CPD activity examples that support equality, diversity and inclusion

I’ve been working as a paramedic for 13 years and, despite my really busy role, I’ve always tried to keep my eye out for opportunities to learn.  

Recently our Trust have provided a series of webinars to improve awareness and understanding of unconscious bias and race. The webinars provide clear and objective explanations behind the subject of Race and Ethnicity and allows you to think about how you would apply your professional judgement in the decisions and actions you take every day.  

The HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics, now require us to take action to ensure that our personal values biases and beliefs don’t lead you to discriminating against those we encounter in our roles. I found reflecting on the concept of unconscious bias helped me be more aware of the impact of my own biases in my work.  

The approach to the webinar was very interactive and non-threatening, so everyone was able to approach a tricky topic in an open way. What’s more is some of the elements were recorded so that colleagues who couldn’t join were able to watch too. 

Taking part has also made by aware of the other online resources that are available including webinars from my professional body. 

Being honest, I’ve often struggled to find the time for meaningful CPD throughout my career and I have sometimes relied too much on training courses or mandatory online training to help keep up with my requirements.  

Recently, I noticed the stresses and strains of the job and home life starting to get on top of me. When talking to a colleague I found out about an informal group of fellow colleagues who met up regularly to offload about work and learn more about mental health. As a someone who likes to brush my struggles under the carpet, I had to build up the courage to go to my first meeting, but I didn’t need to worry, everyone was friendly and non-judgemental!  

Attending the group on regular basis not only gave me practical tips on how to support my own mental health but the links, tools and materials shared at the meetings meant my awareness of mental health, particularly the struggles many men have, improved too. We were able to hear from speakers and get access to online reading materials from mental health charities. Hearing about other people’s stories and where you can get help from qualified professionals really helped. I quickly found I was able to spot some of the indicators around mental ill health more easily at work, meaning I could provide more help to the patients I was seeing.  

The help I received also sparked a need for me to give back, so me and a few of the other regular attendees approached our Trust to run an awareness session for staff. The session got some great feedback, and we’ve now got some plans to do more sessions in the new year.  

In my previous role, I was heavily involved in equality, diversity and inclusion work so I’ve never really thought of myself as someone who needed more development. But recently I found out about a toolkit launched by my professional body. The toolkit included a self-assessment and I thought it might be a good way for me to update my knowledge and challenge my assumptions.  

The new HCPC’s revised Standards of Performance and Ethics refer to being aware of your own values, biases and beliefs. Undertaking the assessment helped enormously in highlighting where my understanding was really at. I thought of myself as an expert and a real ally, and while I certainly felt competent in many areas, the toolkit helped me think about the different dimensions of diversity.  

The self-assessment was really straight forward and didn’t take too much time out of my day, but has been really beneficial for my future growth.  I’m already looking at opportunities to build my understanding in areas in the next year and reengaging as a more active ally in my work too. 

As a practitioner psychologist, I’ve always been interested in neurodiversity, but recently I’ve wanted to know more about how broader EDI themes are being considered in relation to my profession.  

My usual commute into work involves listening to history podcasts, but one morning I thought I’d see if I could get something a bit different.  

After a quick search, I’ve found a goldmine of podcasts to really help me explore EDI in relation to psychology. While naturally I always have to do some due diligence on the hosts and guests, having the opportunity to listen to different ideas and research presented in an easy listen format is perfect for me. What is more, I can take that learning straight into work and make sure I’m living up to HCPC standards! 

I’m now always on the lookout for great episodes and have started sharing the ones that resonate most on our work Whatsapp, so other colleagues can catch them too. I never really thought that undertaking CPD could be so simple and enjoyable too!