I will be honest and say that after fostering for 25 years I find training pretty boring and rarely learn anything new at this point. Online training I avoid where I can. So when I first attended Scott’s training i turned up with the same attitude “lets get this over with”. But then Scott opened his mouth and i was hanging on his every word. Scott brings a whole different method of training which i haven’t experienced before and haven’t experienced since. No PowerPoint, no suit, no patronising comments. Instead Scott uses has words accompanied by videos that he has passionately crafted to imbed powerful messages which last. Scott and his brother Ben have had a roller coaster of a life and it is rather profound how they are carry no anger or malice to the injustices that were inflicted upon them. They respect us as foster carers, they respect what we do, what we are trying to do and despite what they have been through they have come back to help us do better. They raise issues but always always accompany those issues with realistic solutions. I attended The Child’s World training (In-Person) and completed Scott’s online course Growing Up In Care: Lived Experience and I have taken so much away from these courses. I feel I am now able to decode “bad behaviour” and respond to how my little one feels rather than how he behaves. Section 31 Training is an invaluable resource and so for those who do not outsource training for their carers I suggest they think again because it has changed my life and through changing me it has changed the lives of the children in care for. One thing Scott said was “For me, training isn’t all about telling people what’s what, it isn’t about ticking a box. Training is about providing people with more tools in their box but also respecting and reminding people of the many tools they already have. It is about empowering people to make a difference”. This has changed my view of training entirely.
