Citizenship
ARK to hold self-development course in Dundee in partnership with Dundee Advocating Together and the SAY group
ARK is planning to run a unique course in the Dundee area in partnership with Carina Mitchell from Dundee Advocating Together and the ‘SAY’ Group. The SAY Group consists of people with learning difficulties who are employed to do local consultation work and who also link in to strategic planning and partnership boards within the local Council.
The course will consist of a series of modules which will assist people to consider who they are as individuals, how they think and act, how confident they are and how they relate to others. All of these things fit into the bigger picture of ‘emotional intelligence’. The aim of the course is that people will develop in their reflective abilities and their self-confidence. This increase in confidence should make it easier for people to get more involved within their local communities and also to feel good about themselves and enjoy good relationships with others.
Carina Mitchell, who works with the Dundee Say Group, is a trained as a facilitator for the course, which was designed by the American ‘Pacific Institute’. Carina will work with representatives from the SAY Group to lead the course and take participants through the modules over a period of two and a half days. The days will be spread out over the month of September 2008. Both the SAY Group members and Carina have completed the course themselves. They have said that they found it to be very positive and that it subsequently helped them in a variety of different ways. One of the SAY representatives was later able to use some visioning techniques to prepare for an interview with the Care Commission, and went on to become a Lay Assessor for the commission.
Tenants and service users from ARK’s projects in Perth, Blairgowrie, Forfar and Arbroath will have the opportunity to participate in the course, which will be paid for through ARK Community Networks ‘Participation’ and ‘Promoting Active Citizenship’ projects. It is hoped that networking will take place and new connections will form between the people who facilitate the course and those who attend as participants. ARK’s Development Worker and Participation Officer will be organising the practicalities of the course and will provide intensive support to the participants. This should ensure that people are able to get the most out of the learning opportunities on offer.