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Coronavirus (COVID-19)

30th March 2020 – 13.30

As you are aware, we cannot offer any face to face courses at present and we are unsure how long this situation will last.

We have been running our core training and other courses online using Zoom and although there are a few technical glitches at the start of the day whilst getting everyone up and running,  it is  working well.   Whilst it is not the same as face to face, we are all in a position where we are being forced to work online and students are finding this is helping them get used to the technology and learn and engage in a different way.  A student from our Advanced TA training course gave this feedback from the training module this weekend.

“A huge thanks for the efforts you have put into providing a safe and engaging online learning environment for us this weekend. It appeared seamless and very slick and you demonstrated beautifully how this current environment demands change, and that such change is possible at breakneck speed! I have learnt so much about working online this weekend which I can take to supporting my clients.”  Amy

We are running some low cost (choose ticket level) TA Tuesday Talks, in order that we can stay connected – Tune in on Tuesday 30th when the topic is Psychobiological Hungers.  In addition, Leilani and Mark are taking part in a number of Onlinevents CPD talks (donation) with the next event being Mark talking on Dealing with Trauma using TA on Thursday 2nd April at 6pm.  Leilani had 209 attendees at her talk this morning on Anxiety and TA.

We will be contacting those who have booked onto our April Working with Groups course in the next couple of days.

19th March 2020 – 11.15

Further to the government announcement yesterday regarding the closure of schools and colleges, Plumpton College, the location of our training courses, will be closing down the college premises for face to face tuition from 5pm on Friday 20th March, until further notice.  We are delivering our core training modules using the Online platform Zoom and current students (Diploma in Supervision and Diploma in TA Counselling/Psychotherapy courses) should have received full details from us.

We are currently looking at delivering our April workshops using Zoom and will be contacting those who have booked onto those workshops as soon as we can.

16th March 2020 – 19.15

We find ourselves in unchartered territory with the corona virus outbreak and the latest government announcements. We are working hard to deliver some of our training using an online platform.  This allows face to face contact with the rest of the group and the tutor, sight of powerpoints, break-out rooms for smaller discussion groups, group and individual chat.

We are firstly working on the training courses running during the remainder of March.

• Our Wellbeing Evening on 18th March is cancelled. Please email us, with a contact number, if you were planning to come to the evening to discuss our counselling/psychotherapy training.  We will then contact you.
• If you have booked onto a course, we will be contacting you very shortly, if we haven’t done so already, with more information.
• For those on our part-time counselling/psychotherapy courses, with a training weekend on 28th/29th March, we will update you as soon as we can this week.
• It appears that this is not going to be over for quite a long while.  If you have booked overnight accommodation for any of our courses in April or May, we would suggest that look carefully at their cancellation policy and make a note of the refund / cancellation dates and cancel in good time.

13^th March 2020 

We are closely monitoring government advice regarding the current health situation and the impact this may have on our training provision.

At the moment, our courses are going ahead.  However, in line with government advice, if you have had the recent onset of a new continuous cough and/or a high temperature and are booked onto an upcoming course, please let us know and please don’t come to the Link Centre.  Please look after yourself and keep safe.

Although a lot of the following will already be familiar, just to reiterate the advice on the website on 13^th March from Public Health England:-

  The advice for anyone in any setting is to follow these main guidelines.

1. The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of a new continuous cough and/or high temperature. If you have these symptoms, however mild, stay at home and do not leave your house for 7 days from when your symptoms started. You do not need to call NHS 111 to go into self-isolation. If your symptoms worsen during home isolation or are no better after 7 days, contact NHS 111 online. If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.
2. Wash your hands more often than usual, for 20 seconds using soap and hot water, particularly after coughing, sneezing and blowing your nose, or after being in public areas where other people are doing so. Use hand sanitiser if that’s all you have access to.
3. To reduce the spread of germs when you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, or your sleeve (not your hands) if you don’t have a tissue, and throw the tissue away immediately. Then wash your hands or use a hand sanitising gel.
4. Clean and disinfect regularly touched objects and surfaces using your regular cleaning products to reduce the risk of passing the infection on to other people.

Our courses are based at Plumpton College and Plumpton College have issued a statement on their website.  https://www.plumpton.ac.uk/our-college/news/coronavirus-update-2020-4713/  A lot of this relates specifically to their students, but it talks about the responsibility of us all to follow good hygiene practice and to follow government and NHS advice. They also talk about their increased cleaning activity in high traffic and contact areas.

Behind the scenes we are planning for various potential outcomes and whilst at the moment it is business as usual, taking the necessary precautions, things can change very quickly.

We will update you as soon as we can if you have booked onto one of our courses.  If you are planning on coming to the Wellbeing Evenings, please check our website before you set out and don’t come if you are ill as per above advice.