My Baby’s Brain – Revised virtual delivery (Sept-Nov 2020)

The Family and Health Services Commissioning department and KCA have been working in partnership since 2011 to bring Five to Thrive as part of the 'My Baby's Brain' programme to children's services across Hertfordshire County Council. 'My Baby's Brain' continues to be the core approach for the Council's parenting offer and there is an ongoing need for new staff and services to be trained in the underpinning knowledge base of Five to Thrive for the programme.

The impact of Covid-19 meant a redesign of the training offer was absolutely necessary, both in terms of the delivery model and the content that was to be delivered.

139 participants were registered onto the learning journey within one of two strands:

Strand A: My Baby’s Brain Universal workforce – all professionals working with young families
Strand B: My Baby’s Brain Targeted workforce – all professionals working with more vulnerable and targeted young families

Learning journey delivered by KCA

An introductory webinar was delivered to all participants of this learning journey in September 2020 with the aim of providing an opportunity to introduce, or recap, the attachment-aware and trauma-informed knowledge base so that practitioners in Hertfordshire can consider this for their practice.

Following the delivery of the first webinar to both strand A and strand B participants combined, a second webinar was then delivered in October 2020 to each strand, separately, with the aims of:

• Strand A: Describing and explaining Five to Thrive as a bridge between neuroscience and practice so that practitioners can help parents and other caring adults to understand the impact they have on the developing brain of their children, and thus develop responsiveness and confidence
• Strand B: Providing the knowledge base surrounding secondary trauma so that practitioners can recognise indicators, preventative factors and recovery needs

After attending two webinars, strand A and strand B participants then attended smaller interactive tutorials in October / November 2020 with the aims of:

• Strand A: Providing an opportunity for participants to share practice, reflections and challenges of supporting families and their knowledge of brain development, and discuss how Five to Thrive can be weaved and embedded further into practice through ‘next steps’ action planning.
• Strand B: Providing an opportunity for participants to share reflections about Five to Thrive and Mending Hurts in practice, and discuss their knowledge and understanding of secondary trauma and how they can ensure their service focusses on prevention and recovery through ‘next steps’ action planning.

• 98% of participants stated that the learning outcomes were met
  
• 100% of participants would recommend this webinar to other
• 100% of participants reported that what they learned in this webinar would be useful in their work (68% ‘yes, very’ and 32% ‘yes, reasonably’)

• 97% of participants would recommend the course to others
• 97% of participants said that the training met their expectations
• 94% of participants said they have or will use resources in KCA Connected
• 85% of participants said that the elearning was valuable / relevant to day-to-day work (12% had not accessed yet)

Which aspect of the learning journey did you find most useful?

Words selected by participants of Strand A to describe the course content

88% of participants said that the trainer was ‘the best that they had seen’ or ‘very good’.

‘Susan was a great facilitator. The information was clear to understand and the sessions really enjoyable.’
(participant feedback)

‘I enjoyed listening to the trainer I loved it the way she has described the questions and explaining in simpler way to understand clearly.’ (participant feedback)

‘Lovely but a little too academic at times.’
(participant feedback)

How did the trainer's performance compare with others you have seen?

• 100% of participants stated that the learning outcomes were met
• 100% of participants would recommend this webinar to others
• 100% of participants reported that what they learned in this webinar would be useful in their work (85% ‘yes, very’ and 15% ‘yes, reasonably’)

• 97% of participants would recommend the course to others
• 97% of participants said that the training met their expectations
• 94% of participants said they have or will use resources in KCA Connected
• 88% of participants said that the elearning was valuable / relevant to day to-day work (12% had not accessed yet)

Which aspect of the learning journey did you find most useful?

Words selected by participants of Strand B participants to describe course content

100% of participants said that the trainer was ‘the best that they had seen’ or ‘very good’.

‘Time flew by during Susan's tutorials and webinars. Best training I've attended in years. Thank you.’ (participant feedback)

‘Very relatable as she shared her own experiences and how she uses this daily.’ (participant feedback)

‘Professional Patient Active listener Supportive.’ (participant feedback)

How did the trainer's performance compare with others you have seen?

Strand A Learning Journey – Universal workforce

• 61% of the participants reported having done My Baby’s Brain training prior to this programme
• 97% of participants reported that the learning had increased their knowledge of a baby’s brain development (45% reported that understanding was ‘significantly increased’, 52% ‘somewhat increased’, and 3% stated ‘about the same’)
• 100% of participants rated their understanding of the Five to Thrive key messages as ‘good’ (45%) or ‘excellent’ (55%)
• 100% of participants reported confidence to share the Five to Thrive messages with parents (48% ‘very confident’, 52% ‘reasonably confident’)
• 94% of participants said that the training had already helped them in day-to-day practice
• 97% of participants stated that what they learned in the training will be useful in their
  work (61% said ‘yes, very’ and 36% said ‘yes, reasonably’)

Strand B Learning Journey – Targeted workforce

• 72% of the participants reported having done My Baby’s Brain training prior to this programme
• 100% of participants reported that the learning had increased their knowledge of a baby’s brain development (34% reported that understanding was ‘significantly increased’, 66% ‘somewhat increased’)
• 100% of participants rated their understanding of the Five to Thrive key messages as ‘good’ (41%) or ‘excellent’ (59%)
• 100% of participants stated that the training programme had increased their knowledge and understanding of secondary trauma (47% reported that understanding was ‘significantly increased’, 53% ‘somewhat increased')
• 100% of participants reported confidence to recognise secondary trauma in their workforce (25% ‘very confident’, 75% ‘reasonably confident’)
• 100% of participants said that the training had already helped them in day-to-day practice
• 100% of participants stated that what they learned in the training will be useful in their work (81% said ‘yes, very’ and 19% said ‘yes, reasonably’)