As we celebrate Scottish Learning Disablilty Week 2023 and consider the valuable contribution that people with learning disabilities make to our society, we want to celebrate our Cosgrove Champions, who truly embody this year’s theme of “Lead to Change”.
Cosgrove Champions were launched in 2021 with a small group of the people we support, with the aim of creating a platform for people to:
- speak up and have their say about the issues affecting their lives
- tell Cosgrove what they think
- be involved in consultation with Cosgrove on their views
- be involved in choosing staff and in the learning and development of staff via co-training
- communicating views to local councillors, MSPs, MPs
Cosgrove Champions was launched during the Covid pandemic and was particularly important during this time as a forum for people to get together virtually, when we couldn’t meet in person, and discuss the issues that mattered at this time.
There was also a valuable social focus to these meetings, with themed quizzes and parties to bring people together and prevent isolation during a challenging time.
Cosgrove Champions will continue to:
- raise awareness about the issues directly affecting the lives of people with learning disabilities
Views and recommendations are gathered and taken forward to inform change: for example the importance of meaningful involvement and representation within
the recruitment process, one of our main aims for 2023.
- discuss and develop creative ways to achieve true participation within the ethos and values of Cosgrove
For example greater inclusion within the induction and ongoing learning and development process for staff.
Our fantastic co-trainer Gael ensures staff have a genuine understanding of what a good life looks like and how it can be achieved.
This approach ensures Cosgrove’s support teams have a real sense of:
- how people want to be supported
- what is important to the people we support.
We look forward to achieving a lot together this year!