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19 October, 2024: We are aware of issues adding attendee registration details and are working with the software providers for a fix.
DATA SHARING: Note that where events are online and/or interdisciplinary it will be necessary to share your email address with the facilitator.
Conference Theme: Enhancing your practice, building your tool kit.
DATE 11th / 12th / 13th & 14th October 2021
Next years Conference 6th & 7th April 2022 Radisson Hotel in Sligo
Call for abstract now open. For more information CLICK HERE
In every profession, the use of specific tools is necessary and such is the case for Social Care, and these ‘tools’ can assist the Social Care Professional in working with vulnerable and marginalised Service Users. The theme of the 2021 Social Care Ireland Conference is “Enhancing your practice, building your Tool Kit” where there will be Keynote Speakers and Workshops/Presentations relating to how, you the Social Care Professional, can improve your practice by utilising ‘tools’ available to you, and learn about how your practice can be improved; thereby improving the care provided to the Service User, by continuously adding to your skills/knowledge.
Some facilitators made their presentation available after the conference. Delegates can download the slides over the next two weeks. Videos of the keynote presentations are available to members only on the Annual Conference Resources page.
Day 1: 11th October 2021
Option 1: (Policy/Practice presentation)
“The Social Care Workers Guide to the Standards of Proficiency- A Free learning Tool for Social Care Workers and Educators”
– Dr Denise Lyons and Dr Teresa Brown
Option 2: (Policy/ practice presentation)
‘It’s like you manage the risk but you will never meet their needs…it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy’ – Exploring the impact of neo liberal welfare policy and ‘risk’ on professionals’ perspectives and responses towards young people with complex needs and their families”
– Dr Tracey Monson
“More than minding oneself: Educating social care workers to identify and combat the causes of occupational burn-out”
– Francis Gahan and Dr Sarah Otten
Day 2: 12th October 2021
Option 5: (Research Presentations – post grads)
Rowland Ndukaire
“When will my child be cured?’: Challenges for Social Workers supporting African children with intellectual disabilities and their families”
Jaroslava Velartova
“Perceptions of Risk in Disability Services”
Divya-Ravikumar
Dietary Habits and related Health and Wellbeing in the Homeless Population
Option 6: (Research presentation)
“Regeneration tools: suggestions from research”
– Lilian Byrne
“Exploring social care workers perspectives on employment and practice: A Social Care Ireland survey”
– Dr Martin Power
Option 7: (Workshop)
“The hidden world of children’s picture story-books – Metaphor as a means of reaching children”
– Dr Helen Gogarty
Day 3: 13th October 2021
Option 9: (Policy/practice presentation)
Eileen Brosnan
“Improving outcomes for children and families by engaging with parents using a strengths-based collaborative practice model”
Linda Weir and Davina Swan
“Supporting health and social care staff to put a human rights-based approach into practice”
Day 4: 14th October 2021
Option 12: (Policy/practice presentation)
Jennifer Mc Garr
Adopting a Trauma Informed approach: Skills, Strategies and Self-regulation in Social Care Practice
Key note speakers: A pre- recording of each keynote is available for SCI members under CPD resources, SCI annual conference. Click here for access.
DAY 1: Dr Ray Jones is Emeritus Professor of Social Work at Kingston University and St. George’s, University of London, and a registered social worker. From 1992 to 2006 he was director of social services in Wiltshire. He was the first chief executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, and has been deputy chair and chair of the British Association of Social Workers. He has led inquiries following the deaths of children and adults, from 2009 to 2013 was chair of Bristol’s Safeguarding Children Board, and from 2010 until 2016 oversaw child protection improvement in Salford, Torbay, the Isle of Wight, Sandwell and Devon. He is the author of seven books including ‘The Story of Baby P: Setting the Record Straight’, which was published in July 2014 and informed a BBC Television documentary and a second up-dated and expanded edition was published in February 2017.
Presentation Title: Scandals and Inquiries: Reflections on Their Nature and Impact.
DAY 2: Dr John Woolham, John is a Senior Research Fellow and Honorary Senior Fellow of the National Institute for Health School for Social Care Research (NIHR/SSCR). He has been working at King’s College London since 2015 and since then has led three major research projects funded by NIHR/SSCR and the English Department of Health and Social Care.
John’s research interests include the application of telecare to support the independence and well-being of older people and people with dementia, personal budgets and Direct Payments, and social care Personal Assistants. He has until recently been co-editor of Research Policy and Planning, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Enabling Technology. He is a member of the British Society of Gerontology.
Presentation Title: Trials and tribulations: the policy and practice impacts of two major randomised controlled trials in England
This presentation will offer a detailed look at two well-designed randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in England. The first was the Individual Budgets Support Network Evaluation, (IBSEN) which looked at the impact and outcomes of individual budgets – forerunners of direct payments and personal budgets universally used now in English adult social care. The second was the Whole System Demonstrator project, which was designed to find out if telecare and telehealth led to better outcomes for recipients. Telecare is widely seen as having an important role in addressing the pressure of providing services for a rapidly ageing population at a time of unprecedented cuts to social care resources in England.
The presentation will describe why these trials were commissioned, what they found, and what impact they had on policy and practice. It will argue that relationships between research, policy and practice can be highly problematic but that it is important to nurture these relationships if policy and practice is to be informed or even based on, research evidence
DAY 3: Carol Duffy is a child and adolescent psychotherapist and a senior play therapist in Tusla in Mayo. Carol is a core trainer on the MA in creative psychotherapy in the Childrens Therapy Centre in Westmeath and a clinical supervisor. Carol has recently made some chapter contributions and published blogs relating to her field.Carol has delivered training and facilitated workshops and published videos online on how to use play within existing practices for professionals including; social care leaders, project workers, family support workers, managers, foster carers and social work teams. These workshops have been on the use of play as a means to build, enhance and foster regulating relationships in practice and in families. The workshops are informed by neurobiology, attachment, understanding of developmental trauma and child development theories.
Over the years the need for a developmentally and neurobioloically informed model that allows for a flexible approach to the heterogeneity of individuals needs, in particular those with complex histories, became increasingly relevant and subsequently Carol developed the model the R.R.I.G.H.T. Play Therapy Techniques.
Presentation:’The theory and rational behind the RRIGHT play therapy techniques’ model
DAY 4: Áine Flynn graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a law degree and M.Litt. by research. She was admitted as a solicitor in 1999 and from 2012-2017 was a senior partner in KOD Lyons, a firm specialising in public interest law, including disability and equality law. She was on the panel of legal representatives of the Mental Health Commission and the Mental Health (Criminal Law) Review Board from their inception in 2006 and also represented Wards of Court instructed by the General Solicitor. She has written and lectured on Human Rights and has been a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society since 2012. Prior to her present appointment, she was a member of the Law Society’s Mental Health and Decision-Making Capacity Task Force.
In October 2017, Áine commenced in post as inaugural Director of the Decision Support Service in the Mental Health Commission.
Presentation Title: The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015: Key Reforms and Pathway to Implementation
Workshop: Please note that workshop attendance has to be selected when purchasing your ticket. You can select one option to attend per day with a four day ticket.
Carol Duffy is a child and adolescent psychotherapist and a senior play therapist in Tusla in Mayo. Carol is a core trainer on the MA in creative psychotherapy in the Children’s Therapy Centre in Westmeath and a clinical supervisor. Carol is giving both a keynote and facilitating a workshop.
Title of Workshop: “Experiential play workshop on the RRIGHT play therapy techniques’ model – play therapy techniques to enhance your toolkit”
Eileen Prendiville is Director of Academic Affairs at the Children’s Therapy Centre in Westmeath. She is a core training for their MA in Creative Psychotherapy and the Postgraduate Diploma in Play Therapy. Eileen was a founder member, and National Clinical Director, of the Children at Risk in Ireland Foundation (CARI), Ireland’s specialist treatment service for children and families affected by child sexual abuse.
Title of Workshop: The Therapeutic Touchstone
Aim of the workshop: is to prepare participants to make use of the Therapeutic Touchstone in their own work with vulnerable children and thus contribute to the development of a therapeutic bond. It will enhance the skill set of social care workers and other professionals whose role brings them into contact with children. The technique is primarily designed to give narrative and a coherent sequence to the child’s life story. It is a storytelling technique that employs a number of features designed to allow for the paradox of getting close to the child’s actual experiences while maintaining the dramatic distance necessary for the child’s social engagement system to remain active during the telling of the story. This is a delicate balance that cannot be achieved unless the child’s play system is concurrently activated. It relieves anxiety for the child and provides a mechanism for the child , their carers,, and the professional involved, to develop an enriched understanding of the child and the impact of their life experiences on their development.
Dr Helen Gogarty has trained with the International Society for the Study of Dissociation and Trauma [ISSTD] in the assessment of Childhood Dissociation and Trauma and has qualified as a therapist in Lifespan Integration and EFT. Having retired from the Child and Family Agency in December 2013, Dr Gogarty now runs her own private practice undertaking attachment assessments and providing specialist therapeutic advice and support services in the area of alternative care.
Title of Workshop: The Hidden World of Children’s Picture Story-Books – Metaphor as a means of reaching children
Aim of Workshop: Facilitate awareness of the treasure that is to be found in Children’s Picture Story Books and the opportunity they provide for enhancing attachment and creating a whole-brain experience for children. Provide an opportunity for participants to engage in the sensory experience of reading, showing and listening.
NB: Prior to attending the Workshop, participants are requested to remember and reflect on their own favourite children’s story and why it is so meaningful for them.
Workshop: Please note that workshop attendance has to be selected when purchasing your ticket, you will be asked for an OPTION
PROPOSED TIMETABLE DOWNLOAD HERE
Day 1: Monday October 11th 2021
10– 10:15am | Conference opening |
10:15- 11:15am | Keynote one:
“Scandals and Inquiries: Reflections on Their Nature and Impact” – Dr Ray Jones |
11:15-11:30am | Coffee |
11:30– 1pm | Option 1: (Policy/Practice presentation)
“Beyond your degree, building interrelated learnings into the Social Care toolkit” – Adrian McKenna “The Social Care Workers Guide to the Standards of Proficiency- A Free learning Tool for Social Care Workers and Educators” – Dr Denise Lyons and Dr Teresa Brown |
Option 2: (Policy/ practice presentation)
‘It’s like you manage the risk but you will never meet their needs…it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy’ – Exploring the impact of neo liberal welfare policy and ‘risk’ on professionals’ perspectives and responses towards young people with complex needs and their families” – Dr Tracey Monson “More than minding oneself: Educating social care workers to identify and combat the causes of occupational burn-out” – Francis Gahan and Dr Sarah Otten |
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Option 3: (Workshop)
“The Quality services, Better Outcomes Toolkit: Improving practice and impact” – Marian Quinn and Ciara Nic Carthaigh |
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Option 4: (Workshop)
“Pausing to enhance your practice and strengthen your toolkit” – Derek McDonnell |
Day 2: Tuesday 12th October 2021
10-10:15am | Conference opening |
10:15-11:15am | Keynote Two:
“Trials and tribulations: the policy and practice impact of two major randomised controlled trials in England” – Dr John Woolham |
11:15-11:30am | Coffee |
11:30 – 1 pm | Option 5: (Research Presentations – post grads)
“When will my child be cured?’: Challenges for Social Workers supporting children with intellectual disabilities and their families” – Rowland Ndukaire “Perceptions of Risk in Disability Services” – Jaroslava Velartova “Dietary habits and related health and well-being in the homeless population” – Divya Ravikumar |
Option 6: (Research presentation)
“Regeneration tools: suggestions from research” – Lilian Byrne “Affective Relations in Children’s Residential Care: The Perspectives of Frontline Social Care Practitioners” – Dr Majella Mulkeen “Exploring social care workers perspectives on employment and practice: A Social Care Ireland survey” – Dr Martin Power |
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Option 7: (Workshop)
“The hidden world of children’s picture story-books – Metaphor as a means of reaching children” – Dr Helen Gogarty |
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Option 8: (Workshop)
“The Therapeutic Touchstone” – Eileen Prenderville |
Day 3: Wednesday 13th October 2021
10:15- 11:15am | Keynote three:
“The theory and rational behind the RRIGHT play therapy techniques’ model” – Carol Duffy |
11:15-11:30am | Coffee |
11:30– 1pm | Option 9: (Policy/practice presentation)
“Improving outcomes for children and families by engaging with parents using a strengths-based collaborative practice model” – Dr Eileen Brosnan “Supporting health and social care staff to put a human rights-based approach into practice” – Sarah Fitzgerald and Davina Swan |
Option 10: (Workshop)
“Experiential play workshop on the – RRIGHT play therapy techniques’ model – play therapy techniques to enhance your toolkit” – Carol Duffy |
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Option 11: (Workshop)
“Responding to children and young people who have experienced developmental trauma through Trauma-informed care: What do you need in your Toolkit?
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Day 4: Thursday 14th October 2021
10:15- 11:15am | Keynote four:
“The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015: Key reforms and pathway to implementation” – Aine Flynn |
11:15-11:30am | Coffee |
11:30– 1pm | Option 12: (Policy/practice presentation)
“Adopting a Trauma Informed approach: Skills, Strategies and Self-regulation in Social Care Practice” – Jennifer McGarr “A report from the future: Combining personal budgets for self-directed support with entrepreneurship for financial independence and meaningful community participation” – Fionn Crombie Angus and Jonathan Angus |
Option 13: (Workshop)
“Implementing the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015: Perspectives from health and social care” – Jacqueline Grogan |
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Option 14: (Workshop)
“When words are not enough” – Deborah Nolan |
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1pm – 1.30pm | Lunch |
1.30pm- 2.30pm | Plenary discussion |
Download timetable HERE