Connexions Nottinghamshire consolidated a year of working with the Health Service by holding a conference. It was attended by 200 delegates from Connexions and practitioners working in health. The organisers' initial concerns that Health Service colleagues would not see attendance as a priority in times of short staffing proved unfounded.
Helene Denness, Jo Baker, Gary Longden, Greg Falola
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Indeed the conference was heavily oversubscribed with a diverse representation from the health community. Connexions staff were as keen to participate with approximately half the staff attending.
Connexions Nottinghamshire is lucky enough to have a director with a performing arts background who had given assurances that during dull moments she would 'fill' by tap dancing if required. But dull moments – there were none! From the outset delegates were positive and upbeat perhaps enthused, or that could be amused, by Helene Denness, who had gone scarily corporate for the day. Not only by wearing Connexions signature purple and orange but also by having her hair dyed to match!
The health representative on the Connexions board, Vicky Bailey, opened the conference followed by the Deputy Chief Executive Gary Longden who outlined the Connexions agenda. His use of a jigsaw to illustrate how Connexions and partnership agencies were coming together was an effective visual illustration. The Health Development Manager – Helene Denness also took centre stage with a presentation. Despite the accompanying amusing cartoons, there were moving case histories reflecting the health needs of young people.
The keynote speaker, Greg Falola, is a nationally recognised authority on work with boys and young men. His stories from the field of sexual health frequently had everyone in giggles. Greg's enthusiasm for work with boys and young men was evident; he challenged everyone to look at their preconceived ideas of boys and young men as being difficult to work with and to "...love them".
Networking between colleagues in Connexions and the Health Community was one of the main aims of the day. Many delegates identified the importance of the new contacts they had made that day.
The main part of the afternoon was given over to diverse groups of mini-presentations on topics such as loss and bereavement; health needs of looked after young people and encouraging smoking cessation in young people. The most popular presenters were probably a group of boys and young men from a local project who described their learning about sexual health by writing and performing a rap!
The day ended with an avoidance of the usual plenary session. Instead there was a drama based on presentation from the local Personal and Social Development Initiative (PSDI) team who successfully grabbed everyone's attention with a piece on bullying.
Evaluations were extremely positive with many delegates expressing a wish for more joint events and asking in advance for an invitation to next year's conference. The organisers too would consider another event particularly if given the chance to recover from co-ordinating the 200 attendees, the 28 presenters (not including the 8 young men!) and the 12 facilitators! Watch this space...
