Seminar Programme

Imagine

The New Plan for Immigration (Home Office, 2021) from the majority Conservative government purports to be determined to crackdown on criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people by smuggling them into the UK for vast profits. The plan has now become the Nationality and Borders Bill, and not only does it continue with the Hostile Environment but makes claiming asylum even more difficult. Only those entering by legal routes (of which hardly any exist) will have their claims processed; whereas those entering by irregular means could face criminal charges, not have their claims heard, and only ever be given temporary status.So extreme are the measures, that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees was concerned that it would undermine the Refugee Convention 1951 not only in the UK, but also globally. Although the final details of this legislation have not yet been confirmed, it is likely to add further hardship to the lives of unaccompanied young people either as children in the care of the local authority or when they reach adulthood. 

Social workers work alongside children subject to these racist and exclusionary policies at the same time as promoting their welfare, which has led to arguments that they are de-facto border guards. This presentation is based on findings from a recent PhD study and considers what children and young people need to thrive and how social workers (and other social care professionals) can navigate some of the practice and ethical issues faced.

Deborah Hadwin is a senior lecturer in social work at De Montfort University in Leicester and is a member of BASW's Asylum, Immigration and Trafficking special interest group. Prior to that she worked within local authority social work for 18 years, approximately half of that time working with unaccompanied children and young people. Deborah is just completing her PhD which focuses on practical and ethical challenges for social work/care practitioners of working with unaccompanied young people as they approach and during their early adulthood.

Deborah Hadwin, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, De Montfort University

Innovate

David Lockwood, Senior Business Development Manager from Finders International and former Local Authority Deputy will speak about the problems Social Care staff face when a client passes away and has no known next of kin to deal with their funeral and estate. What should a Social Worker do, who can they turn to for help?

David will present case studies and highlight the actions taken to find family and deal with their funeral. He will look at how Finders International, the UK’s largest Probate Genealogy Company, can assist finding family even in cases where there isn’t an estate. His presentation examines the law and the complications that can arise.

David Lockwood, Senior Business Development Manager from Finders International and former Local Authority Deputy

Collaborate

Many children and young people exposed to abusive and neglectful parenting show high levels of anxiety and fear, or display aggressive or sexualised responses. Join Stephen and Jenny as they outline a guide to working with children and young people who have experienced trauma in this way.

The focus is on working collaboratively with the child, the parent or carer, with presenters sharing details of a toolkit of generic and specific skills that helps the practitioner to help the child or young person manage their feelings, thoughts and problems of anxiety, mood and trauma. The guide supports the practition er to develop a child-centred approach, to provide psychoeducation to the child on the effects of maltreatment and to help parents and carers develop skills to support their children to engage in interventions that address traumatic and emotional responses.

Stephen Pizzey, Director, Child & Family Training

Jenny Gray, Director, Child & Family Training

Create - webinar room

In this free webinar held on 29 March 2022, Laurence Chester, an Independent Social Worker from Alphabet Social Work, looks at the Home Office duties to children and families. He will also explain how Independent Social Work reports can assist in offering an independent challenge to the Home Office when they fail to properly consider their obligations to uphold Article 8 ECHR rights to family life and ensure that children’s interests are properly considered.

Laurence Chester | Independent Social Worker | Alphabet Social Work

A qualified social worker since 1995, Laurence has significant expertise in child welfare issues from his work as part of local authority social work teams as well as within the voluntary sector with NSPCC. Between 2000-2009, he worked with the Home Office in an honorary position as Chair of the Home Office National Refugee Integration Forum (NRIF), sub group for Children & Families. He was also a member of the Housing and Health sub groups and contributed to the Home Office publication ‘Integration Matters’ (2005).

Motivate

Join social workers from Birmingham Children’s Trust to look at how we approach assessments in the Trust. Drawing on the ANCHOR principles and our relationship based practice model ‘Connections Count’

Inspire - webinar room

Effective social work almost always requires partnership working with communities, service users and also with other professions. In this plenary presentation, the Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work is joined by three partner organisations representing nurses and midwives, the interests of older people and the call to action on sustainable development.

The organisations share their perspectives on global challenges in their sectors and the value of partnerships with social workers. The call to action on sustainable development includes contributions from several eminent global leaders discussing the challenges in creating sustainable urbanisation, challenges which are familiar to social workers and require an integrated approach to the natural, physical and social environments – cobuilding a new eco-social world: leaving no one behind. The presentations show social workers engaged in activities to shape policy and practice across the 54 countries of the Commonwealth.

✦ Dr Sylvia Daisy Romanus is Chair of COSW and Associate Professor in the Social Work Department at Madras Christian University, Chennai

✦ Dr David N Jones is a COSW Board Member and the Main Representative to the Commonwealth institutions in London

✦ Professor Kathleen McCourt is President of the Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation

✦ Andrew Larpent is Chairman of the Commonwealth Association for the Ageing (CommonAge)

✦ Peter Oborn, Senior Vice President of the Commonwealth Architects Association, is joined by others who are introduced in the video including HRH Prince Charles, the Commonwealth Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UN-Habitat among others.

Discover

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) is the UK’s professional membership organisation for social work.  As the independent voice of social work, BASW champions social work and helps members achieve the highest professional standards. This session will focus on the cost-of-living crisis and what BASW England are doing to support social workers through the crisis.

Come and learn about the work of BASW England’s campaign activity and how to get involved.

Josh leads on BASW England’s policy and campaigns activity, working with BASW members to highlight key issues for the workforce and championing their interests through campaigns activity.

Josh Dixon, Policy and Campaigns Officer, BASW England

Connect

As social workers, we have the privilege of working with people; together we can support them to effect change, to transform lives. To maintain the ability to practice effectively, we need to not only hone our practice, but also our resilience.

  Much is spoken about a strengths-based approach in practice being a collaborative process that helps the individual identify their strengths and assets, as well as those in their community and how then these can be harnessed to achieve the outcomes desired by the person; how might we apply this approach when considering our own resilience in practice?

This session will consider

• What is resilience and why is it an important skill
• Knowing ourselves and what challenges our resilience
• What builds and supports our resilience? 
• Takeaway tools to support resilience – with an opportunity to try out one of the tools during the session.

Join Moira, Vanessa and the Practice Development Team to find out more.

Moira Wood, Principal Social Worker; Vanessa Matthews, Practice Development Team Manager; supported by members of the Practice Development Team

Collaborate

Have you been working with children and families for some time and want to progress your career as a children’s social worker?

Then the 3-year Social Work Apprentice Degree with Birmingham Childrens Trust could be just the opportunity that you are looking for. 

Come along to our compass fair seminar to find out more information about our apprentice programme and speak to some of our current social work apprentices about their experience of working and learning with Birmingham Childrens Trust.

Sirah Ali, Senior Practitioner, Birmingham Children’s Trust

Imagine

Restorative practice is a key element of Dudley’s ambition to become a child friendly town. Restorative practice forms the foundations of our organisational culture and provide us with a framework for practice with children, young people and their families.

Restorative practice provides our staff with a range of language, behaviours and tools that strengthen relationships with children, young people, families, communities, our partners and our workforce.

Circles are a key restorative process that helps build a culture of empathy through encouraging listening, respectful communication and the sharing of power. Circles can be used in a range of situations, including team meetings, multiagency meetings, as well as meetings with young people, families and carers.

This session will explore the power of circles and their use to empower solution-focused practice to support positive change.

Mike Hayward, Service Manager, Centre of Professional Practice, Dudley Council

Motivate

Join Jenny Turnross (Director of Practice) and Abba Loughran (Transformation and Engagement Officer) who will discuss how we keep children and young people’s voices at the centre of practice. 

In the Trust we are striving to ensure voice and choice is at the centre of the work we do. Co-development and co-production is central to our relational approach to practice; ‘Connections Count’. Listening to the voices of those with lived experience shapes our services, as we continue to work with children and families, against a backdrop of austerity. We also recognise that in supporting our children and families we must continue to create supportive, dynamic and responsive approaches for staff so they are able to thrive and provide meaningful support.

Jenny Turnross, Director of Practice and Abba Loughran, Transformation and Engagement Officer

Inspire - webinar room

This video provided by the Canadian Association of Social Workers aims  to inform child protection staff (on all teams, including Family Support Workers) of key introductory issues in understanding the diagnosis and traits of Borderline Personality Disorder. This video also provides some concrete suggestions for managing service users suffering from this personality disorder including methods such as using CBT and a focus on children suffering with Borderline Personality Disorder.

Innovate

This session will explore the importance of language, in particular, restorative language, which promotes speaking and listening skills, as well as encourages open dialogue. Restorative language can also help in resolving conflict through focusing on the impacts of the action and what both parties can do moving forward. Also covered will be a discussion of ‘victim blaming’ and the effects this can have in practice, whether working with children or adults.

Jennifer Rogers, Principal Social Worker; and Megan Rimmer, Senior Restorative Practice Lead, City of Wolverhampton Council

Discover

Is parental alienation a child protection issue in social work?

Nushra Mansuri is currently an Assistant Professor in Social Work at Coventry University and also a Post-Graduate Researcher at the University of Birmingham.  She is undertaking research on social workers experiences of dealing with parental alienation cases as there is currently no guidance for social workers on this issue however, social workers have been criticised for falling short on their knowledge and skills by judges where cases have been in the court arena. 

Nushra is interested in finding out what social workers actual experiences are of children being negatively influenced by one parent not to have a relationship with their other parent. Nushra will share what we know about parental alienation including its controversies and explore with delegates how social workers should respond to this issue.

Nushra Mansuri, Assistant Professor in Social Work at Coventry University and also a Post-Graduate Researcher at the University of Birmingham

Create - webinar room

Local authorities in Wales often locate teams of social workers in hospitals to carry out discharge planning for older people who will require ongoing care and support in order to leave hospital. This webinar presents findings from an ethnographic study of one such team. It will set out how the bureaucratic nature of the routine tasks the hospital social workers perform, the pressure from hospital management and local authority senior managers to expedite patient discharges with speed, and the demands of maintaining a working space alongside the hierarchy of hospital professionals create a uniquely challenging environment for social work practice.

Despite these challenges, during the fieldwork it was possible to see the key social work values of human rights, social justice and empowerment enacted through the social workers’ practices, though with some limitations. The webinar will conclude with an argument that the skills and commitment of hospital social workers could be harnessed in an expanded role to help reduce readmissions and support people with long-term health conditions to adjust to their circumstances and develop health-protective ways of living.

CASCADE Cardiff University

Connect

his session will focus on, and bring to life, the work undertaken in Hull to make sure that the voices and lived experiences of our care experienced children and young people are at the centre of all they do and are driving the priorities for further improvement. Participants will see and hear about how we have used feedback from Bright Spots surveys as a catalyst for change, including by working jointly with the children in care council on a range of powerful and creative ways of sharing messages and encouraging people to think differently. As part of this session, visitors will also get the chance to watch the multi-award winning ‘Dream On’ animation made by looked after children in the region.

Neil Colthup, Head of Service, Safeguarding Standards; and Claire Rutherford, Principal Social Worker, Hull City Council

Collaborate

Principal Social Worker Lee Pardy-McLaughlin OBE and Recruitment & Retention Lead Jo Brammer will present the workshop which will focus on progression from being a Social Work Student and Early Career Social Worker, this is an ideal opportunity to look at your future development and career aspirations

This will be a great workshop if you are dedicated to high quality, relationship-based social work, that is child-centred, family-minded, using your strengths and evidence-based practice with a focus on delivering positive outcomes

Stoke-on-Trent Children and Family Services are proud of its achievements to date and is continuing to ensure children and families remain the number one priority at the heart of all we do.

Stoke-on-Trent is a city on the up – Come along and find out more.

Lee Pardy-McLaughlin, Principle social worker, Stoke-on-Trent Council & Jo Brammer, Recruitment and r etention lead, Stoke-on-Trent City Council

Motivate

In this seminar, Birmingham Children’s Trust will talk with newly qualified social workers about their transition from student to social worker, including top tips for those about to begin their ASYE and what working as a newly qualified social worker really looks and feels like.

Sophie Gilbert,  Practice Academy Manager, Birmingham Children’s Trust

Imagine

The Named Social Worker scheme is a nationally recognised approach whereby individuals are allocated the same social worker and it brings with it a huge number of benefits. These benefits include contingency for people, not needing to operate a duty service within the team and a number of others which Natalie will present during the seminar.

There will also be the opportunity for people to ask questions during the session and Natalie will present how the approach works in practice within the Learning Disability Service and also explain how allocations work. The approach allows people who use services with the opportunity to have a consistent social worker, enabling them to develop a positive working relationship.

Come and find out how ‘The Named Worker Approach’  has been adopted by Worcestershire County Council and discuss how it works in practice within a busy social work team.

Natalie Lackenby, Area Manager For Learning Disability South Team, Worcestershire County Council

Innovate

This presentation shows the biological underpinnings of aggressive behaviour listing eight common examples, including ‘Fear induced’ aggression, ‘Territorial’ aggression and ‘Inter-male’ aggression. The presentation explains how understanding the origins of aggressive behaviour provides pointers to avoiding aggressive incidents and appropriate de-escalating techniques.

Colin Maginn, Author & Director, Pillars of Parenting

Create - webinar room

There is no question that we have been thrust into a new world spawned by the Covid 19 pandemic. The theme “Co-building an eco-social world – leaving no one behind” which has been accepted as the Global Agenda commitment 2022-2024 has a futuristic orientation, looking beyond pandemic time into a cooperative, collaborative tomorrow. In reality, the pandemic is far from over, although the images and messages from the Global North suggest otherwise. Many developing and under-developed countries are reeling from the ravages of the pandemic on their economies and societies, and the ongoing public health crisis. This keynote will highlight the realities for the small island developing states of the Eastern Caribbean, on the premise that, in order to meaningfully strategise for ‘leaving no one behind’, the global social work community has to recognize and acknowledge who has been severely impacted, how they have been affected, and who is highest at risk of being forgotten therefore ‘left behind’. The presentation ends with a reminder about the enduring power of community and prevailing cultures of resilience which are valuable resources for co-building an eco-social world.

✦ Karene-Anne Nathaniel is a social work educator with over 11 years teaching experience at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at The University of West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. Her areas of specialization are critical thinking and professional socialization, and macro-practice interventions with communities and social work management and administration. She has also taught on the Post Graduate programme in Mediation Studies. She is committed to innovative and interactive pedagogies for professional education in the helping professions.

She is the President of the North American and Caribbean Association of Schools of Social Work (2016-2020), interim President of the Association of Caribbean Social Work Educators, former Vice President/Treasurer of the Association of Caribbean Social Work Educators, and regional Vice-President of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (2016-2020). She is currently leading efforts towards the development of standards for Caribbean social work education and a Caribbean code of ethics for social workers.

Discover

As you look to start your Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, you’ll probably be wondering what this will be like and what to expect. This seminar takes you through what to expect, the support you’ll get and gives you the opportunity to ask any questions you may have about the ASYE programme year.

Hazel Shaw, Workforce Development Trainer (ASYE)

Collaborate

When done well, life story work can greatly benefit care-experienced children, helping them to understand and process their experiences in a nurturing environment. This session will discuss tools and techniques for social workers, and the parents and carers they support, to make life story work more effective from a young age.

Holly Marlow, Author, Adoption and fostering stories and resources

Inspire-webinar room

In this webinar, Steve Rollnick (co-creator of MI) is in conversation with the authors of a book on this topic, "Motivational Interviewing for Working with Children and Families: A Practical Guide for Early Intervention and Child Protection".

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is widely used in services for children, key in innovations such as Family Drug and Alcohol Courts, the Family Safeguarding model and Intensive Family Support Teams.

Donald Forrester and David Wilkins, Cardiff University, Steve Rollnick (Co-creator of Motivational Interviewing) and Charlotte Whittaker

Motivate

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are stressful events occurring in childhood, which could include domestic violence, a parent with a mental health condition, or being the victim of abuse or neglect, among other things. Studies have found that as the number of ACEs increased in the population studied, so did the risk of experiencing a range of health conditions in adulthood.

Join Lara and Marie as they explore the significance of ACEs in relation to children’s social care and how relational practice can be used to improve outcomes.

Marie Kershaw, Principal Clinical Psychologist & Head of Psychologically Informed Practice and Lara Timms, Acting Head of Service for Quality Assurance, Practice Standards and Principal Social Worker

Connect

Child and Family Training have developed a range of apps for touch screen devices. They have been carefully designed to help a range of professionals engage in direct work with children. They are intended to be entirely supportive of and complementary to a range of tools for assessing families and risk.

The new apps are inspired by years of experiences of direct work with children, as well as the development and use of the In My Shoes child interview and assessment tool. Find out more about how this new technology can enhance your practice.

David Glasgow, Director, Child and Family Training

Imagine

Recognising the value of trauma-informed social work practice can be key in helping to understand a child and family’s life experiences, deliver an effective service, improve engagement and outcomes, and look after staff wellness. Attendees will examine the positive effects from a culture of partnership, looking for solutions and recognising the potential impact trauma has on the children and families they work with and on staff. Participants will also discover the importance of striving to create a safe, compassionate, healing environment demonstrated through relationships based on trust, respect, hope and empathy. 

Find out how Leicestershire County Council are committed to a vision of becoming a truly trauma-informed, responsive service as they share their journey and learning so far, and their focus for the future.

Mandy Goodenough, Principal Social Worker, Leicestershire County Council

Innovate

Over the last 5 years, we’ve seen a distinct change in how social workers undertake their role and juggling home/work life has become an ever-increasing issue. The results of the BASW / SWU/ Bath Spa University 2022 re-launched Social Work ‘Working Conditions and Wellbeing ‘has highlighted significant ongoing concerns. The presentation will (independently, and academically) look at working conditions in social work now in 2023 – and how they have changed since 2018 and 2019, when the survey was last conducted.

SWU has taken its previous work to Westminster, with a debate in the House of Lords and a national Campaign for Professional Working Conditions. Using the findings from the last survey, in addition to over 50 individual interviews with social workers, SWU co-developed the Social Worker Wellbeing and Working Conditions good practice toolkit.

Join John and Jermaine  build on all of this work and momentum which is needed once more.

Jermaine Ravalier, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Social Justice, Bath Spa University; John McGowan, General Secretary, SWU; and Maris Stratulis, National Director, BASW England

Discover

Join Gloucestershire County Council for a conversation about how Systemic Practice is informing and supporting their social work with children and families in Gloucestershire and beyond. Advanced Educators from the Social Work Academy will share  their experiences and learning about the connections, relationships and stories that influence practice with families and with each other, and how developing a systemic model for practice supports their improvement journey.

Rob Tyrrell, Principal Social Worker; and Sally Dobson, Sarah Cairns, Hayley Lodge, and Natalie Heath, Advanced Educators, Gloucestershire County Council

In this module from the APT, visitors will receive an introduction to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, covering what it is, how it developed, and the principles of delivering it effectively.

Create - webinar room

Dr William Davies is the Head of Applied Clinical Psychology at the APT and is the author of post qualification courses on CBT, DBT, ACT, motivational interviewing, and more.

Amy George is the Deputy Director of the Association for Psychological Therapies and renowned for her incisive, warm and humorous style of involving the audience.

Collaborate

Success is an inside out job. You have to become the person capable of accomplishing the level of success you aspire to in your life in order to achieve it, argues Joe Z Mairura, Independent Social Worker. Join Joe as he makes the case that what determines your level of success is your level of self-awareness, and the more aware you are the more capable you become of accomplishing this.

Take part in this unique seminar to learn more about Joe’s method to becoming more conscious and learn more about the five pillars of mastery.

Joe Z Mairura, Independent Social Worker

Motivate

When working with children it is essential that we understand their lived experiences. That we capture their voices, but how do we ensure that the voices of child are heard? Particularly when there are challenges around ‘typical’ communication. Join our staff from children with disabilities, residential services and rights and participation to explore how we communicate with and promote the voices of children.

Claire Owen, Head of Service for Children with Disabilities, Melanie Page, Head of Service, Children’s Residential Services & Julia Balston, Children’s Rights and Advocacy Officer 

Inspire - webinar room

This  webinar discusses the work of ‘Leading in COLOUR’, a Canadian based grassroots organization and is hosted by the Canadian Association of Social Workers. Discussion includes methods of equipping young, racialized leaders and activists with training that provides them with the necessary skills needed to conduct their advocacy efforts. 

Key topics covered include:

How best to support racialized youth.

The value of lived experiences with the system and its stakeholders (Social Workers)

Defying the racialized community monolith; how different racialized communities are impacted and in what ways.

Connect

We all work in stressful and demanding situations, and too often the emotional toll falls on us as professionals. This leads to stress, sickness and too often an inability to make sense of the complex situations we are working with. The use of reflective practice and supervision is not new, but sadly inconsistently available for staff. 

This session will look at how reflective practice, and supervision, can not only support staff but improve our work, wellbeing and the outcomes we strive for.

Dave Roberts, Head of Outreach Service, The Mulberry Bush

Imagine

This seminar will give a brief overview of ‘the Coventry Way’ to working with children & families; with speakers presenting how they are strengthening their Signs of Safety approach in a restorative and relational way to support their work with children and families.

At the end of this presentation, attendees will have a better understanding of the ethos that Signs of Safety is “what we do” and restorative and relational practice is “how we do it”.

Liz Burns –Social Work Academy Team Manager & Dinesh Ranchhod – Signs of Safety Implementation Manager

Innovate

As you embark on your chosen career as a social worker, one of the most beneficial supports will be the provision of regular supervision. Supervision in social work practice is integral and unique, forging a line of accountability between a child, the social worker and the organisation. This seminar will support you in getting the best out of your supervision sessions as a social work practitioner.

Jennie Arries, Principal Social Worker, Staffordshire County Council

Discover

The session will explore how trauma affects people and what coping mechanisms they develop. Participants shall consider how they can help to re-engage people with society and rebuild confidence to overcome the need for trauma coping mechanisms such as hoarding, self-neglect, substance misuse and homelessness.

Attendees will find out how to understand trauma and trauma informed approaches, as well as recognise what goes wrong when trying to safeguard a person self-neglecting. Also covered will be how to identify how we can support a person to live a fulfilling life, developing confidence and self-esteem; and how to address the impact of trauma/loss and alleviate the need for coping mechanisms that can become self-destructive, while considering the impact of trauma on a person’s capacity to make decisions.

Deborah Barnett, Safeguarding Adults Consultant and Author, Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Collaborate

Principal Social Worker Lee Pardy-McLaughlin OBE and Recruitment & Retention Lead Jo Brammer will present the workshop which will focus on progression from being a Social Work Student and Early Career Social Worker, this is an ideal opportunity to look at your future development and career aspirations

  This will be a great workshop if you are dedicated to high quality, relationship-based social work, that is child-centred, family-minded, using your strengths and evidence-based practice with a focus on delivering positive outcomes

Stoke-on-Trent Children and Family Services are proud of its achievements to date and is continuing to ensure children and families remain the number one priority at the heart of all we do.

Stoke-on-Trent is a city on the up – Come along and find out more

Lee Pardy-McLaughlin, Principle social worker, Stoke-on-Trent Council & Jo Brammer, Recruitment and r etention lead, Stoke-on-Trent City Council

Motivate

Hear leading social work author Neil Thompson talk about the importance of professionalism in social work.

Dr Neil Thompson explores six key elements which make Social Workers professionals and how this helps support new social workers as well as aiding the individuals that we work with and who use our services.

Dr Neil Thompson, Independent Writer, Educator and Advisor & visiting professor, The Open University & Vigoroom UK

Create - webinar room

Moving between inpatient mental health settings and home are important times for young people and their families. Ensuring these transitions are person-centred can improve their experiences and support their recovery.

NICE has published a guideline and quality standard on transition between inpatient mental health settings and community or care home settings, which provide evidence-based recommendations to support practice in these areas.

The webinar was presented by:

Rebecca Harrington – Senior Manager in Health and Social Care Integrated Commissioning (Guideline committee chair)

Dr Manjiri Lele – Consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist (Guideline committee member)

Inspire - webinar room

This presentation will address the following objectives:

To recognize that inequality, climate change and biodiversity loss are inter-related crises and symptoms of the need for radical and systemic economic, political and social reform.

To learn from insights of social and environmental movements working on social and green agendas, on what they envision in a new social contract.

To explore the mechanisms and processes, such as dialogues, just transition forums and citizen assemblies, that enable citizens to engage with Government and other significant and powerful actors to hold their governments to account and define a new eco-social contract.

✦ As Convenor, Oliver Greenfield provides the GEC’s network leadership, enabling people from diverse institutions to work and influence collectively. Before GEC, Oliver spent 7 years enabling stakeholder change leading WWF’s Sustainable Business and Economics work. He previously worked in a corporate strategy advisor with Booz Company and the BBC World Service.

✦ Najma Mohamed has a background in climate, development and environment and has worked in policy and practice across geographies and economic sectors for over 20 years, with a recent focus on global policy. As Policy Director at the GEC, she works on the Coalition’s strategic focus on the supply and advocacy of policies, practices and institutions for inclusive green economies, in partnership with its 60+ members.

Imagine

This presentation presents results of a computer assisted behavioural analysis of a large sample of internet predator (IP) messages. Large comparison samples include Twitter, Paedophile Chat Rooms, Computer Support Chat and the messages of adults posing as children in order to entrap predators. A promising method of distinguishing between those who communicate with predatory intent, and those who do not is described. The unique characteristics of IP messages are formulated into a new model of online grooming.

Please note: This session will include samples of messages that are sexually explicit, and which refer to sexual abuse of a child  (although in no case did any messages lead to a child being abused)

David Glasgow, Director, Child and Family Training

Collaborate

This seminar will provide an overview of working in Wales as a qualified social worker and the different cultural landscape this entails, touching on:

• Legislation and language
• National Initiatives
• Continued professional development, including support provided for the first three years in practice and further qualification opportunities
• The Powys perspective – working in the beautiful heart of Wales

Join engaging and experienced presenter Mel as they outline career progression opportunities and the journey you can take from being a Newly Qualified Social Worker through to becoming the Head of Service.

Melanie Brindle, Practice Development Manager, Powys County Council

Innovate

There is arguably a palpable silence in the national social work press about Independent Social Work and Independent Social Work practice in general. Guidance from the Local Government Association, the Department of Health and Social Care and the profession’s regulator rarely mentions Independent Social Work, despite it being a critical and indispensable component of social work practice with a lot to contribute to the social work profession.

Join Joe Z Mairura as he raises the profile of Independent Social Work and its invaluable contribution to social work practice, as well outlining how as an Independent Social Worker you can enjoy the freedom to practice autonomously and flexibly without the constraints of being an employed social worker and yet provide a first-class service your clients you serve, while providing practical information to social work colleagues who may wish to pivot and set up as an Independent Social Worker.

Joe Z Mairura, Independent Social Worker

Connect

A pervading pathogenic paradigm in the world of children's public care, means that many people, including those working in the sector, embrace a 'problem child' view. This presentation challenges this position by showing how we can improve outcomes for children in care by being strength focused. The presentation includes a list of well know people who have been in care and have gone on to become great achievers, such as Lemn Sissay.

Colin Maginn, Author and Director, Pillars of Parenting

Discover

The BASW England Homes not Hospitals Campaign is a response to issues with the current system that sees too many autistic people and people with learning disabilities detained in hospital Assessment and Treatment Units (ATUs) or restrictive care arrangements and seclusion units.

Social workers have a key role to play in achieving the aim of the Homes not Hospitals campaign which is to reduce the admission of people to Assessment and Treatment Units and, where the person is already subject to this type of care and treatment regime, to be supported to leave as quickly as possible to a place they want to live with the right support in place. 

This seminar will share an overview of campaign activity and good practice guidance developed for social workers supporting autistic people and people with learning disabilities.

Campaign activity includes lobbying local councilors and MP’s to raise awareness of the issues and to push for the change that is desperately needed to prevent the abuse of people’s human rights. 

A suite of resources for social workers have been co-produced to promote preventative approaches in terms of commissioning, human rights- based practice and the role of social work and legal literacy to support best social work practice. 

From the perspectives of lived, living and practice experience, this session will introduce social workers and organisations to the campaign activity and how to get involved, along with a suite of key resources to embed human rights-based practice and meet the regulatory professional standards. 

Liz Howard, Professional Officer, BASW England