{"id":13197,"date":"2026-08-19T11:40:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T10:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/fvpp\/?page_id=13197"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:53:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:53:52","slug":"learning-and-development-team-adults-services","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/fvpp\/learning-and-development-team-adults-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning and Development Team (Adults Services)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learning and Development Team (Adult Social Work and Social Care Services) <\/strong><\/h3>\n

About the Team
\n<\/strong><\/big>We are passionate about helping colleagues develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to thrive in their roles and deliver high-quality support. From induction and mandatory training to professional qualifications, and specialist learning opportunities, we support workforce development holistically across Adult Services. Below you’ll find a short introduction to each member of the team, their role, and how they contribute to supporting learning and development across our services.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Zayna Sarwar<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/big><\/h3>\n
\"Zayna<\/div>\n

Learning and Development Manager, Adult Services
\nzayna.sarwar@falkirk.gov.uk<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/big><\/small><\/p>\n

I joined the Learning and Development team in October 2025 as the Learning and Development Manager for Adult Services.<\/p>\n

I am a qualified social worker with experience in children and adult services. I also hold a Postgraduate Certificate in Adult Support and Protection, Self-Directed Support, and Citizenship. This academic foundation supported my work as an Adult Protection social worker across multiple council areas, where I led training initiatives for newly qualified staff and managed complex, high-risk public protection cases.<\/p>\n

In recent years, I served as a Professional Social Work Advisor at the Scottish Social Services Council. In this role, I led engagement with internal and external stakeholders, produced reports on public protection, and influenced policy development, including learning and development strategies. My responsibilities also included drafting Fitness to Practice conditions, reviewing return-to-practice reports, and supporting further and higher education institutions with early intervention fitness-to-practice issues.<\/p>\n

I have a strong interest in innovation, adult support and protection, relationship-based practice, and neurodiversity. I believe that learning is most effective when it is tailored to individual needs and fostered through meaningful relationships and high-quality interactions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Diane McLean<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/big><\/h3>\n
\"Diane<\/div>\n

Training Officer, Adult Services<\/strong>
\ndiane.mcewen@falkirk.gov.uk<\/a>
\nI joined the Learning and Development Team in 2025 as a Training Officer, supporting the workforce across the breadth of adult services.<\/p>\n

My career began when I was appointed manager of a charity supporting children and families affected by autism. During this time, I graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University with a BA Honors Degree in Social Science, specialising in Psychology with Sociology.<\/p>\n

In 2016, I moved into adult social care as a Positive Behaviour Support Advisor providing specialist support for people with complex behaviours and additional support needs. This included learning disabilities, autism, mental health and criminal justice services. I have a Diploma in Practice Leadership in Positive Behaviour Support and a certificate in Behaviours Support Practices from the Institute of Applied Behavioural Analysis. I am also Makaton trained to level 4.<\/p>\n

Reducing Restrictive Practice is something I am passionate about and in 2019 collectively received the award for \u2018Highly Innovative Practice in Restraint Reduction (Social Care Setting)\u2019 via the Restraint Reduction Network.<\/p>\n

I am keen to support the continuous professional development of others. I gained my BILD Active Support Coaches Award supporting staff through Practice Leadership awards and mentored a management award in Positive Behaviour Support via Glasgow Caledonian University (level 9).<\/p>\n

To further my knowledge, I completed my Mental Health in the Community award through the School of Forensic Mental Health as well as gaining a certificate in Keeping Trauma in Mind, A Solihull Approach. I have also obtained my Level 4 Advanced People Handling & Risk Assessment Key Trainer\u2019s certificate via Edge Services.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Helen O\u2019loughlin<\/strong><\/h3>\n


\n<\/strong>Training Officer<\/strong>
\nhelen.oloughlin@falkirk.gov.uk<\/a>
\nI joined the Learning and Development Team in 2007 as Training Officer for the Care and Support at Home service.<\/p>\n

My current remit includes training delivery in Moving & Handling of People, Reablement, Induction and supporting the service with any other requests for training.<\/p>\n

I started my career in Nursing, with a slight detour into the Wound Care industry for a couple of years. Laterally I was a Charge Nurse in a community residential care home in Glasgow for 14 years prior to moving to Falkirk Council. I have always had a special interest in learning and development, delivering the training to the residential care home staff while also managing the unit.<\/p>\n

I gained my D32\/33 SVQ Assessor award in April 2002 while nursing, as the company I worked with were very proactive in supporting care staff to gain their award prior to SSSC registration requirement. I was an Edge Services accredited trainer in People Handling throughout my Nursing career.<\/p>\n

I moved full time into Learning and Development with Falkirk Council in January 2007.<\/p>\n

I have continued my own learning, supported by the local authority, gaining a Diploma in Training and Development in October 2011, an HNC in Learning and Development in July 2014 and SVQ Internal Verifier award in June 2015. I also continue to maintain Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) accreditation in People Handling and Risk Assessment with Edge services, renewed in March 2025.<\/p>\n

I gain a lot of satisfaction supporting workers to develop and find their own career pathway in Health and Social Care.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mairi Russell<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/big><\/h3>\n
\"Mairi<\/div>\n

Training Officer, Adult Services<\/strong>
\nmairi.russell@falkirk.gov.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

I joined Falkirk Council Learning and Development Team in 2024 as a Training Officer for Adult Services.<\/p>\n

My remit includes workforce development in Reablement, Behaviour Support Strategies, People Handling, as well as any other service needs.<\/p>\n

My career began when I qualified in nursing – gaining a dual qualification-Bachelor of Arts \/ Registered General Nurse. I worked in the UK, then overseas hospitals in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and Bermuda. On returning to the UK,\u00a0 I gained teaching skills working in the Airline Industry \u2013 training airline staff in Aviation 1st<\/sup> Aid, Customer Service and Safety Procedures.<\/p>\n

Following this, I taught in Scottish colleges, gaining a Diploma in Further Education and an SVQ Assessor award. I then combined my nursing experiences and educational skills transitioning into Social Care training.<\/p>\n

I facilitated care staff learning in both private Care Homes, and domiciliary settings.<\/p>\n

Promoting and supporting continuous professional development is something I continue to be\u00a0 enthusiastic about.\u00a0 I have a special interest in Elderly Care\/ Dementia and completed the Best Practice in Dementia Care -Group Facilitator course at Stirling University\u2019s Iris Murdoch Centre. I attend online and face to face educational events to stay current in these practices<\/p>\n

Mairi Russell (BA RGN Dip FE )<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Relevant Links:<\/strong> Adult Support and Protection Training Calendar 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Zayna Sarwar<\/strong>
\nLearning and Development Manager (Adult Services)
\nzayna.sarwar@falkirk.gov.uk<\/a>
\nThe Foundry, 4 Central Park Ave, Central Blvd, Larbert, FK5 4RU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learning and Development Team (Adult Social Work and Social Care Services) About the Team We are passionate about helping colleagues develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to thrive in their roles and deliver high-quality support. From induction and mandatory training to professional qualifications, and specialist learning opportunities, we support workforce development holistically across …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79224,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13197","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/fvpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/fvpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/fvpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/fvpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/fvpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13197"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/fvpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13226,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/fvpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13197\/revisions\/13226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/fvpp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}