Helping the people we work with

Below are some of the things we do so what we write or produce is clear.

• Reading Level

Aim for what a 9 year old could understand (Average UK reading age is 9). Using Hemmingwayapp.com for assessments.

• How we speak

We use plain English and only use acronyms when helpful. Our meetings can use captions to support clear communication when in noisy environments. 

We don't use automated translation services, because these can confuse or misinterpret sentences.

We do encourage the inclusion of interpreters in our meetings and training. 

• Colours

White or Yellow font. Black background.

Black and white, and black and yellow are the clearest colour pairs for most people.

Our website also supports different colour gradings and choices (using your web browsers tools) if you have different needs.

• Font sizes

Minimum 12pt. 12pt (and bigger) is a common font size used by people who prioritise making their writing to read.

• Font type

Karla.

Chosen because it is one of the most readable fonts available.

• Breaking Information into parts and sections

To help make it easier to read.

To help make information easier to scan.

To help make different points easier to focus on.

• Introduction meetings before training -

To help discuss and work with any challenges or barriers people before attending training, and give a live space to ask questions (Optional).

• Follow-up meetings and mentoring after training

To help embed what has been taught, and support trainees as they put it into practice (Optional).

• Digital and face to face

Our courses can be digital or face to face. You can tell us your preference when signing up.

• Training on your own or in a group?

When signing up for our courses or training, there are two options: 

• Doing them 'one on one' (Only you and one trainer)

• Doing them as part of a group (With up to 12 people).

Some people prefer the focus and attention of just them and a trainer. 

Other people prefer groups so they can meet and speak with other people working on Vulnerability. 

Both options are the same cost per person.

• Clear agendas, things you need and timings

This helps people know where we are, how long things will last and what is expected of them. This helps everyone prepare and engage in the parts of the training which are most relevant or valuable to them. It also helps people better focus and manage their energy.

• Breaks every 45 minutes

This helps not just focus, but also supports people needing more regular breaks when stimulated or pressured, as well as those who may need breaks for things like medical reasons or caring responsibilities.

• Open breaks

People can leave or take unscheduled breaks at any point during our training without explaining why. Doing this, and having regular scheduled breaks, really helps avoid people who need to take breaks for for things medical reasons or caring responsibilities feeling like they are standing out. 

• Training Length

Our courses lengths can be reasonably tailored. As standard, our courses start at 10am and finish at 4pm, including 1 full hour for lunch. 

This is to help include time for people to comfortably get ready for our training, and to have time to rest after our training. 

If you want different timings, please tell us.

• Free Place

For every paid place on one of our training courses, you get one extra place for free. 

Why do we do this? Some people struggle to access training because of cost. This is more likely to affect some groups of people. 

We believe these free spaces give more chance for disadvantaged people to access our training, and more incentive for organisations to support these groups.

• We work to help as many people as we reasonably can access our work and this website.

• Your internet browser has settings you are able to change which can improve internet page experiences for some people.

Some of the settings you might have are below.

• We will not list ALL settings for all browsers here. That would be unhelpful because of the amount of information listed.

• If you need more information your browser will probably have the largest amount of information to help you and the most useful information to help you.

Last updated: July 2023

➤ Browser: Internet Explorer (IE)

Change font sizes

• IE7: Select Page menu then choose the Text size option

• IE6 and below: In the View menu, select Text size

Change settings for colour and font 

1. From the Tools menu, select Internet Options

2. Select the Accessibility... button (you can find this in the bottom right of the browser)

3. Find the checkboxes you want to change and tick or untick them. Examples: your browser will ignore colours, font styles and font sizes on pages.

Stop showing images

1. From the Tools menu, choose Internet Options

2. Select the tab named Advanced (you can find this in the top right of the browser)

3. The options will include Multimedia

4. There is a checkbox labelled Show pictures. Untick this.

➤ Browser: Mozilla Firefox (Firefox)

Change font sizes

• Select the View menu, then select Text Size

Change settings for colour and font

1. For OSX Select the Firefox menu, then select Preferences

2. On other platforms: Select Tools menu, then select Options

3. Select the Content tab. 

4. To select fonts:

   1. Inside the section Fonts & Colors, select the drop-down menus then select default font and size

   2. Click Advanced…. to show a new dialog. To enforce your previous font selection, untick the checkbox Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above

5. To select colours:

   1. Inside the section Fonts & Colors, select the button Colors... 

   2. A box will now allow you to select a colour palette you want

   3. To make Firefox use this colour palette, untick the checkbox Allow pages to choose their own colours, instead of my selections above

Disable images

1. On OSX: With Firefox in focus, select the Firefox menu, then select Preferences

2. On other platforms: From the Tools menu, select Options

3. Select the Content tab

4. Untick the checkbox labelled Load images automatically

➤ Images information for people not using images

Most images on this site contain additional 'alternate' text that is stored with images. This text gives a written description of the image.

This allows people who can’t or don’t want to see images to be given similar information as visual image users. 

Cosmetic images will have a blank alternate text because this usually doesn’t help people using our pages without visual images.

➤ Further help

If this information doesn’t help you or you want more information, the webpage 'My Web my Way' includes an online guide with more accessibility information for web browsers. 

• Wellbeing Action Plans

People are encouraged, but not required, to complete wellness action plans to share with trainers before our courses or training.

This gives helps support everyones wellbeing.

• Safe Spaces

We talk about what we do to 'build' safe spaces, not 'having' safe spaces. 

What makes a space safe for one person might be different to what makes it safe for a different person.

We encourage people to tell us their needs to keep them safe. We avoid assuming what is safe.

• Trigger warnings

Where (obviously) sensitive content is listed, we work to make this clear before you are exposed to the content.

We aim to provide links to supporting services with commonly sensitive topics or areas.

In group training, we cannot control peoples behavior but we do make it clear that everyone should be treated with respect.

• Harmful Behaviours

We have an active zero tolerence approach for illegal, discriminatory and harmful behaviour.

We have open discussions expect people to have a good level of respect for trainers and other trainees.

When there are problems, we aim to support affected trainees as a priority.

• Public accountability

We work to ensure we can be held publicly accountable for what we do and how we do it.

One example, if making spaces like on Glass Door available for people to feedback on their experience of working with or for us.

If you want to see our reviews or leave one, click the link at the bottom of this page, or search on GlassDoor.co.uk

We promote and champion co-production with people with lived experience.

This helps people with lived experience have more control and influence over things which affect them, and it is extremely effective for businesses because solutions and support created by these groups are often very practical.

Our training is created using co-production and lived experience support.