Turning a past into a future – Study visit from St. Giles

In april 9 persons from St. Giles Trust came to us and KBT Vocational College in Trondheim on a study visit.  With the slogan "Turing a past into a future", they gave us  a lot of inspiration during the visit. Hopefully they got some from us too.

The power of lived experience

At the visist, Gillian from St Giles spoke about the phrase "The power of lived experience", which sounded good in our ears. We also liked how they spoke of the whole person, not just the disadvantages you can experience.

Like us, about half of the staff at St Giles have lived experience. We also think there can be great power in using lived experience helping other.

Peer advisors

While we in KBT speaks most of Peer Support Workers (payed jobs) and Peer Supporters (voluntary), St Giles spoke about peer advisors. They get training at St Giles, before they start working as peer advisors. One of the topics at the visist, was the educations at KBT Vocational College. After 3 years of higer vocational education for peer support workers, KBT Vocational College have gained some experience others can learn from. Even if the education system may be different in Wales, we hope our visitors got some knowledge of how they can start with something similar - if they want to.

We thank Taith for doing this visit possible and St Giles for good conversations and a lot of inspiration.