2 July 2019

Featured article from Bulletin

This month marks the first anniversary of The Box learning journey, the free RCSLT online course for professionals working in the criminal justice sector (CJS).

Designed to help CJS professionals to identify and support individuals with communication issues, take-up of The Box has been on an international scale. Since its launch, almost 20,000 modules have been viewed, with people signing up for the course from as far afield as France, Canada, Egypt, India, Singapore, Kenya, Australia and New Zealand.

Closer to home, the Ministry of Justice has agreed to embed The Box training into their national guidance (in England and Wales) on supporting people with learning difficulties, while The Youth Justice Board has incorporated the resource into their “Best Practice Advice”.

Impact

Before starting the Box training, 48% of learners rated their knowledge of communication needs as ‘average’, ‘poor’ or ‘didn’t know’, compared with 97% who judged it to be ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ after training. Furthermore, 98.5% of learners said they would be ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ in understanding and supporting people with communication needs, and 100% would recommend the Box to colleagues.

Spurred on by these figures, the RCSLT will be using the anniversary of the Box as an opportunity to remind people of the communication needs of people at risk of offending and those who offend, across social media. We will also look to reinvigorate our relationship with the Youth Justice Board and Ministry of Justice to begin conversations about what more we can do together to provide better support to staff in the CJS.

If you are a SLT and would like to help spread the word, here are some ways you can help:

  • Share the Box with your local justice team.
  • Discuss with your team about how to make a business case to commissioners to support people with communication needs in contact with the justice system.
  • Link in with RCSLT and share your good news and developments locally.

Follow the links to find out more about The Box and about speech and language therapy in the justice sector.