Les Amis contributes to Care College Understanding Differences Conference

Les Amis attended and contributed to the Understanding Differences conference raising awareness of learning disabilities and autism, organised by Care College.

Attendees heard the powerful story of Oliver McGowan from his mother and campaigner, Paula. Oliver was an autistic young man, whose tragic death inspired The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, which aims to save lives by ensuring the health and social care workforce have the right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to autistic people and people with a learning disability.

Team Leader, Shelley McFarling, spoke about learning disabilities and was joined by Les Amis service user, Bernardo, who gave insight into his life with a learning disability. Further awareness of learning disabilities was raised by our residents Emma, Vanessa, Val, Joy, Tina, and Marguerite, through video blogs - view below.

The event was attended by board member, Jacqueline Richomme, and Head of Charitable Income & Partnerships, Yenni Kusumo.

One of Les Amis' service-users attended with his support worker, Marika, to learn more about autism. After he and his family expressed interest in attending, Les Amis funded his and Marika's tickets - an example of how our fundraising directly impacts those we support.

Les Amis also enabled the attendance of Lewis Campbell on behalf of ITV Jersey's Diversity and Inclusion champion, Jessica Tidswell.

Paul Watson, our Operations Manager, provided professional photography on the day.

The conference concluded with a dialogue of Jersey strategies for those with learning disabilities.