Education and Research Facilitator, Laura Parbery-Gray reflects on her transition from DESMOND Educator to Assessor.

Laura Parbery-Gray

Six years ago, Laura Parbery-Gray trained as a DESMOND Educator for Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She now works in DESMOND's head office at Leicester Diabetes Centre (LDC), having transitioned from Educator to national Trainer and Assessor. Laura shares her reflections on this transition:

“When I first trained as a DESMOND Educator, I learned about the philosophies and learning theories that support the delivery of DESMOND. The main thing I took from the training into my practice was the DESMOND behaviours. I was fortunate to work with a team of passionate Diabetes Educators who routinely used the DESMOND behaviours within their day-to-day sessions, so it was easy for me to put my training into practice.

“Since joining the team at LDC, I have had the opportunity to observe several mentor and Quality Development (QD) sessions and it suddenly made sense why the behaviours are so important, and the experience that the participants get when they are not used.

“While observing Educators who use more of an ‘expert’ role, I have noticed the timings and quality of the delivery are impacted. The session becomes more didactic, and I can sense the energy in the room feels more formal and ‘school-like’ and it can feel very long. The session can often overrun when participants present questions that the Educator then answers with their ‘expert hat’ on.

“Before starting my new role, I didn’t fully understand the importance of the ‘dot test’. Through observing the sessions by other Educators and using the ‘dot test’, I now understand why it’s so important. When an educator is doing most of the talking, it can often be because they haven’t asked an open question or checked in to see “what does everyone else think?” or again, they have gone into that ‘expert’ role. When the participants don’t get many opportunities to speak, the energy of the session feels very different compared to a person-centred approach where participants share their experiences and opinions, learn from each other and are generally more engaged.

“One thing that has stood out since joining DESMOND’s head office is that Educators are truly supported while going through the QD process. The Assessors do want the Educators to pass! If there is an area highlighted as needing support, the Assessor will put in the time and effort to talk this through and discuss what they can do going forward. Personally from an Educator's point of view, this has been reassuring to see.

“Refresher sessions are offered to Educators every three years following accreditation and I am now co-delivering parts of this training (along with core training to new Educators) and it’s been refreshing to see the person-centred approach resonate again with Educators, some of whom have perhaps reverted into more of an ‘expert’ role since being accredited and may then re-evaluate their approach.

“The biggest observation I have made is the passion people have to want the very best for their participants, and in that, we are all in this together.”

To find out more about DESMOND’s Quality Development process, visit: www.desmond.nhs.uk/quality-development