Thera South West’s very own Sam Avery was recently invited to be the guest speaker at an event in Weston Super-Mare organised by People First, a national user led advocacy organisation ran for, and by, people with lived experience of a learning disability. Sam was invited to one of their monthly “Speak it out” sessions.
Sam spoke to the audience about the work that Thera South West does and the reason behind their person-centred approach to care, focusing on how our co-production model benefits people with lived experience of a learning disability and the benefits that having such people in leadership positions has. Sam was also able to focus on her own journey to becoming Thera South West’s Service Quality Director, showing people what it is possible to achieve with the correct support in place.
Sam’s Executive Assistant, Corrina, also attended and said of Sam’s speech:
Sam had a really good response from the people attending. You could see that for a lot of people in the room it inspired a kind of hope – like they saw what was possible. Sometimes people have all the potential in the world but just need to see an example of it. I think Sam achieved that.
Sam also promoted the Non-Executive Director position that Thera South West are currently advertising. In line with their co-production philosophy they are looking for someone with lived experience of a learning disability to join their board and bring their unique experience and perspective to ensure that Thera South West continue to have the people they support at the heart of everything they do. Following the event emails with the application process were sent out to those who requested them.
The talk went so well that Sam has been invited to speak to the Learning Disability NHS Community by professionals who attended the event. Stay tuned for more on that one!