Training for professionals
We’ve a number of training options for professionals including CBT tools, an introduction to young people’s mental health and working with resilience
CBT Tools, Tips and Techniques
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) skills have a strong evidence base and can be useful tools for supporting young people in challenging negative thoughts and/or behaviours. The principles and techniques of CBT can be drawn upon in a variety of contexts including work, relationships, school and home life.
What you will learn:
This course will introduce you to the core concepts and skills of CBT, aiming to provide you with the confidence and competence to draw on them to empower and bring about positive change in both the young people as well as yourself and others in your surrounding networks.
By the end of the day you will have:
A greater understanding of what CBT is and critically appraised it’s benefits within a variety of situations
Increased ability and insight into the how, why and what regarding common issues that can cause and maintain distress, particularly in young people
Explored core CBT techniques proven to help challenge negative thought patterns and/or behaviours, thus reducing the distress they might cause
Learnt key skills enabling you to deliver these technique with others in a way that maximises empowerment and engagement
An Introduction to Young People's Mental Health
At OTR we don’t like to call ourselves “experts” and refute the idea that only we can promote and support young people’s mental health. However, through working in the field for over 50 years we have picked up a variety of simple, practical ways to enhance the mental wellbeing of young people. Because we know the positive impact that they can have we want to share our collection of tools, tips and techniques.
What you will learn:
This session is aimed at those who work directly with young people. The first half of the day will provide you with a strong overview and understanding of what exactly is young people’s mental health. It will then go on to offer you insight into the tools and techniques our practitioners have found most useful over the years and how they can be adapted as 1:1 and group interventions within your setting.
By the end of it you will have:
Built a greater understanding and confidence around what exactly is young peoples’ mental health
Explored a variety of different techniques for supporting the mental health and wellbeing of young people
Built confidence in how to adapt and expand on these techniques to make them applicable to your area of work or personal life
Developed your understanding of the current evidence-based approaches for various young people’s mental health interventions
Explored the criticisms and barriers to implementing these approaches and developed some solution focused ideas as to how to make turn this training into sustainable change
An introduction to working with resilience
Resilience has become a real buzzword over the last decade and it can be challenging to make sense of all the theories and approaches out there. At OTR we’ve explored a whole host of resilience building models that we believe offer practical, real-world techniques and approaches to support our human capacity to navigate adversity. Drawing on our first hand experience of delivering these we’ve cherry picked the ones found to be most effective in supporting positive change.
What you will learn:
Whether you work with young people or simply want to discover strategies for boosting the resilience of yourself or those around you, this one day course is for you.
By the end of the day you will have:
Investigated a variety of different definitions of resilience and considered why they matter
Developed your understanding of current evidence-based approaches, including practical principles and techniques effective in building resilience in a user-friendly way
Engaged with criticisms of resilience building and considered how these might influence your practice
Explored tangible ways you can promote the resilience of young people and those in your surrounding networks, by using activities from our Resilience Lab and other tried and tested resources
Working confidently with body image
Our relationship with our bodies can massively impact how we interact with the wider world. It can impact our self-esteem, confidence, the jobs we go for, or opportunities we try to get. This is a topic of importance for all ages, our body is constantly changing and responding to our environment, yet the images that everyone strives to look like remain fixed.
What you will learn:
This session is aimed at pulling apart the factors that contribute towards negative body image, opening up participant’s thinking about how we can be more critical about the world around us, and begin questioning what an ‘ideal’ body even is. We will cover techniques to help build confidence in body image for ourselves and those around us.
By the end you will:
Understand how body image has impacted us throughout history
Empower yourself and others to feel more confident in the bodies we are in
Have the skills to combat negative feelings towards our bodies
Have ideas how you can fight back against the ideals and help reflect a more diverse image of how bodies should be
Working confidently with gender and sexuality
Gender and sexuality are two of the most powerful organising principles in our society and as such require exploring and understanding in an empowering and informative way.
By the end of it you will:
Understand and be able to integrate best practice across multiple settings when supporting LGBTQ+ young people with gender, sexuality and diversity related issues
Empower individuals with the confidence to implement and lead within their community and/or workplace to champion the rights of LGBTQ+ people
Recognise and reflect upon your own values in order to develop and learn new skills
Support and work with others in an interactive way with a strong focus on how to implement the workshop content from individual, systems and organisational perspectives
Become part of a network of trained organisations, locally and nationally, known for implementing meaningful and proactive provision supporting LGBTQ+ service users and staff and developing organisational, structural and community change
This training is developed by Freedom, OTR’s LGBTQ+ youth service. Freedom celebrated its 25th year of existence in 2020 and is the longest-running LGBTQ+ youth group in the UK.