through the Practice Development Unit

The return to face-to-face delivery, although limited, was a welcome boost for our Practice Development Unit and revealed the value which staff place on being able to interact with one other as part of their training experience.

Nevertheless, challenges around resources, staffing and costs of running in-person training were further complicated by rapidly changing Covid-19 restrictions and Government guidance.

Moves towards a blended ‘hybrid’ approach of learning are now being adopted gradually in order to promote better engagement as well as allowing trainers to gauge levels of understanding, which can often be difficult to ascertain online.

Changes in policies within Extern over the past year have also had a significant impact on the PDU’s work as staff have adapted their training in line with these. Going forward, a key priority will be to continually review training provision and content to ensure that policies can be kept up to date with changes.

Key among these are policies which have been created and adapted in line with the Safeguarding Review. This has provided the PDU with key responsibilities in ensuring that staff are provided with essential safeguarding training that is relevant and appropriate to their role.

Overall, the PDU made a significant contribution to the Safeguarding Review, working to identify problematic areas and agree potential solutions. This included the need for more bespoke training within services to make it more relevant to the needs of staff.

The PDU has also continued to play a vital role as part of Extern’s Volunteer Steering Group, which this year saw the first intake of volunteers as part of the Extern

Extras programme. The PDU developed a comprehensive induction programme for volunteers, which was rolled out twice during the year, as well as recorded training for those staff performing the volunteer supervisor role. This induction programme provided an effective introduction to the organisation, giving volunteers the opportunity to develop key areas of knowledge.

Greater focus on Trauma Informed Practice in our work has also seen training opportunities provided for staff and managers in NI and ROI, as well as the delivery of a bespoke training session for Extern Board Members. The central aim of this has been to build evidence-based knowledge and understanding throughout the organisation of the impact of trauma.

A key message of the training has been that traumainformed ideas must influence our policies and procedures, as well as guiding how we support colleagues throughout the organisation who may have their own traumatic past experiences and are at increased risk of vicarious and secondary trauma.

Priorities going forward will now be to develop training in line with new safeguarding policy and procedures, including an E-Learning programme, which will be accessible for all. The rollout of bespoke safeguarding training for each project is a considerable task, which will involve planning and delivering project-level training in partnership with managers.

Overall, Extern will endeavour to show leadership and guidance across the sector and will strive to remain competitive, showing our commissioners that we commit to excellence in our delivery of services.

Tell us a bit about your placement with Extern – what were you expecting?

I liked Extern’s person-centred approach and the way they work in partnership with the service users. I was unsure at the beginning how the Time Out respite programme would work with my placement as I did not know that staying overnight would be an option. However, I soon realised that not staying overnight would mean missing out on valuable time with the young people in the evenings, which is often where you can gain good insight and engage in meaningful conversations.

What specifically did you like about your placement?

I liked how personal the placement was as it was clear when I first started that the weekend is about the young people, and what they want to do. When we sat down on the first evening and talked through our plans for the weekend, every young person was involved in the decision-making process.

What were the particular challenges you faced over the course of the year?

I felt quite nervous about how to interact with the young people, especially when talking about difficult or sensitive topics. But I learnt a lot from the other team members about how to approach this.

Why did you choose social work as a career?

I have a strong desire to support others and to listen and engage with people. Although many people think social work is simply about child protection, it is actually very diverse and gives people like me the opportunity to work with many different service users in different aspects of their lives.

What would you say to others who are considering a placement with Extern?

Extern is a great place to have a career in social work as there is such a wide range of service users that you can engage with throughout the many projects that they have. The people who work for Extern are hard-working and dedicated individuals who want to see the best for all service users that they work with, which makes placement a very positive and uplifting experience.