How are SHEP Community Short Course Place Offers made?

Where a course is over-subscribed, subject to readiness, priority is given to applicants who:

1. Are in receipt of a disability or welfare payment
2. Are from a disadvantaged group/area (e.g. Direct Provision, early school leaver)
3. For whom this is their first time doing a course with SHEP
4. Have expressed their need (e.g. Development, Anxiety, depression, loss, trauma ….)
5. Are being referred by a practitioner (e.g. GP, Counsellor, OT, Health team …)
6. Are being referred from a community center or organization

Attention is then given to gender balance and date order of applications.

The Application Process

• Applications are only processed when submitted on a completed Application Form
• We will deal directly with all applicants – When a person makes an enquiry on behalf of another person, with sensitivity to the need for support, we advise that we need to speak directly to the applicant.

Applicants will be notified in advance (usually circa a week) regarding decisions about places, whether they have secured a place or if they are on a waiting list

Readiness to Participate

Along with the above weighting, readiness of a person to participate is an important thing to consider when forming experiential learning groups. There are five aspects to consider when making decisions about readiness to participate and to continue to participate in an experiential learning course:

• Willingness and capacity to engage in a group.
• Willingness and capacity to begin to reflect on experience.
• Willingness and capacity to explore ideas.
• Sufficient wellness to participate in a group
• Sufficient ability to communicate in English

Where a person themselves, or the Project wish to check out readiness to participate on a particular course, the co-ordinator will arrange to talk this through and possibly meet, with the applicant