Nicola's Oliver McGowan Training

Nicola was part of our original Moorview Matters call to action video on the importance of undertaking the Oliver McGowan training. Since completing her co-training certification, she has assisted training, but Hull has been her biggest and most recent training session.

Hear from Kimberly Smith, Support Worker, on her experience supporting Nicola during the Oliver McGowan Training:

It has been really lovely to watch Nicola grow in confidence through taking part in the Oliver McGowan training. Each time she helps teach a session, she seems to become more confident in herself and in what she is able to do, and it has been amazing to see her become so comfortable with standing up in front of other people, reading the information and speaking about her own experiences.

Nicola was asked to go to Hull to help deliver the training, and I asked my team leader to take her because she has been enjoying it so much. I also really enjoy getting to watch Nicola succeed, seeing her read everything out and helping her to write about and reflect on the sessions afterwards. On the journey to Hull, Nicola was already really excited about the day ahead. We were chatting about everything, singing along in the car and Nicola kept telling me:

“I am looking forward to it.”

It was lovely to see how happy and enthusiastic Nicola was before we had even arrived, and this continued throughout the day.

When we got to the venue, Nicola signed her name at the beginning of the training and settled in really well. She was in a room with people she didn't know, but she adapted to this so well and stood up in front of everyone to present. Nicola spoke clearly throughout the session and when people asked her questions, she answered them with ease. She was able to talk about herself, her journey and who she is, as well as sharing how she got to where she is today and talking about her incredible journey with Moorview Care.

Nicola also talked about how she can be best supported and how she adapts to different situations. She explained to the group that they could ask her questions and that she would be happy to answer them. It was really nice to see how comfortable she has become talking about herself and sharing her experiences with people she has only just met.

Nicola read out information about likes and dislikes, different statistics and some very large words, and she read them all so clearly. She was smiling and laughing throughout the course, and it was obvious how much she was enjoying being involved and having the opportunity to help teach the course. She has worked towards this through all of the sessions she has attended, and you can really see the confidence she has gained along the way.

During the break, one of the women from the Hull team came over to speak to Nicola and complimented her on how well she had spoken and how well she had delivered the slide.

She told Nicola:

“I cannot believe how well you spoke during the slides.”

Nicola was so pleased to hear this and told me afterwards:

“It made me feel over the moon, I feel absolutely amazing!”

It was wonderful to see how much this compliment meant to her. It put such a big smile on her face and gave her even more confidence for the rest of the day.

I commented on how happy she had been, especially after seeing her singing in the car on the way there, and told her that she should be really proud of herself. She had walked into a room where she didn't know anyone and had confidently stood up and spoken in front of them, which can be an intimidating thing when you are meeting a new group of people.

Nicola replied:

“I am really happy and proud of myself.”

It was lovely to hear Nicola say this because she really does have so much to be proud of. She has built up to where she is now through each training session and has developed so much confidence in being able to read, speak clearly, answer questions and talk about her own experiences. She has also built a lovely relationship with Cheryl (Learning & Development Officer), who she has a lot of faith in and really enjoys attending these sessions with. It is clear how much Nicola values the opportunity to be involved and how much happiness she gets from being part of the training.

Nicola is becoming more confident with every session, and it is a real pleasure to support her, watch her succeed and see her recognise just how capable she is.