Kisharon Langdon Members Help Shape Better Healthcare Across the NHS

People supported by Kisharon Langdon are taking on an extraordinary new role – delivering vital training to NHS staff as part of the mandatory Oliver McGowan programme. This government-backed training ensures that every healthcare professional learns how best to support individuals with learning disabilities and autistic people. What sets this training apart is that it is co-delivered by people with lived experience, including the people we support at Kisharon Langdon.

To date, six members have undertaken specialist paid training to become certified trainers, and now travel independently to hospitals and clinics to share their voices. In three-hour sessions, they speak directly to doctors, nurses and other professionals, explaining from their own perspective what makes a healthcare experience positive or challenging. They are joined by a professional facilitator from the Oliver McGowan team, who oversees the training.

Chaim Dovid, for example, works at Ellern Mede Clinic, a specialist centre for people with eating disorders.
“I enjoy my job because staff really listen,” he said. “They tell me they learn more from me than from books. It makes me feel proud and useful.”
The feedback from NHS staff has been outstanding. Many describe the sessions as invaluable and say they gain insights they could never get from a textbook – only from hearing firsthand from someone with lived experience.

Nicky Marks, Senior Ward Administrator at Ellern Mede, says:
“Working alongside the Kisharon Langdon trainers has been an inspiring experience. Their openness and honesty help our staff see beyond clinical care to the person behind the patient. The sessions they deliver have transformed how our team understands and communicates with people with learning disabilities. Hearing directly from someone with lived experience brings the training to life in a way that no textbook ever could.”

For Kisharon Langdon members, taking on this role is a remarkable achievement. To be employed as certified trainers within the NHS – delivering mandatory, national training to doctors, nurses and healthcare staff – is not only a high-profile job, but one that carries real influence and purpose. Our members are at the heart of shaping how healthcare professionals across the country understand and support people with learning disabilities.

Debbie Rees, Kisharon Langdon’s Assistant Director of Programming, Employment & Social Enterprise, says:
“It is a position of responsibility, dignity and pride. The people we support are recognised as experts by experience, respected for their knowledge, and valued as equals in the workplace. For many, this has been life-changing – bringing independence, self-confidence and the chance to make a tangible difference to the lives of others.”

At the same time, their work carries an extra layer of meaning: they are a voice in the wider community, representing not only themselves but proudly showing how members of the Jewish learning disability and autism community contribute to society at large. At Kisharon Langdon, we could not be prouder of the achievements of those we support, whose voices are being heard and valued at the highest levels of the NHS