Greenwich Learning Disability ResearchNet: Our Presentation at the Psychiatry Conference

On the 12^th March 2018 Greenwich Learning Disability Researchnet went to the London Specialty School of Intellectual Disability Trainees Conference.   Richard and Kevin, members of Researchnet and Rachel and Des from Researchnet and Greenwich CLDT went along.  We had been asked to talk about our work with different agencies, such as local hospitals, GP’s, social care and the police.

The conference was at Senate House in London.  The journey to the conference was challenging and a bit stressful.  We met at The Woolwich Centre and travelled together on the DLR.  We wanted to go to Bank Station but we were told we had to get off at Poplar due to overcrowding.  Here is us waiting to get on the DLR again:

We then boarded the DLR again for Bank Station, where we walked to the central line, Kevin found some underground artwork, while Des, in charge of directions, did his best to not get us all lost.

After the tube fiasco we eventually made it to Tottenham Court Road, we were almost at the venue, but sadly the weather took a turn for the worse and it started to rain.  We flagged down a taxi and we were driven in style to the conference.

The conference was held at Senate House, an amazing art deco building, very tall and imposing, the building was used by the Ministry of Defence during the 2nd World War.  It was called the Ministry of Information, it was also the inspiration for George Orwell’s Ministry of truth, from his novel 1984.   

We went and signed in for the conference, and had a chance for a coffee and to meet some of the Psychiatrists whilst we also set up the laptop and projector.  We had a few minutes to go through the slides and look at who would be saying what and when.  Rachel and Des said they were a little worried about presenting, Richard and Kevin told us not to worry!

Dr Trevor Chan (CLDT Consultant Psychiatrist) attended the conference and gave a short speech about CLDT and integration. 

We each took turns to speak about Research Net and the work we have done, including some of our projects in detail.  We also answered some questions and had a bit of discussion with the audience. 

We were joined in the audience by psychiatrists from other teams and a self-advocacy group from another borough in London.  One psychiatrist told us that our presentation had made him think he would set a group up in the service he works in.  The self-advocacy group suggested it would be good to meet together another time and share ideas.

Following the presentation we had lunch and then made our way back to Woolwich. The return journey was not as eventful as the outward journey. 

We had a great day.  The journey was difficult, but we did it!  It was good to share our work with others and hear feedback that it has made others think about starting up similar groups. 

Take a look at the ResearchNet website page http://aldatoxleas.blogspot.co.uk/p/research-net.html  for more information about our group.


Kevin, Richard, Des and Rachel
Greenwich ALD ResearchNet