The proactive use of wellbeing workshops for people with learning disabilities

Given the limited research around supporting the wellbeing of adults with learning disabilities through proactively employing psychological intervention, the aim of this research was to introduce wellbeing workshops into a Learning Disabilities service and to evaluate their impact on wellbeing. Eight two-session wellbeing workshops were implemented across four day centres. Each group consisted of three to six adults with learning disabilities, with a total of 29 attendees. Fourteen attendees completed pre, post, and six-week follow-up adapted PHQ-9 and GAD-7 questionnaires. Attendees and staff completed feedback surveys. Results indicated that the wellbeing workshops reduced mean PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores. Qualitative feedback showed both staff and attendees felt there were several benefits of the group amongst other findings. Easy to read summary ■ Very little information has been found out about supporting the wellbeing of people with learning disabilities. ■ To support wellbeing, the service ran eight groups of wellbeing workshops (two sessions each). Twenty-nine people attended in total. ■ Fourteen people answered questions on their mood/wellbeing before and after the workshop, and six weeks after the workshop. ■ The wellbeing workshops seemed to improve people’s mood/wellbeing. People said that they found the workshops helpful and learnt a lot.