The Case Managers and Office Team at Brownbill attended a study day in the beautiful setting of The Oxfordshire Hotel, Golf and Spa on 14 March, with the theme of ‘In it for the long haul: Promoting Well-Being for our Clients, their Families, support teams and ourselves’.
We kicked off our day with an introduction from Stephen Neary, Operations Director of Active Care Group, Case Management Division, who welcomed everyone and set the scene for the day.
The day included presentations by:
Helen Brewis, Head of Well-Being at Manchester University, who posed the question ‘How do you care for yourself when your job is to help others?’
Helen’s engaging and stimulating presentation provided many tools to improve our well-being, for example, learning new skills, being active, recognising the positives, avoiding unhealthy habits, connecting, and staying in the present.
Emma Rush, Partner, Medical Negligence Team from Irwin Mitchell, Birmingham, continued our well-being theme with her presentation titled ‘Litigation – Supporting Clients and Yourselves.’
Emma’s presentation detailed the importance of the role of Case Managers within the litigation process. Emma shared a case study which highlighted the importance of the Case Manager during a client’s recent crisis.
She explained the importance of the Case Manager’s background knowledge of the case, the Case Manager’s excellent relationship and rapport with the family and client, the Case Manager’s skills and tenacity in managing the crisis to make sure the client got the help she needed. The crisis the client experienced meant that the litigation team will need to take into account the possibility of this recurring when putting together the claim and ensuring continued support for the client in the future.
Anna Skeats, CEO of The Mason Foundation, then took to the floor to share with us the work of the foundation. The Mason Foundation was established in 2017, to provide opportunities to support individuals and families from all walks of life, focusing on those who may face additional challenges. Their mission is to remove barriers, provide opportunities to build lasting friendships, celebrate inclusivity, and reduce inequalities.
Anna’s presentation focused on ‘Supporting Neuroinclusion: Considerations for your work force and your clients’ and in particular The Foundation’s ‘Propel’ Initiative which supports sustainable employment for young people with learning disabilities.
Anna’s presentation included an immersive video representation of a day at work for an employee with autism in order for us to consider our working environment and the challenges faced by an employee with autism, which gave us all food for thought.
After lunch it was time for us to focus on ourselves for a while with an interactive presentation by Francesca Bingley from Breath and Recover. Fran is also a Case Manager with AJ Case Management.
As part of Fran’s ‘Breathwork – Engaging our Nervous System through our Breath’ presentation, we all tried ‘Double Breathing’ for energy and resilience and ‘Ujjayi Breathing’ to calm and focus. Both these methods that concentrate on our breathing are based on Yoga philosophies and practices.
Our final presentation of the day was from Vanessa Owen, Consultant Clinical Psychologist in Neuropsychology, Neuropsychologist Rehabilitation Limited.
Vanessa’s presentation took the form of a case study for one of Brownbill clients where the Case Manager and Clinical Psychologist worked closely together with a client with a challenging family dynamic. The work with the Case Manager, the client, the care team, the family and the MDT resulted in excellent outcomes for the client who was now living her best life possible.
All those who attended were presented with a goodie bag filled with elements which reflected our well-being theme.
The feedback from our team has been excellent including Clare Dawson, our Recruitment Coordinator who said, “I am going to be kinder to myself” and also said that she had the best night’s sleep she had had for ages after our Study Day.
Overall, the day was a huge success!
