It is just over two years since the first cohort of Makaton Ambassadors were asked to become Ambassadors.
As Ambassadors we all undertake different tasks around different skills sets or areas of interest and knowledge. We have regular meetings online with senior management along with the Senior Tutors to discuss and update different matters. Being a Makaton Ambassador is a voluntary role and we all do our best to fit this around other family and work commitments.
There are many different duties and projects to work on as Ambassadors. Some of these over the past years have included:
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Updating the Safeguarding Workshop and the Safeguarding Train the Trainer course for Tutors to attend
- Supporting and mentoring the second cohort of Trainee Ambassadors
- Supporting the wider Makaton Tutor, Trainer and community network through emails, telephone calls and monitoring MakaChat on the Hub
- Trialling and developing different software programmes and providing feedback
- Updating resources available to Trainers and Tutors regarding Makaton Signing for Babies and Families. Introducing a Makaton Trainer MakaChat area, network, study days and logo polo shirts
- Supporting the Makaton Charity virtually and face to face with events such as study days and fundraising events
- Sharing ideas of how to fill any gaps there may be in available resources and Makaton signs and symbols (and developing and producing the resources)
- As a team we share ideas on how to raise the profiles of different schemes or areas of training and practise our signing and symbol knowledge together
There are so many different ways to support and move The Makaton Charity forward as a team and a community. The main barrier I have found is that there don’t seem to be enough hours in the day to fit everything in! It is really exciting to see how The Makaton Charity is shaping and developing to become a sustainable service for the future whilst responding to the needs of our Makaton community and their environments. I for one am very proud to be part of that team to shape things.