On 31 May Jane ran the first of three new workshops with young disabled leaders involved in the arts with DaDaFest– Deaf and Disability Arts, based in Liverpool. The topic was confidence, strengths and talking about them.

The group tried receiving positive feedback about what they were good at. They then did an exercise to examine how confident they were, and discussed controlling their reactions to other's language using a visual exercise with thought clouds. They looked at how it is possible to change an initially negative reaction to someone͛s comment to a more neutral or even positive interpretation.

The group discussed being confident when speaking to a group, using Barack Obama as a role model. This included thinking about body language, breathing and the pace of their speech. Three volunteers then practised telling the group about their strengths.

This was a lively workshop with some great insights from the participants into how they perceive themselves and their strengths as young disabled leaders.

Jane and Hormoz are looking forward to facilitating the second workshop which will focus on presenting ourselves and networking with others.

You can experience DaDaFest's work when they perform 12 July at the Royal Philharmonic Hall and on 19 July at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool.

Last month we reported on the start of our pilot programme with Manchester Health Care Commissioning (MHCC) delivering training/coaching sessions with Managers of Disabled Staff within the NHS in Greater Manchester.

We have now completed one of the programmes for the first group of Managers and we're delighted with the feedback. We have shared this work with partner, Breakthrough UK. Participants have given feedback that the training about the Social Model of Disability and the language they use in this context has been eye-opening and helpful.

This continuing work enables the managers to think about their own personal action plans in working with staff with a combination of two half day group workshop sessions which are sandwiched with one 1-1 coaching session. The managers have said that they have been able to become more confident in how they view working with disabled staff and gaining better approaches as a manager in general.

One person commented that the workshop had been 'the most honest and memorable' they had ever attended. Praise indeed!

The second group are already midway through their programme with a third group starting this week. We will be reporting further before the 5 groups finish in early October.

We also reported on our work with people living with Sickle Cell last month. Today is World Sickle Cell Awareness Day. Our programme continues this week with a workshop on being assertive when we need help. This is an area which has been highlighted in coaching sessions generally that would strongly benefit the group.

We will be ending the programme next month so watch out for the celebrations and certificate-giving photos!