Hello all,

We don't like the term non-medical help either and have tried really hard to move away from it, calling our services Support Worker Services and our workers by the overall term of support worker, but we find that people don't know what we mean by that either.

With regard to individual role names we try and develop/re-name these on an 'as and when' basis as our practices develop and as preferred language changes. Our roles names and descriptions are based on our ideas and experience, and on assessor recommendations, to date. At the moment we are currently carrying out a full review of all our roles and names. We would like to re-name our study buddy role but we haven't come up with another name which describes the role. It doesn't seem to be like the peer mentor role described by Simon - the peer mentor description seems to be more similar to another of our roles. The type of work carried out by our study buddy may involve working with a student to support the strategies that the student has been working on with a study skills tutor or a support and guidance mentor. The study buddy is not tutoring the student, but is encouraging them to put skills into practice. I've pasted a brief description below.

Purpose of the role:

To act as a motivator to the Client, encouraging them to adjust to academic study and routine, through organisational support and reassurance.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Study Buddy must:

• Assist and encourage the Client to:

- Manage his/her time

- Prioritise and manage his/her workload

- Familiarise him/herself with the environment

- Maintain regular attendance

- Adhere to deadlines.

• Provide reassurance, help to reduce anxiety, and direct the Client to other sources of advice and support where appropriate.

• Encourage the Client to use organisational and study strategies that he/she may have learned from a Support and Guidance Mentor or Study Skills Tutor.

• Work under the direction of Clear Links, rigorously following administrative procedures.

• Demonstrate high standards of professionalism and customer care in any interaction with work partners.

Based on recommendations from needs assessors, we have been providing this type of support to NHS funded students. We heard verbally yesterday that the NHS are no longer approving it, but we have not been instructed to cease providing it to students who already receive it.

Very best wishes, Marie

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Simon Jarvis
Sent: 23 September 2010 09:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Language

Joel, Ian, I couldn't agree more.

Out of interest, can someone explain to me what a 'study buddy' actually

is? Reading Marie's email yesterday it became apparent that it isn't

necessarily the type of peer mentoring that I assumed it described. I'm

genuinely curious.

Re: study skills support, many HEIs offer generic study skills support,

and so they should. Non-subject specific dyslexia relayed study skills

support is more descriptive, but it doesn't exactly trip off the tongue.

Simon

Ian F. wrote:

> I think the language we use is very important and we seem to be going

> backwards.

> While there's nothing wrong with universities providing 'study buddy'

> schemes (or 'study skills support') free of charge for all students

> irrespective of whether or not they have a disability, when it comes

> to expecting support to be funded from the students DSA it needs to be

> very clearly stated in assessment reports etc and (summarised) in

> invoices that the charge is for specialist support aimed at helping

> the student address particular effects of a disability on

> participation in their course.

> Referring to specialist support as a 'study buddy' or even 'study

> skills support' sounds patronising and risks students not even

> bothering to make use of the support, especially students who are

> maybe already a bit reluctant to explore the potential benefits of

> using specialist assistance in their studies. Personally I would hope

> by now that HEIs have got rid of such outdated terminology in the

> context of DSA funded support.

> While it's good to avoid 'jargon' it's more important that we use

> language that does not result in students feeling patronised, that

> clearly explains to the student what they can (and cannot) expect from

> the support being recommended for them and that does not create a

> completely unnecessary risk of applications for specialist support

> being delayed/complicated through the need for additional

> correspondence with the funding body or even refused by the funding

> body because they cannot justify releasing funding according to how

> the support is described in the context of current DSA legislation.

> Hope this helps,

> Ian Francis

> On 22/09/2010 19:57, Petrie, Joel wrote:

>> Is there a general problem with the language we / Needs Assessors /

>> SFE use as professionals?

>> As an ex disabled student& now practitioner around disability I'm

>> astonished by the language we use. I'm not convinced any disabled

>> student wants a "buddy" - I think they'd prefer an effective,

>> supportive professional.

>> And don't get me started on the revolting "Non-Medical Helper" - a

>> term which seems to completely ignore the concerns of the disabled

>> people's movement and a generation of findings in Disabilty Studies.

>> Joel

>> ________________________________

>> From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.

>> on behalf of Kathy Martyn

>> Sent: Wed 22/09/2010 17:32

>> To: [log in to unmask]

>> Subject: study buddy

>> This is proving to be an interesting dialogue as we also have

>> students who need support and so far have had this funded. We do not

>> use the term study buddy, or indeed mentor in the application but

>> talk about additional support. I think it is important that in making

>> any application it is clear what the support is for without using too

>> much jargon. The context for our students have been related to

>> students with ongoing MH and support in practice placements as they

>> make the transition from service user to student to health care

>> professional. We make it very explicit what the role entails and so

>> far have always managed. It will be useful in this new academic year

>> to see what happens as we have students currently applying for NHS

>> bursary DSA

>> Kathy Martyn

>> Principal Lecturer/Disability Liaison Tutor

>> SNM

>> University of Brighton

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Simon Jarvis

Head of Disability & Dyslexia Service

Queen Mary University of London

Student and Campus Services

Room FB 2.30, Francis Bancroft

Mile End Road , London E1 4NS

Tel: 020 7882 2765

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