Finally, the day came where we could celebrate Bild’s 10 years anniversary. We joined other PBS supporters, practitioners and businesses interested in BPS in the wonderful city Glasgow. Bringing renowned Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) speakers from across the globe to The DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central, the conference was exploring the theme ‘The evolving world of PBS: moving forward together’.
The conference was a thrilling chance for delegates to meet, share best practice, and debate new developments in the field of PBS. For the very first time they would publicly reveal, the newly updated UK definition of PBS in a keynote by Dr Nick Gore (Tizard Centre) and Suzi Sapiets (University of Warwick).
Thanks to a host of workshops, we were able to develop specific technical skills around PBS, as well as bringing innovative ideas into practice and of course there was a host of great networking opportunities.
This year we were excited to welcome Professor Rob Horner and Professor Kent McIntosh of the University of Oregon, hearing them speak about the evolution of PBS, as well as shining a light on inequalities and unconscious bias.
It was a delight that Charlie McMillan, Chief Executive of the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability (SCLD), gave this year’s opening on the Tuesday of the event, the first full day of the conference. There was also an evening cèilidh supported by Indepen-dance, the award-winning inclusive dance company! This was a lot of fun. So much that a participant danced himself to an injury. A bit of drama is always needed to make a complete event.
A keynote from Dr Tom Tutton and Emma Gallagher from Aspect Australia highlighted the importance of co-production in PBS and we discussed how to do it well.
We also had the opportunity to see Dr Darren Bowring present his research on quality of life. A very interesting presentation.
Viv Cooper OBE and Elly Chapple from the Challenging Behaviour Foundation (CBF) shared insights into trauma and the impact on families, and Professor Kathy Lowe talked about her lifetime of work in PBS.
This was a very interesting couple of days that I only can recommend, should anyone have the chance to join for a future event.
We learned a lot and the discussion about co-production was especially for us interesting to be a part of, since we believe this is the way forward. But how?
This is always the 1-million-pound question. How to we challenge the care sector to an extent where co-production is accepted nationwide?
My final words will be.
PBS is clearly the way forward – in my humble opinion - but there is still a lot of ground to cover, before PBS is accepted and incorporated into the care sector to an extend where we believe changes, throughout the industry will be inevitable. But if we work together and we keep up the good work we do, then we will succeed.
