Greetings faithful readers of the Steven Talbot blog posts,
I recently completed three days training with staff from Birmingham City Council’s various housing and homelessness teams. As always, I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and working alongside some truly inspirational people. Throughout the three days we focused on real-life case studies of people who had experienced homelessness and / or housing issues in Birmingham. I really need to thank the brilliant citizens of Birmingham who gave up their time to share their lived experience.
The council is working hard to address the housing issues across the city, be it poor housing, overcrowding, ‘sofa surfing,’ private landlords etc. I found that the troops really took to the Motivational Interviewing (MI) approach and really engaged with the active learning tasks. Some of the learners stated how they will be using the skills immediately as they could see the benefit of using both a trauma informed approach alongside MI.
It’s a challenging time, a time when some people have even less positive life choices than usual. I was suitably impressed by the level of commitment from the staff at BCC and I can attest to the fact, the staff are determined to make a real difference to the denizens of Birmingham.
Here are a few of the feedback comments, 100% positive and pretty inspiring for me too.
“Although the course was delivered remotely Steven still made you feel like you were in a classroom environment using interactive tasks and ensuring team tasks were completed with different members of the group each time so you still got to meet everyone.
The course was fun and had an important message which should help us all implement the skills and methods we were shown in our day to day job.”
Sharon
“Steven in very knowledge and personable, he was able to make the training more interactive and engaging.”
Jon
“This was one of the best training courses I have participated in. Steven, as a trainer was excellent, I liked the fact it was interactive and he was fully engaged with all participants. The course certainly gave me a lot to think about and what I learnt I can definitely use not only in my professional life but my personal life also. I would love to take attend any future training courses delivered by Steven. In my opinion, best trainer BCC has used. Thank you Steven.
PS: I think it would be beneficial if BCC, if possible utilise Steven to provide some accredited courses.”
Claudia
“It was a really good course, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you steven.”
Alfona
“Steven was very patient, informative and fun to learn from as he kept us engaged for long periods with innovative approaches to task’s e.g., role play and Video Tapes showing examples of what we may deal with it at work. Overall, a great training course.”
Jordan
“Very fun interactive training session, Steven is a great teacher who knows how to make everyone comfortable and engaging in each task. I would definitely attend another class that he would teach.”
Leanne
“I will try and implement it in my professional and personal life. I can see the impact on customers.”
Onika
“Steven did a very good job of teaching the techniques he has developed and I felt he imparted knowledge in a way that was accessible and engaging.
Steven clearly has a wealth of experience and was able to use some of these experiences to illustrate the point he was trying to get across. I was able to relate to most of these situations and felt I could use the method of approach he is trying to promote when dealing with similar situations.
The course was engaging, and the resources are very well put together.
Steven’s demeanour was very welcoming, and he made great efforts to include everyone within the group.
A good course for people who are not used to interviewing as part of their job role, or who have a few set ideas on how to approach members of the public for information.
Only issue is, not all of the content felt tailored towards my specific role. I know this is because I will be the first port of call for many people, so may not be able to establish this rapport. However, some of the techniques may be good for clarification and empowering the clients we work with.
Thanks again Steven, very much appreciate the course.”
Richard
“I found the training very helpful.”
Sanjit
“Steven was approachable, knowledgeable and full of humour. I thoroughly enjoyed the 3 days.
We were given plenty of tools that we can use in our work practices. Thank you Steven.”
Robina
“It was informative, interesting and Steven kept us engaged with different task to do in groups. It was a great training session.”
Houdan