The Department of Social Development (DSD) recently added 7 new centres to our beneficiaries list, which means our therapists have been very busy with training. More specifically Level 1 training - Foundation Training to Support Adults with disabilities in Adult Day Care Centres.
The first workshop took place at the delightful 50 Shades of Hay. We had staff from three centres in the Cape Metro and West Coast districts attend. namely Ulwazi (in Belville), Life Circle Development Centre (in Mfuleni) and Harbour of Wellness (in Saldanha). We were fortunate to also have 4 officials from the DSD attending. The participants were very enthusiastic and eager to share and discuss the information, ask questions and share their own knowledge and ideas! One of the participant's commented: “The training was an eye opener. It provided me with a lot of information I didn’t know about dealing with persons with disabilities”
The venue was in a beautiful farming environment, which provided a peaceful background for the training. Thank you to our hosts, Michele and Katelyn, who made sure we were all comfortable and went above and beyond to make this a fantastic experience!
Our second workshop took place at Carmel Coastal Retreat. We were fortunate to host staff from 6 centres in the Eden Karoo area – Sonstraal (in De Rust), Sonop (Kranshoek), Jagersbosch (Stilbaai), Epilepsy SA (Knysna) and two APD branches (Groot Brakrivier and Oudtshoorn)– as well as several officials from the DSD. This was yet another opportunity for sharing vital information, and interesting discussions were had over these two days! It was wonderful to witness the networking that took place, a fantastic spin-off of these training workshops!
The venue was magnificent, and lived up to its name of being a retreat; this was an ideal opportunity to retreat from the bustle of the normal work day to focus on the training.
Many participants commented that they are eager to join for future training! So we're looking into opening up training to the general public as well, but all we can say is watch this space for now...