and signposting families and carers bereaved by the suicide of a service user.
- You will have an understanding of the impact working with people bereaved by suicide might have on staff.
- You will better understand the difficulties people experience coming to terms with a suicide and how this might increase their vulnerability to suicide and the reason why they need themselves to be supported.
- You will be familiar with the national position with regard to provision of support services for people bereaved by suicide.
- You will better appreciate how working with families is in the interest of someone with suicidal ideation and those who have been touched by suicide.
- You will gain an insight into the complex issue of contagion and clusters which can sometimes follow a suicide event.
“Managing Risk, Keeping People Safe – Working with Families in Mental Health“
Date: Tuesday 9 November 2021
Time: 12.30pm – 2.00pm
Price: £60 (£50 per person for group bookings of 5 or more people from the same organisation)
Families often report difficulties in raising safety concerns about relatives so that critical information is absent from risk management and treatment plans. The webinar will provide guidance about effective ways of ensuring that families’ safety concerns can be addressed, and improved safety in mental health care can be achieved.” (NHS Head of Investigations – Mental Health Homicides)
Effective risk management in the community relies on families being able to raise safety concerns about their relatives. This webinar explores what happens when critical information is absent from treatment plans and how to utilise families effectively as part of the care team.
- Presenters: Lucien Champion (Head of Investigations, Mental Health Homicides, NHS England South), Julian Hendy (Making Families Count and Hundred Families) and Len Hodkin (Making Families Count and Hundred Families)
- All participants will receive the programme in advance, a resources pack with supporting information after the webinar, and a certificate of attendance.
Learning Outcomes
- You will recognise the benefits of and challenges to effective engagement with the family in managing potential risks posed by an individual with serious mental health issues – to themselves, the family and others.
- You will have developed your understanding of the, sometimes critical, information that families can provide to inform a comprehensive risk management plan and the potential consequences when that information is not recognised or included.
- You will hear from families, first-hand, the potential consequence and impact when they are not ‘heard’ or enabled to engage with the mental healthcare team to keep their family member and others safe.
- You will have enhanced your skills of risk assessment and management.
- You will be be able to develop a strategy that effectively engages families and incorporates the risk factors they can provide, as one of the key pillars of an effective approach to managing risk and providing support.
“Using Positive Family Engagement to Transform NHS Serious Incident Investigations“
Date: Wednesday 8 December 2021
Time: 12.30pm – 2.00pm
Price: £60 (£50 per person for group bookings of 5 or more people from the same organisation)
In NHS Patient Safety Investigation, “families are often ‘managed’ rather than treated as central to the process, despite holding key evidence and information.” (NHSi 2018)
This webinar focuses on understanding the transformative difference positive family engagement can make to patients, their families and staff, when used correctly by healthcare providers, during and after investigations if a serious incident occurs. It gives you clear information on how to do this.
- Presenters: Jan Fowler (NHS Executive Director retired), Frank Mullane (CEO of AAFDA and member of Making Families Count) and Rosi Reed (Making Families Count).
- All participants will receive the programme in advance, a resources pack with supporting information after the webinar, and a certificate of attendance.
Learning Outcomes
- After the webinar, you will have an improved understanding of how to engage with patients and families in a positive way following a serious incident.
- You will have improved learning and identification of the issues around working with patients and families in incident management.
- You will have a more developed understanding of how and why a collaborative incident investigation, involving patients and families better, achieves a better investigation.
- You will be more confident in engaging in a process that is more thoughtful, compassionate and supportive towards families and other staff members.
- You will have a better understanding and more confidence having difficult conversations with families.
- This webinar enables healthcare organisations to develop a more time-efficient and cost-effective investigation process.
“Excellent use of real-life stories. Very powerful and emotive and made me think differently about how we engaged patients/families in investigations.”
Rachel Carter, Director of Patient Safety, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Refund Policy
You can find our refund policy here.
Guest Presenters
Karen Lascelles
Karen Lascelles has been a mental health nurse for 30 years, always with an interest in self-harm and suicide and has specialised in this area for the last 15 years. As a nurse consultant, she is involved in supporting colleagues with complex cases, working clinically with people experiencing suicidal crises and their carers, supporting families and carers who are bereaved by suicide and supporting staff after the death of a patient by suicide.
She is also involved in various research and quality improvement endeavours with the aim of increasing knowledge and improving suicide prevention practice. This includes her professional doctorate in which she is investigating the experiences and support needs of adults who care for an adult family member or friend they consider to be at risk of suicide.
In addition, Karen is involved in education and training around suicide risk assessment and management.