Dear South East colleagues,

We’re delighted to announce today our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Skill Development Sessions, a learning and development package by NHS England South East Region. These sessions are open to all staff working in the NHS healthcare setting in the South East region. This includes but is not limited to NHS Trusts, Primary Care and ICBs. These sessions will increase your confidence in identifying non-inclusive practice. They will help foster good relations between NHS staff. They will help you create inclusive, compassionate workplace cultures and improve retention.

Please feel free to forward this email onto your staff members, advertise in local bulletins and help us spread the word.

Session Overviews

LGBT+: Definitions, minorities, minorities within minorities 
We will explore the different terms we use in the LGBT+ space. We will learn about less visible groups within the LGBT+ communities. We will learn about research evidence on the experiences of LGBT+ people. We will finish by discussing current affairs and how they’re impacting LGBT+ communities. There will also be a quiz to test your learning!

Inclusive communication (Disability and Language)
An introduction to the medical and social models of disability. We will reflect on the words we use to talk about disability. We’ll explore how we can use more empowering language when talking about disability and disabled people. By watching engaging videos created by disabled people, we’ll rethink our own biases and challenge stereotypes.

Digital accessibility 
How to create accessible communications for disabled or neurodivergent people. How to write accessible emails, documents and messages when using Outlook, PowerPoint, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Teams. These tools can also support the health and wellbeing of all colleagues who spend long hours in front of a computer. 

Microaggressions and allyship
What do we mean by microaggressions? How do they show up in the workplace? Allyship, privilege and what allyship means to different people. This session includes guest speakers who work in the NHS who will share their lived experiences of microaggressions. How can we move from being a bystander to an ally? How do we increase our confidence in speaking up when we witness microaggressions? This session covers race, religion, sex and other marginalised communities too.

Feedback from Previous Participants

  • “Powerful, relatable, personal stories that illustrated microaggressions are even more widespread than I had thought.”
  • “I liked the phrase in one video in that it is OK to not understand, but take time to find out.”
  • “I learnt a lot about how diverse the LGBTQ+ community is. I found this really reassuring in terms of feeling equipped to think and talk about this topic.”

Registration Link

Please register using our Skill Development Sessions Registration form.