Positive Choices – Dublin 19 – 20 April 2018

Mary Dearing reports:

On 19 and 20 April 2018 a group of nursing students (learning disability) attended the 14^th national ‘Positive Choices’ conference hosted this year by Trinity College Dublin. Second year learning disability nursing student Ed Jones writes:

The sun shone and the Guinness flowed but more importantly Positive Choices/Positive Commitments allowed Registered nurses and student nurses in Learning/Intellectual Disability to meet and share ideas. It was also an opportunity to share experiences with professionals and service users. There were speakers on the effects of ageing with a learning disability, how dementia affects people with learning disabilities, especially those with Down’s syndrome. There was invaluable advice on how to further your career and a pertinent message for those at the start of a new venture came through from many speakers – the need to push yourself out of your comfort zone (but not so much that it becomes detrimental).  We learnt about a nurse’s visit to India. He talked about measures taken to protect vulnerable people with learning disabilities from exploitation, including organ harvesting. We learnt more about mortality reviews – a chance to understand and learn from good and bad practice. We found out more about how best to provide Positive Behavioural Support for clients in distress.

Positive Choices offers the chance to support, meet and learn from our clients, our peers, academics and Registered nurses. It was a pleasant bonus to be in sunny Dublin and we can’t wait to do it all again in Birmingham in 2019!