“It’s the power of simply being heard“

At Talking Mats, we’re passionate about supporting mental well-being through better communication. Over the years, we’ve explored a wide range of mental health topics—sharing insights, resources, and real-world experiences to help individuals, families, and professionals navigate emotional well-being more effectively.

To mark World Mental Health Day (or just to celebrate the power of thoughtful conversation), we’ve curated a list of our Top 10 Mental Health Blogs. These posts reflect the heart of what we do: listening with empathy, empowering choice, and giving people the tools to express how they truly feel.

We hope this collection inspires reflection, understanding, and meaningful dialogue around mental health.

You can also access the blogs listed above by clicking the following links:

Thank you to Lisa Jackson, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with Stockport NHS FT for this blog.

How inclusive is your approach to therapy goals or decisions around communication support for clients? Lisa describes a situation that most therapists, support workers will have encountered over the years and offers a way to listen to the most important people in the therapy process.

I have been a speech and language therapist for 14 years working for the NHS. My caseload consists of primary and secondary aged children who have a range of communication needs. I specialise in the area of Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) and, as a Talking Mats Licensed trainer, I am passionate about capturing the voice of the children, young people and their families.   

Like many professionals, I strive to work in co-production with the service user and the team around them to provide holistic intervention. There are many barriers which can affect a professional delivering a truly person-centred approach and often decisions regarding interventions are completed without consulting the client and their family. 

Talking Mats is a powerful tool to capture the thoughts and opinions of the children and young people. It enables service users to engage in conversations and most importantly, empowers them to influence change and the interventions they receive.  

Case Study: Matthew : age 17 years.  An AAC user and keen gamer. 

• Matthew has a syndrome that affects his cognition, motor skills, social skills, and speech and language.   

• He communicates using a variety of methods including speech and gesture.  

• He recently received an iPad with a text based communication app to augment his spoken communication. 

In Primary School Matthew was given a paper based communication book but it was noted that he did not often use this.  

In Secondary Matthew was assessed for and given an electronic communication device.  He kept this when he transitioned to College. 

At College, staff noted he didn’t take his device out of his bag.  This contrasted with home where Mum said he used it to aid his communication. At this time Matthew was becoming less engaged in Speech and Language Therapy and his awareness of his communication difficulty was increasing. 

On reflection it became clear that Matthew had never been actively involved in the decision-making process around his communication.  Therapy had always “been done to him” and targets had been set “for him” which had led to AAC abandonment in the past. 

A Talking Mat was used to explore his thoughts and feelings about his communication.  

We explored Matthew’s views regarding his device and his spoken communication. Matthew engaged with Talking Mats and was able to contribute his thoughts, feelings and opinions in detail. Alongside the Talking Mat, he used spoken communication and typed sentences on his communication device to expand on his points. 

The key points Matthew shared were: 

Communication device

He likes his communicaiton device, but he doesn’t know how to initiate a conversation / what to say

He finds using his device difficult with new people in the community and when starting a conversation

He finds using his device easy when having a laugh and everyday chat

Speech

Speech is difficult in the community

Speech is difficult when trying to maintain a conversation

Speech is easy at home, when having a laugh, and for general chat.

This demonstrates the importance of gaining the voice of the service user as his reluctance to use his device had been misinterpreted as him not wanting to use it. After exploring his views, this was found not to be the case. 

Matthew was then asked what he wanted to happen from the information given and he independently set his own outcomes for therapy: 

• To widen his friendship circle.  

• To learn to start conversations. 

• To have support with access to gaming.  

• To meet other people who use AAC.  

Following the conversation, the desired outcomes and how they were going to be achieved were discussed with Matthew and the team. THe focus of therapy changed to work on his social skills. The outcomes have been added to his Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). He was signposted to gaming charities and social events for people who use AAC.  

Conclusion  

Without using Talking Mats, the outcome for Matthew could’ve been very different, with his thoughts not being acknowledged or explored appropriately.  Talking Mats has given Matthew a voice to communicate his wishes. Talking Mats empowered Matthew to generate his own outcomes, to influence and drive the focus of his intervention.  

Our Advanced Online module is available to anyone who has completed Foundation Training.

If you are interested in becoming Talking Mats Foundation trained:

The first week of January is barely over and we are about to tantalise you with 3 new Advanced online training sessions. 

This format has proved very effective to introduce and support the use of our new Advanced Resources for those already trained in Talking Mats.  Between February and June we will hold Advanced online training for;

• Sexual Health and Relationships
• Thinking Ahead * new edition for 2025
• Capacity – a resource to enable supported decision making.

What does the Advanced training look like?

• It is delivered live via Teams and facilitated by expert practitioners in the field
• The numbers are limited to allow interactive activities and discussion.
• It aims to improve skills and application for practice.
• It lasts for 3hrs (comfort breaks are included!)

What does it include?

• Why this resource is needed.
• How to use the Resource in practice.
• The opportunity to reflect and consider the impact of using this resource.
• Questions and feedback.

Cost?

£95 including resource

February to June 2025.  .

• 5^th February  1.00pm – 3.30pm – Sexual Health and Relationships  SOLD OUT! New dates coming soon
• 19^th March  9.30am – 12.30pm – Thinking Ahead 2025 edition.
• 24^th April 9.30am – 12.30pm – Capacity, enabling supported decision making. (date to be confirmed)

There are 30 places available for each event on sale in the shop on our website.  

You will only have access to the Advanced training if you have completed the Foundation Training and have an account on our website.  If you are unsure or cannot see the Advanced training in the shop please contact info@talkingmats.com

Want to come on the Advanced Training but not yet Foundation Trained?   Find out how to make 2025 the year you become a Talking Mats practitioner.

‘Communication requires more than just an exchange of words. When done correctly, it builds bonds and improves trust. The training has allowed me to not make assumptions about what somebody is thinking. I feel I am now more able to listen to what someone is telling me and summarise and feedback this information accurately.’ 

(Particpant Manchester training) 

‘I was a very skeptical convert to Talking Mats now Talking Mats is our team’s second language’ 

(Team leader Perth and Kinross Council) 

These are just 2 quotes from participants who have completed our Foundation Training, but the page could have been filled with testimonials. We get such enthusiastic feedback that it would be wrong not to share it!  We are very pleased to confirm that 

• we have 2 new venues for our Face to Face Foundation Training for 2025,  

• and we have increased the number of delegates we can support on our Online Foundation Training,  

This will allow us to welcome more participants into the Talking Mats community.

Foundation Training 

Face to Face: 

We have 2 new venues for our ever-popular face to face training; 

Glasgow – Robertson House, Bath Street.  February 25^th  

London – Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy Headquarters, April 8^th  

This is in addition to our course in Manchester at the St Thomas Centre, February 6^th. 

Courses run from 9.30am to 4.30pm and with lunch and refreshments provided.

Jess Lane will deliver the training in Glasgow and London. 

Laura Holmes will deliver the training in Manchester.

To find out more about what is involved in the one day course and the venues . 

Online: 

We have increased the number of participants able to take part in our online Foundation Training and as always support is provided by a Talking Mats Tutor to guide you through the modules to gain your certificate.  These courses have a start date every month: 

• January 6^th 

• February 4^th 

• March 4^th  

• April 1^st  

There are various options to choose from when booking training, from training only to training with resource pack.  Our website shop shows all the options in one place.   

Finally, let’s have one more quote about the impact of Talking Mats from a young person who worked with his clinician to help him in school; 

“when I see my mat I understand myself more” 

We are delighted to share a poster from Licenced Trainers Brid Corrigan and Libby Mills of NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, and Student Speech and Language Therapist Heather Pollock, developed as part of an Impact Project with the University of Strathclyde.

The poster reports on an evaluation of the impact of Talking Mats training on clinical practice across several Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in and around Glasgow. We were thrilled to hear the poster had been accepted at the Solving the Mental Health Crisis: Global Solutions Across the Lifespan Conference, held on Friday 21st June.

The project demonstrates how Talking Mats can be used by several members of the multidisciplinary team to build rapport and set goals with young people in both the inpatient and community CAMHS setting. A huge well done to everyone involved in the project for shining a light on how Talking Mats can help to hear the young person’s voice as part of their CAMHS journey.

Talking Mats is delighted to welcome a new Training Associate, Jess Lane. Jess has written this blog to introduce herself to the Talking Mats community. Welcome, Jess, we’re thrilled to have you as part of team TM!

Hello! My name is Jess and I am thrilled to be introducing myself as a newly appointed Training Associate for Talking Mats.   

About Me

I am a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with a clinical background in Learning Disabilities and Paediatric Mental Health. I also work for the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) as a Research and Outcomes Officer, where I help to build research capacity, capability and culture within the profession. I am currently studying towards a Clinical Doctorate in Professional Health Studies, looking at the use of Talking Mats for facilitating the direct and meaningful involvement of children in care planning.    

Talking Mats has been a huge part of my career to date. This began in my hometown of Gloucester, where I worked as an SLT in an Intensive Support Service for children and adults with learning disabilities. Changes in my personal circumstances saw me relocate to Scotland in 2022, where I worked across Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) Services in and around Glasgow. Most recently, I worked at a National Child Inpatient Psychiatric Unit (CIPU), supporting children with severe and enduring mental illnesses.

Talking Mats in CAMHS  

Since completing my Licenced Training last year, I have been working with Talking Mats to deliver Foundation Training for CAMHS teams across the UK, as well as driving an upskilling initiative for Specialist Children’s Services locally in Glasgow. I have found that Talking Mats provides children with a safe space to explore topics that they might otherwise feel unable to communicate about, in a way that is highly supportive, sensitive and impactful. This is encompassed by feedback from a recent patient, who wanted to share that “using a Talking Mat is easier than talking because talking about how you feel can be difficult”.

Many of the children admitted to CIPU present with transient communication difficulties that can exacerbate the impact of mental ill health. Some children present with underlying communication difficulties that were not apparent in the community setting. Other children do not present with communication difficulties, but find it extremely difficult to think about, or share their views on, sensitive topics. Because of this, Talking Mats have been used extensively by the multidisciplinary team on CIPU to:

• Facilitate the direct involvement of patients in goal setting and care planning
• Adapt and extend traditional mental health inventions, including talking therapies
• Support capacity assessments, assessments of mental state and medication reviews
• Improve engagement with local advocacy services as part of the CTO process
• Adapt and extend assessments such as the Child Occupational Self-Assessment Tool
• Improve access to psychoeducation for patients with anxiety and/or depression 
• Improve engagement with meal planning for patients with an eating disorder
• Support the differential diagnosis process for mental illnesses such as catatonia

Using Talking Mats in an acute mental health setting has transformed the way clinicians from across Nursing, Psychiatry, Dietetics, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Psychology engage with the children about their care and treatment. Feedback from the clinical team, children and their parents/carers has been overwhelmingly positive. Talking Mats are now used routinely on the unit to support children’s access to (and engagement with) therapeutic intervention as part of their wider recovery, as well as ahead of all multidisciplinary team meetings and case conferences to ensure each child’s voice is heard and acted upon.

I am so pleased to have joined the Talking Mats team and am very much looking forward to supporting other people to use Talking Mats in a range of settings. Stay tuned for a follow up blog on how I have used Talking Mats as part of a post-diagnostic package of support for autistic children and young people, designed to support more focussed, strengths-based conversations around what it means to be autistic, in line with the core principles of neurodiversity affirming practice.

Thank you to Joan Murphy and Jill Bradshaw for this blog that demonstrates the criteria required for a Talking Mat to be a Talking Mat.

Talking Mats is now an established tool to help people express their views but the way in which is it used can vary and, at times, practitioners may adopt a ‘Talking Mats approach’ which is not truly a Talking Mat.  

One of the activities of the Talking Mats Research Network was to establish the criteria which define a ‘true’ Talking Mat and we hope this blog will help clarify that. 

The main components of a Talking Mat are  

• A space to display the symbols – physical or digital 
• A Top Scale 
• A Topic for discussion 
• Options which relate to the Topic.  

In addition, the Research Network identified the following 3 main criteria to verify a Talking Mat: 

1. Are open questions used within the Talking Mat? For example, ‘How do you feel about x?’ rather than ‘Do you like x ?’ Sorting options into categories is not a true Talking Mat.  

2. Is the top-scale consistent with Talking Mats principles? The top scale needs to be such that thinkers are able to use the top-scale for reflection when asked an open question relating to a particular option. 

3. Is the purpose of the Talking Mat to gain views on a particular topic or issue? The Talking Mat needs to be used in a way that provides an opportunity for the thinker to give their views about the topic. Of course, people with more complex communication challenges may not provide any additional information about their views, other than placing the symbol. However, if the placement of the option is used as a potential opportunity for a discussion, then this can be seen as a Talking Mat. 

Further explanation can be found here

Training in Talking Mats covers the criteria and how to achieve it in more detail and is always advised to use this innovative tool to it’s full potential.

Communication is a fundamental human right, yet many individuals with communication difficulties face daily challenges in expressing their thoughts, needs and feelings.  Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is a powerful tool that bridges this communication gap, and Talking Mats is one innovative approach that has proven highly effective in enhancing the lives of those who use AAC.

However, in the 25 years that Talking Mats has been developing resources we have never created one that specifically addresses the needs of AAC users.

 Until now!

The new resource, Supporting Communication with AAC and the online advanced training module, AAC will be launched at this year’s Communication Matters Conference 9^th-11^th September.

The idea

Ace Centre first contacted us in 2018 with the idea of developing a specific assessment resource that would allow the person considering using AAC to express their views about it; were they ready to use AAC, did it fit with their life and communication needs and how much support would be required? This could then inform decisions around referrals onto specialist AAC services.

Development

As with all Talking Mats resources, this one was piloted and discussed and changed until the final version was reached.  Thank you to all the practitioners and clients who gave their time and energy in that process. Thank you also to the Scottish Centre of Technology for the Communication Impaired who also collaborated on the resource and the module.

Outcome

 The outcome is a resource that can contribute to both assessments and reviews, and an Advanced online training module, both of which aim to put the AAC user at the heart of decision making about their communication.

Here is a brief outline of the resource and the module. 

Supporting Communication with AAC (card and digital resource)

Topics

 Your Communication

This topic considers the ‘How’, ‘Who’ and ‘Where’ of interactions and helps develop an understanding of the Thinkers communication needs.  It can be completed when you are getting to know the Thinker.

Joining in conversations

These topics are designed to help a Thinker explore how they feel about their AAC resource when it comes to joining in conversations and reflect the fact that an individual often uses a combination of communication modes to be effective. The three topic cards are: Verbal conversation, Paper support and Electronic Support.

How your AAC works

This topics explores different ways of accessing the  AAC device as well as the different features it has, incluing functions, appearance, sound, and access.

If you are trained in Talking Mats to Foundation level you can buy the resource from our website

AAC Advanced module

To access this course you must have already completed the Foundation Course.

The objective of this course is to ensure that AAC users are at the heart of decision making and that necessary adaptations are in place to support those conversations

The course is split into three different sections:

The Resource

Aim – to recognise the different topics and who they might be suitable for

Access

Aim – to recognise different positions, places and methods for a Thinker to access a Talking Mat

Communication Dynamics

Aim – to recognise the dynamics in a conversation, and appraise the process of using additional people during a Talking Mat

To successfully complete the course participants must pass the quiz and contribute to the forum telling us about their experience.

Courses will run from the 1^st of every month starting in November.

It’s that time of year; the days are longer, there are lambs in the fields, the grass is getting cut and people are thinking about new beginnings.  Maybe you want to embrace the Spring momentum and get a new skill under your belt, the one you’ve been hearing about from colleagues and reading about on social media; Talking Mats! 

Talking Mats has been busy and there are new resources about to be launched but they have the line ‘only available to those trained in Talking Mats’.  You attended something a few years ago and you think something was said that had something to do with Talking Mats – does that count? And it’s just pictures how hard can it be?  

If this sounds like a conversation you’ve had with yourself read this blog to find out why training in this innovative communication tool is recommended.

I need this training; how can I get it? 

You’ve made the decision that you’ll get trained in Talking Mats.  What options are there to let you do this?  Like all training providers over the last 3 years Talking Mats has had to adapt our training provisions.  We have also had to be responsive to what our customers want; there is a much bigger demand for virtual training and online training than we experienced pre 2020.  To reflect this we currently offer a variety of ways you can access our Foundation Training. Your choice will depend on the answers to several questions; what sort of learner are you? Can you do this as part of your working day or will it be in your own time? Can you apply for study leave? Following from that; would you like to buy a resource with your training and what is available ? The following diagrams should help simplify things and more in depth information about Foundation Training is on our website, as well as booking information. Being trained in Talking Mats allows you to access all our Advanced Courses and Resources and go on to become a Licenced Trainer.

Manchester 30th June 2022.

It has been a long time since our Associates have been able to deliver training in a venue that is not virtual (to be accurate usually their kitchen / bedroom / garden shed). We are really pleased, therefore, to be able to let you all know that face to face training has returned! We know the convenience of online suits some people but many of you have been really missing the interaction, the energy and the discussion that occurs in a face to face training and we are looking forward to getting back to working with you in the same room.

It will be held in the St. Thomas Centre, Manchester on the 30th of June from 9.30am until 4.30pm. Find out more about what to expect on this course by following this link Manchester June 2022.

Talking Mats will take every step required to keep all participants and staff safe in this situation. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to support you to attend this course.

This course will be run by Laura Holmes, Lead Associate with responsibility for Foundation Training. She has been training with us since 2016. Here are her thoughts on resuming face to face training;‘I get so much out of face to face training; particpants form relationships quickly and really respond to each other and it creates a special learning environment.’

There are only 12 places on this course and we expect them to be taken up quickly.

To book please follow this link BOOK HERE.