Advocreate

Speak Up!

The Speak Up workshops will enable people with a learning disability to begin to look at communication skills. The 5 sessions will cover:

Physical and vocal warm ups to develop important physical and vocal skills.
The ideas of verbal and non – verbal communication such as speaking, body language, signs and symbols.
The important principles of yes and no.
Exploring listening skills such as active listening.
Passive and aggressive behaviour.
Space and power.
Assertiveness

The participants will receive factual accessible handouts each session

The workshops are ideal for self -advocacy groups, colleges and any organisation that believes in developing self- advocacy with their community group.

Connections

The Connections workshops will enable people with a learning disability to begin to develop team building and trust skills. The 4 sessions will cover:

How we work together as a group.
Trust exercises.
Team building games.
Problem solving activities
Group devising exercises.
Making or reviewing the group contract.

The workshops would be ideal for any new group of people working together for example a new members committee, a new class in a tertiary college or a new self- advocacy group. The workshops would also be ideal for existing groups where we would look at how we work together and what makes the group strong.

We are one

We are One enables people with a learning disability to begin to develop social skills by working through drama with others focussing on a different social skills each session. It is recommended that the whole course of 10 sessions are taken although fewer sessions can be negotiated. The full 10 week package will contain work on the following skills:

Communication
Listening
Concentration
Eye contact
Memory
Space
Trust
Feelings
Music and sound
Status

These workshops are ideal for people with a learning disability.

In the Picture

In the Picture will enable adults with a learning disability to explore their democratic rights in how they protest about an issue to the media. The workshops are fun and interactive and aim to prepare the participants to make their voice heard further than the self-advocacy group setting. The 5 sessions will cover:

Communication skills
What is the media?
What is the story that you are trying to tell?
What do you want to say?
Who is the target audience?
Identifying ‘real’ stories
Strategies and role playing for working with the media
Vibrant protesting.

The participants will receive factual accessible handouts each session
The final session will be filmed and you will receive a copy of the final edited DVD

The workshops are ideal for self- advocacy groups and any other organisation that would like to gain confidence and take their case forward.

Forum Theatre

Forum Theatre training skills that will enable the participants to develop short interactive performances that can be used in training sessions, conferences, events and service user forums. In Forum Theatre, the audience are able to replace the actors and change the course of action to find an alternative solution to a given issue, dilemma or problem. The minimum of 2 sessions will cover:

Image theatre techniques
Forum theatre techniques
The role of the facilitator/ joker
How to create theatre from an inspiration
Problem solving potential difficulties

The participants will receive factual handouts.

Have your say!

Have your say will enable adults with a learning disability to discuss and role play an important issue that may affect their life. This workshop(s) could be a one-off, a series of workshops or a longer-term project.

Advocreate will spend time prior to the workshop(s) researching the issue to maintain a good background knowledge.
The workshops will contain a mixture of participatory games, thought shower, image theatre and role- play.
There may also be opportunities to record the findings of the workshop via visual images, audio or AV recordings, interviews or the subsequent writing of a report.

Have your say - change to Have your say is ideal for any organisation that would like to seek the opinion of people with learning disabilities or any community group surrounding services, activities, social pressures or any other issue that is deemed pertinent to their lives.

Present to me

Present to me allows the participants to explore how they communicate to other people in a presentation/ conference setting. We can use material that the person or group will use or also help structure their speech and interactivity with the audience. The workshop(s) will cover:

Vocal skills/ breathing/ articulation/ pronounciation
Posture and body language
Storytelling skills – the use of dramatic tension
Eye contact
Rehearsed readings

The Interview

The Interview can be spread over 1 or 2 workshops to allow participants the opportunity to practice how they may be during an interview for a job, course or new opportunity in their life. The course will cover:

What to do and what not to do
Vocal skills
Posture and body language
Eye contact
Before and during the interview
How to ‘sell’ yourself

Managing Relationships

Managing relationships looks at the different types of relationships there are, how we construct and develop these relationships, how to say no and how to end a bad relationships. The sessions will cover:

What is a friend?
How do we listen to each other?
Ways to say no and mean it
Why do friendships come to an end?
How do we end bad relationships?

These workshops are ideal for any group that wants to discuss the nature of relationships and how to manage them effectively.

Story build

We use drama workshops to engage groups to develop their communication and social skills in a variety of ways. We produce stand alone workshops and also guided stories where everyone is playing a role and have to overcome many obstacles along the way.

Not a Care in the World

Not a care in the world will use fun drama games and exercises for unpaid carers to let their hair down, meet other people in their situation and learn some confidence building performance skills. The workshop will gradually build skills throughout the session so no performance experience is necessary just a willingness to have fun! The half-day or full session may include a combination of:

Physical and vocal warm up.
Get to know you exercises
Team games
Storytelling
Improvisation
Mime
Masks
Devising

The workshop is ideal for carer groups as part of an event, training day, carer’s week activities or for a ‘get to know you’ event.

Fun in a day

Fun in a day will use fun drama games and exercises that will enable people with a learning disability to relax and enjoy themselves in a safe and relaxed environment. The half- day or full session may include a combination of:

Physical and vocal warm up.
Get to know you exercises
Team games
Storytelling
Improvisation
Mime
Masks
Devising

This workshop is ideal for day services or any organisation that may be holding an event where they would like to involve some drama for a group. This workshop could also act as a taster to the longer ‘Experience Drama’ workshop package.

Marvel at me!

Marvel at me is a fantastic tool that allows people with a learning disability to develop their own story either fact or fiction and create a page in a makeshift comic book. All the other members of the group will act in each other’s story. The stories can explore an issue, event, person centred objective, ambitions or a fictitious story that they would like to tell. Advocreate will work with a graphic designer to realise the final book and each participant will receive a copy. The 5-6 workshops will cover:

Storytelling
Storyboarding
Devising
Image theatre
Characterisation
Comic book construction and realisation.

These workshops are ideal for self- advocacy groups and/ or as part of person centred planning.

Experience Drama

Experience Drama will enable people with a learning disability to begin to develop social skills by working through drama focussing each week on a different social skill. It is recommended that the whole course of 10 sessions are taken although fewer sessions can be negotiated from a minimum of six sessions. It is also important that the group takes part in a ‘taster’ session with an evaluation after the session to examine whether the group would like to carry on with the full programme. The full 10 week package will contain work on the following skills:

Communication
Listening
Concentration
Eye contact
Memory
Space
Trust
Feelings
Music and sound
Status

These workshops are ideal for people with a learning disability who may attend a day service, youth or activity group.

Island Explorers

Using facilitator in role, 2 facilitators take the group on an interactive journey to another island. How do they interact with the potential new people they meet, what are their hopes and fears on living on the island and will they ever get back?

A full day of action, intrigue and adventure looking at the issues of transition in a safe and playful way.

Ideal for an organisation that wants to explore transition for school/ college leavers, entering into adulthood or any other transitionary experience that people may have.

Watch the DVD clip

The Secret

We take the group on a guided story using drama and music where in role as secret agents we look for the ‘secret’ to life. Using obstacles and problem solving exercises along the way, the group develop key advocacy skills such as listening, asserting themselves, speaking up and working together to find the secret before it’s too late.

A town in two halves

Using a fictitious town, we split the group in half who develop characters that live and work in the town. But when a road is proposed to be built in the town, the 2 groups form opposing views and using drama and other interactive ways to state their case at the town hall before a verdict is made. The group learn debating skills and how to articulate their opinion through a variety of forms.

Confidence close

We set our story in a fictitious road where the people living at one end of the street are very quiet and those living at the other end are far too loud. Using a structured narrative, the group examine their own behaviour and communication styles and how they affect other people in their surroundings.

I feel I see I hear

This project is a multi sensory project for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities. Using music, touch, movement and drama, the participants go on a journey of their own choosing. Any theme can be used for this project to include under the sea, the jungle, a haunted castle or even the themes of colours, etc to explore feelings and celebrating everyone’s unique communication styles.

Accredited training

All of these courses are accredited via the Open College Network through our partner, The Skills Collective. They can be accredited to either entry or level 1.

The entry level course can take place over 4-6 sessions

Level 1 course over 10 sessions.