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Skillnet talks to Swale Life
On 25th January
Swale Life met and held an interview with four members of
the Skillnet Group; Ann-Marie Eighteen – Project Lead
(Training); Peter Bland – Project Lead (Partnerships); Di
Lovecchio – Supporter (Swale and Canterbury District
Partnership Group) and Jo Kidd – Chief Executive of Skillnet
Group.
Skillnet Group Community
Interest Company is a Social Enterprise which was set up in
2001 in Sittingbourne and then spread across East Kent to
work with people with learning difficulties. According to
the Chief Executive, Jo Kidd, “it transpired that there
needed to be a service to assist people with learning
difficulties as they often experienced a ‘raw deal’. It was
about setting up a group which involved people with learning
disabilities to start new projects and enable them to be
part of the new group. There are now over 30 staff employed
by Skillnet out of which 33% are people with learning
difficulties. People with learning disabilities also act as
Directors on the Board.” Jo continued, “our mission is to
support people with a learning difficulty to speak up, make
choices, be heard and taken seriously”.
In order to achieve the
organisation’s vision or mission, Skillnet Groups support
people with and without learning difficulties to work
together equally to develop projects and support networks
and to change attitudes about disability in society. Jo
asserts that: “we focus on making links within local
communities and building up strong local knowledge. This is
so that people with learning difficulties have a place equal
to those of other citizens within mainstream society and is
not segregated.” She continues, “We also support people to
take responsibility for what they do and to think about how
the way we act affects the rest of the world, including
people all over the world, animals and the environment.”
In furtherance of
Skillnet’s vision of independence for people with learning
disabilities, the organisation runs different projects
across the County, including a variety of accredited courses
which support people with learning disabilities to become
more independent and move into work:
‘Speaking Up or
Campaigning Groups’ are sited in Sittingbourne, Canterbury,
Thanet, Dover, Dover, Folkestone, Sheppey and Deal.
Speaking Up Groups campaign about what is important to the
community (for instance, public transport, environment,
etc.) and also help people in becoming confident with
speaking up. The members of the group support each other.
‘Webb’s Garden’ is a new
project which runs from St Martin’s Hospital at Littlebourne
Road in Canterbury. The garden at the hospital was in a
rundown state, however, working in partnership with Chaucer
Care Home and the hospital itself, Skillnet Group are
developing a course in horticulture and the environment,
which will support people to develop small businesses at the
garden and get the whole community involved.
‘School Project’ – people
with learning difficulties have developed a presentation and
workshop, which they take out to various schools. This is
about supporting people to understand ‘difference’ and how
people want to be treated.
This links with a national
project (Getting a Life) that Skillnet Group are also
involved with as well as a new Transition Project (in Swale)
supporting young people with learning difficulties to have a
wider range of opportunities when they leave school –
especially employment and independent living.
‘Music and Arts’ project
in Canterbury has seen Skillnet having a bespoke recording
studio built, which is open for the whole community to use.
Some other projects by the
organisation involve working on Human Rights issues, a
project with Kent Probation, training for the NHS (GP
surgeries and hospitals) staff on how people with learning
disabilities will like to be treated. They also have a team
called Jargon Busters who work on supporting other
organisations to make their information easier to
understand.
There are many projects
both national and regional, in which Skillnet Group are
involved or take the lead. For instance, Skillnet campaigns
with Greenpeace about environmental issues. The campaign
also encourages people to recycle and to use less energy.
According to Skillnet’s Chief Executive, Jo “in our offices
at Canterbury, we collect rainwater in a tank and use it to
flush our toilets. We are also installing Photo Voltaic
cells (solar panels) at our site in Canterbury and at the
new site we are developing in Sittingbourne.” Jo continues
“a lot of work is done with Valuing People team (Department
of Health), the Department of Works and Pensions, Ministry
of Justice, the Criminal Justice System (we are working on a
national training project for all staff in the criminal
justice system – this includes prisons, probation, courts
and the police. This is in partnership with the Department
of Health, the National offender Management Services and
KeyRing). We also have the contract to provide all the
training around person-centred approaches as part of the
Learning Disability Qualification in Kent.”
Swale Life was impressed
by the variety of projects run by the organisation and their
passion to promote independence for people with learning
disabilities that it was interested to understand Skillnet’s
sources of funding. Jo quickly responded that “Skillnet
being a Community Interest Company receives funding from
different and diverse sources including individuals for
support (Direct Payments via Social Services), collaborative
partnerships with colleges (Thanet and Canterbury) – funding
through the Learning and Skills Council), contracting for
work, charges for certain services (training, etc.) and some
grant-funded work. The focus is selling what we do because
we are a social enterprise and not a charity.”
In the next two or three
years, Skillnet hopes to expand and connect with even more
communities. Their work is based on people working together
equally – rather than people doing things for people.
Skillnet hopes to support people with learning difficulties
to have a ‘louder voice’ and to concentrate on what people
can do rather than their disability.
More information about
what Skillnet Group is working on can be found at
www.skillnetgroup.co.uk
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