Supported Loving toolkit
Training organisations
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There are many organisations offering training covering all areas of relationships and sexual health for staff and the people they work with.
ARC England - Personal Relationships and Sexuality
ARC England provide a one-day workshop titled: ‘Personal Relationships and Sexuality and People with Learning Disabilities.’ The workshop is for people working in support services with adults with learning disabilities. The content takes a rights-based approach, exploring the area of sexuality and relationships, laying the ground for providing better support to individuals. The course is delivered through a range of discussions, case studies, and activities.
ARC England website
Location: in-person (South West)
Support needs: people with a learning disability and/or autism
Training audience: professionals
Email: contact.us@arcuk.org.uk
ARC England - Us Too
The ARC England Us Too training workshops are run by two women with learning disabilities, autism, with lived experience. The training centres around how to keep people with support needs safe from domestic abuse and bad relationships. They offer in-house training for social care staff, in-house training for women with learning disabilities, autism or both, as well as domestic abuse training for domestic abuse services.
ARC England website
Location: online and in-person (South West)
Support needs: people with a learning disability and/or autism
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Telephone: 01246 555043
Email: contact.us@arcuk.org.uk
Black Country Healthcare NHS
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provide specialist mental health, learning disability, and community healthcare services. Their team provide health promotion and have developed a course on sex and relationship education for adults with learning disabilities.
Black Country Healthcare website
Location: online and in-person (West Midlands)
Support needs: people with a learning disability
Training audience: people with supports needs
Telephone: Dawn Garbett 01215 434287
Email: dawn.garbett@nhs.net
CHANGE
CHANGE deliver their course ‘Exploring Sex and Relationships,’ to support both people with learning disabilities and organisations that want to become more accessible and inclusive for people with learning disabilities. Their training courses are co-delivered by experienced trainers with learning disabilities and can be delivered online, face-to-face or a combination of both. They can adapt each course to suit the audience’s needs.
CHANGE website
Location: online and in-person (Yorkshire and the Humber)
Support needs: people with a learning disability, autism, disability, and/or life-limiting condition
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Email: info@changepeople.org
Communication Genie
Communication Genie provide relationship and sex education training in group and 1:1 settings. The training is delivered by Alysa who is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist and Clinical Director of Communication Genie. Alysa specialises in working with adults with a learning disability and/or autism.
Communication Genie website
Location: online and in-person (London)
Support needs: people with a learning disability, autism, disability, and/or life-limiting condition
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Email: enquiries.communicationgenie@gmail.com
Cwmni Addysg Rhyw - Sex Education Company
Cwmni Addysg Rhyw - Sex education Company is a relationships and sex education social enterprise. They deliver needs-led relationship and sex educations projects and training for professionals. they deliver the ‘Masturbation, Autism and Learning Disabilities’ course for professionals and parents.
Cwmni Addysg Rhyw website
Location: online and in-person (North Wales)
Support needs: people with a learning disability, autism, disability, life-limiting condition, and/or mental health issues
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Telephone: Mel Gadd 01248 298904
Email: mel@sexeducationcompany.org
Healthy Respect
Healthy Respect is run by West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership. The team are committed to, and dependent upon, partnership working to deliver programmes of education, information and services to young people. They deliver online and in-person training to people with a learning disability about relationships and sex.
Healthy Respect website
Location: Online and in-person (Scotland)
Support needs: people with a learning disability
Training audience: professionals
Email: healthy.Respect@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Informing Choices NI
Informing Choices NI’s vision is a society where individuals have the right and freedom to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health. Their mission is to champion informed choices around sex, sexuality, reproductive health and emotional wellbeing through advocacy, counselling, education, information and training. They run relationship and sex programmes for individuals with a learning disability, autistic people, parents and professionals. They have a counselling service for pregnancy choices and post abortion and provide a sexual health helpline.
Informing Choices website
Location: online and in-person (Northern Ireland)
Support needs: people with a learning disability, autism, brain injury, disability, life-limiting condition and/or mental health issues
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Telephone: Deborah McGinn 07592 725948
Email: deborah.mcginn@informingchoicesni.org
Nottingham Sexual Health Service - Outreach and Health Promotion Team
NUH Sexual Health Outreach and Health Promotion Team work across Nottingham City and South Nottinghamshire (Broxtowe, Gedling & Rushcliffe) providing a range of relationship and sex education workshops to young people and vulnerable adults as well as providing a range of training courses for professionals and volunteers.
Location: online and in-person
Support needs: people with a learning disability
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs
Email: outreachandhealthpromotionteam@nuh.nhs.uk
Website: https://www.nuh.nhs.uk/sexual-health-services
Open Future Learning
Open Future Learning are 100% dedicated to the learning disability workforce. Their ‘Sexuality and Relationships’ course employs presentations and a conversational style to introduce learners to the topic of sexuality and relationships. Content of the course includes reflecting on own attitudes and practices, learning how to support and apply a sex education curriculum, and understanding how to support the sexuality of people with more significant disabilities.
Open Future Learning website
Location: Online
Support needs: People with a learning disability
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Email: hello@openfuturelearning.org
Kate E Reynolds ltd
Kate E Reynolds is the mother of two young people on the autistic spectrum. Her workshops and training focus on positive sexual health, attitudes, relationships and empowerment for professionals and people with support needs. Kate has a practical approach to supporting people to develop self-care, understand and reinforce boundaries and recognise different relationships.
Kate E Reynolds website
Location: online and in-person (South West)
Support needs: people with a learning disability and/or autism
Training audience: professionals, families
Email: kateelainereynolds@gmail.com
Kirklees Involvement Network - Cloverleaf Advocacy
Cloverleaf Advocacy group run local meetings and work closely with local organisations. Their project ‘The Happy Healthy Relationship Project’ delivers training to over 250 professionals and over 120 people with a learning disability about having and supporting positive relationships. Some of their training is survivor based and you can watch a film about their work on their YouTube channel.
Kirklees Involvement Network website
Location: online and in-person (Yorkshire and Humber)
Support needs: people with a learning disability and/or autism
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs
Email: sarah.roberts@cloverleaf-advocacy.co.uk
Lightly Consulting
I offer training around sex and relationships for young people and adults with learning disabilities and autistic people. I can work directly with people as well, in schools or adult services or on a 1:1 basis. I can also help with policy writing and organisational development around relationships and sex work.
Location: Online and in-person (London)
Support needs: people with a learning disability, autism, brain injury, disability, and/or life-limiting condition
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Email: clairewithwings@gmail.com
Living It Up
Living It Up is a charitable organisation that provides members with a performing arts centre, Gig Buddies project and gr8 mates project. The gig Buddies provides members with a gig Buddy to go out to events with and the Gr8Mates provides events and support to meet friends and partners.
Living It Up website
Location: online and in-person (South East)
Support needs: people with a learning disability and/or autism
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Email: livingitupinfo@gmail.com
Meet N Match - Spring into Action
Meet N Match work in partnership with key organisations in our area to offer friendships, sex and relationship training and online safety training to people with learning disabilities and/or autism, their support staff and professionals working in health and social care. They are also developing new courses on safe friendships and LGBTQ+ awareness. Where people require support, support staff and family members are encouraged to take part too. Their training courses are aimed at people with support needs and have been co-designed by their friendship and relationship ambassadors. They provide training to people with supports needs or organisations.
Meet N Match website
Location: online and in-person (North West)
Support needs: people with a learning disability and/or autism
Training audience: people with support needs
Email: info@meet-n-match.co.uk
Pathways Associates CIC
Pathways Associates Community Interest Company provide support, training, consultancy, and research.
Pathways website
Location: online and in-person (North West)
Support needs: people with a learning disability and/or autism
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Email: lynn.james-jenkinson@pathwaysassociates.co.uk
Queen Alexandra Community Services
Queen Alexandra Community Services provide training around young people with support needs and relationship and sex education. The training is delivered by a relationship and sex specialist who has over 20 years of experience. They also provide training and support for professionals, including other education and care providers.
Queen Alexandra Community Services website
Location: online and in-person (West Midlands)
Support needs: people with a learning disability, autism, disability and/or life-limiting condition
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Telephone: 01218 035475
Email: gleno@qac.ac.uk or communityservices@qac.ac.uk
SWAD (Sex With A Difference)
SWAD are a not-for-profit training organisation that specialises in disability and sex. They deliver training to professionals, people with support needs, partner carers and parent carers. They say: “We are comfortable with using a range of terminology, you don’t need to worry about embarrassing or offending us. Wherever you place yourself on the rainbow of sexuality and gender, we will happily chat to you. We have many years of experience in the area of disability and sex.”
SWAD website
Location: online and in-person
Support needs: people with a disability and/or life-limiting condition
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Email: admin@swaddorset.org
The Josephine and Jack Project
The Josephine & Jack Project use life-size anatomically accurate cloth figures in workshops and one-to-one work with adults and young people with learning disabilities. They discuss a range of issues such as health, well-being, relationships, sex and sexuality using storytelling, games and role-play.
The Jack and Josephine Project website
Location: online and in-person (North East)
Support needs: people with a learning disability, autism, brain injury and/or mental health issues
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs
Email: simon@josephineandjackproject.co.uk
Tizard Centre - University of Kent
The Tizard Centre is at the forefront of research into autism, intellectual disability and community care. Their work is highly influential and has helped to improve lives across the UK and internationally. They aim to share their expertise via study programmes, research projects and consultancy work. The Centre has strong links with health and social care organisations, across the UK and beyond.
Tizard Centre website
Location: online and in-person (South East)
Support needs: people with a learning disability
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Email: m.mccarthy@kent.ac.uk
U-Night Group
The U-Night Group are a community interest company ran by people who have a learning disability and family members. They design and deliver a broad spectrum of co-produced friendship, relationship and sexuality training courses, including a train the trainer option.
U-Night Group website
Location: online and in-person (North East)
Support needs: people with a learning disability and/or autism
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Email: www.unightgroup.co.uk
People in Action
People in Action runs social and learning groups around Leeds, in association with Leeds City Council. Their groups fall into two different categories around healthy lifestyles and health and wellbeing.
Y Training and Consultancy
Y Training and Consultancy training is delivered by Sue Sharples, who has a background in social work and social care provider management. Sue offers tailored courses for people with support needs and professionals. She has recently developed specialist sex and relationship courses for social workers and during 2022, will be focussing on developing learning resources for and with family members.
Y Training and Consultancy website
Location: online and in-person (North West)
Support needs: people with a learning disability and/or autism
Training audience: professionals, people with support needs, families
Email: sue@ytraining.co.uk
Disclaimer
The organisations and services listed on this page are included in the Supported Loving toolkit to assist you and are provided in good faith.
Their inclusion in the Supported Loving toolkit does not imply that Supported Loving nor Choice Support endorses or supports them, nor does the absence of any other organisations or services, who are not included, imply that Supported Loving and Choice Support does not support them.
Supported Loving and Choice Support cannot be held responsible for any damage or loss caused by any inaccuracy in the Supported Loving toolkit, or on linked sites/pages. Supported Loving and Choice Support cannot control and is not responsible for the privacy practices of any site to which a link is provided. It is recommended that you read the privacy policy of any site you visit, particularly if you are asked to give personal data.
Every care is taken to ensure that the information listed in the Supported Loving toolkit is accurate. If you discover any information which you believe to be inaccurate, please let us know.
Supported Loving toolkit
The Supported Loving network has produced a series of guides to help support people with issues surrounding sexuality and relationships.
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What is Supported Loving?
For some people finding love is often more than just chemistry – it can come down to getting the right support
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Supported Loving network
Supported Loving is not a formal membership organisation. Anyone can take part, it is free.
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