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MNHQ

Pilot online 'clinic' with the charity KIDS: keen to hear your thoughts

13 replies

RowanMumsnet · 02/02/2012 16:50

Hello,

We've been having a think about how we at MNHQ could add something extra to the amazing support and advice that the MN Special Needs posters offer each other. One idea is to have monthly online 'clinics' with staff members (who are also parents of disabled children) from the charity KIDS, which is one of the organisations that supports our ongoing campaign on respite care/short breaks.

We wanted to sound you out about how this might work, what would be helpful, and what sorts of topics you'd like to see covered.

We need to emphasise that this would in no way be a substitute for the extraordinary peer-to-peer advice on the SN boards; the idea is to complement what you (collectively) do with a slot (which could be regular) featuring KIDS staff. We know that many if you find peer-to-peer support to be the most useful form of support, but we thought it might be interesting to get input from the professional side too. Posters would be welcome (and encouraged) to enter into the conversations with the KIDS staff members.

We'd be really grateful for any feedback. We aren't sure whether it would be best to have a particular topic for each 'clinic' or whether to have a general open session (at least to start), so we'd love to know what you think about that; and if you think specific topics would be better, do please let us know what you'd like covered.

(As you can probably tell from our quote marks, we're also not sure whether 'clinic' is the right word for this, so please feel free to suggest alternatives - 'advice service'?)

Thanks,
MNHQ

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MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 02/02/2012 19:04

Hello,

Thanks so much for all the input so far. I'm just the bottle-washer around here but we will come back with more info/answers shortly (possibly after the weekend) - in the meantime please keep it coming.

Thanks
MNHQ

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 03/02/2012 09:55

Thanks again for all your points. Our objective is to make this as useful as possible for posters on this board and for it to be what you want it to be; we don't have pre-conceived ideas about exactly how it might work, so the feedback is really useful.

It sounds like the first step might be to get one of the senior staff at KIDS to come on and answer some of the questions specifically about KIDS, and have a discussion with you about what the sessions might look like (topics and format) and what kind of input you'd find most useful - so we will have a chat with them about arranging that.

Please keep the feedback coming.

Thanks
MNHQ

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 09/02/2012 14:06

Hello all,

Thanks again for all the input.

Kevin Williams, the KIDS Chief Executive, is going to be online on this thread between 12 midday and 1pm tomorrow to address some of the questions about KIDS that you've posed, so do please join us then if you can (or post up any more questions for Kevin here).

In the meantime, here are the MNHQ responses to some of your points.

  1. Can we think about developing an FAQ section, or using the online sessions to develop a set of pages that represent distilled wisdom on issues that commonly face parents of children with SN?

This exercise is all about identifying what the posters on this board want and need; so if there's a need for a set of signposted webchats covering common issues for parents of children with SN, then we'll happily work to develop that. (As LeninGrad pointed out, we do already have some SN content, which we like to think is rather good. Wink) Do please keep the ideas coming about the topic areas you'd like to see covered.

  1. Where will we put the webchat/sessions/clinics (I'm afraid we're still working on a name)?

At the moment, the plan is to create a new 'Live webchat' topic within the SN board and have the webchats/sessions/clinics there. So, any SN posters who really dislike this idea could hide that topic if they wished. Because we want this to be as successful as possible (in terms of reaching the people who need it), and visible to the many posters who lurk on Mumsnet but tend not to post much, we do anticipate that these sessions will be stickied in Active Conversations for the duration of the chat, and promoted via our newsletters and so on. But we would be happy to put one of our famously stern disclaimers at the top of each chat explaining that it's a space for teasing out issues to do with parenting and caring for children with SN, NOT a space for discussing the ins and outs of welfare reform or disability benefits; and the sessions would be monitored closely to ensure that they weren't derailed by people who had no interest in discussing the relevant issues.

  1. 'Think I would just lurk if there was a "clinic" wonder if it would put others off too?' 'I think this could be a good idea if anonymity could be guaranteed in some way. There are times on here where I can't post everything I want to because I am paranoid I am concerned that DSs teachers will work out who I am.'

The last thing we want is to change the nature of this board, or chase away our much-loved regulars. We're hoping that separating out the webchats/clinics into their own topic area will address most of these concerns. You're also very welcome, of course, to namechange for the webchats. I'm afraid, though, that - like all public online spaces - we can't absolutely guarantee your anonymity (although of course, we will never give out your personal details to third parties without your consent or a court order.) These sessions would be publicly available. It might be possible, though, for us to discuss with KIDS whether they could provide one-to-one advice for posters with particularly identifying situations, if that's something there's a demand for.

That's it for now, but don't forget to join Kevin here at midday tomorrow, if you're able to.

Thanks
MNHQ

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 09/02/2012 14:20

Oops, sorry, I missed off a couple of points:

On point 2, we just want to make it completely clear that we will actively moderate the sessions, and remove unhelpful/off-topic posts straight away.

We also wanted to say that we think these sessions will be actively useful for lurkers, who may lack the confidence to post but will hopefully benefit from the discussion (as they already benefit from seeing posts by people who are regulars on the board).

Q: What if the opinions of the posters clash with those of the 'professionals'?

A: We do acknowledge that, even with professional advice, there can be differences of opinion. We wouldn't want to shut these differences down; sometimes a combination of responses can be very helpful to the questioner. Hopefully we would be able to achieve fruitful disagreement; as ever on Mumsnet, we hope that all posters will respect everyone's right to an opinion, even when they don't agree with them (and so long as everything is within our Talk Guidelines).

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 09/02/2012 14:23

Oh, sorry to hear you can't make it Starlight. We know it's not an ideal time (I think we're thinking that the actual sessions are more likely to run in the evenings, but would be interested to hear what times would suit people best); this was the only time Kevin could make this week and we thought it best to strike while the iron was hot.

Tomorrow Kevin will be responding to the various direct questions about KIDS that have been raised on here; there isn't really a specific theme beyond that. But do add any questions that you have into the mix!

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 10/02/2012 10:47

Hello; apologies, really, for the bad timing today; we will definitely take it on board that lunchtimes/ends of term are not good in general. Do midweek evenings (8pm-ish) sound do-able for most of you? Or, as others have said, mid-morning or mid-afternoon?

MNHQ

KatieMumsnet · 10/02/2012 12:03

Hi Everyone - through the wonders of cyberspace I believe Kevin is about to log on and join us. Welcome Kevin and thanks for telling us a bit more about Kids and offering your support.

Kevin will answer the questions already posted, but if you have any more during the next hour - do feel free to post - and if any occur to you afterwards (or you're not online) do post them and we'll pass them on.

Best

MNHQ

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 10/02/2012 12:48

Just quickly - if anyone has any info they don't want to post up on here but would like to convey to KIDS, email in using the 'Report This Post' button and we will pass it on.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 10/02/2012 13:37

zzzzz I think we're going to mull things over over the next few days and come back on to this thread some time next week (sorry for vagueness but half term means timings may be a little askew) to let you know what our thinking is.

We promise to read and digest all the suggestions and comments - positive and negative.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 10/02/2012 14:02

Hi everyone; I think Kevin has posted up most of his responses now, so I just wanted to thank him for coming on today and staying on so long to address the extra questions. Thanks also to all of you who've contributed comments and questions.

Do please keep posting; we'll be back next week (hopefully) with an update.

Thanks,
MNHQ

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 13/02/2012 11:27

Hello again,

Just a quick note to let you know that we hope to have an update for you on Wednesday or Thursday.

Thanks,
MNHQ

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 15/02/2012 16:00

Hello again (please don't all drown at once Wink)

Thanks again for all the input and ideas; it has been enormously useful for us. We've had time to mull it all over now, and, after reflecting on your comments and suggestions, we think the best way forward is to trial a support session. We fully acknowledge that the kind of sessions we've been discussing wouldn't be able to address all the needs identified on this thread, but we hope that they would be able to address some of them. We will aim to shape things in response to your ongoing feedback, so that, if the sessions continue post-trial, they'll become more useful and tailored to your needs over time. Of course, the usual support from the SN boards and posters will remain invaluable.

We'll hold the trial session in a newly-created 'support sessions' topic within the SN board, so that those who really dislike the idea can hide the thread. The plan is to hold it on a weekday evening, possibly a Wednesday (do let us know whether that sounds convenient), and it will be closely monitored to keep it on-topic and to ensure that it's not hijacked by discussions about welfare reforms, disability benefits, P&T parking and so on. If there are questions that the KIDS staff can't address at the time of the session, they will try to come back with answers later on in the week.

Kevin is just seeing which KIDS staff members might be available before we make a final decision about dates and which topic to go for.

Thanks,
MNHQ

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 29/02/2012 11:11

Hello

Sorry about the long silence; things have been a bit frantic here (as ever). We hope to have something definitive to say in the next 10 days or so.

tiredoffightingwithjelly Just to clear up the point about hijacking: when we say that the sessions are going to be closely moderated to prevent hijacking, we're not talking about posters disagreeing (politely, of course Grin) with the KIDS staff member's points, or going off at tangents; those things are fine, as they've always been. We're talking about people using the sessions to start debates about things like disability benefits - the kind of 'my neighbour gets DLA and yet just last week I saw her hanging the washing out'-style threads that have been causing a lot of angst across Talk over the last couple of months. We really just wanted to make it clear that, although the sessions will be stickied in Active and thus visible to everyone on Talk, we will make sure that posters who want to use them for advice and support are not subjected to lots of slightly irrelevant and bad-tempered argument about benefits and entitlements.

As to campaigns around SN; thanks, as always, for the suggestions. This online support session isn't intended as a substitute for campaigning, and we will continue to work closely with Every Disabled Child Matters and other partners to try to change things for the better.

Thanks
MNHQ

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