BASW UK conference programme

12.00-1.00pm

Connecting Generations: Intergenerational Social Work, community and realising a good life for all. 

Jude Currie & Alison Clyde

Alison Clyde is Chief Executive Officer of Generations Working Together. For the past 13 years, Alison has led the strategic and day to day development and management of Generations Working Together (GWT), the nationally recognised centre of excellence supporting the development and integration of intergenerational work across Scotland.  GWT’s mission is to develop, expand and improve intergenerational practice across the country.   

Jude Currie is a Social Worker and Team Leader supporting separated children seeking asylum, and families with no recourse to public funds in Edinburgh. Jude is passionate about community social work and the potential of intergenerational relationships. She is Co-Vice Chair and Trustee with Generations Working Together (GWT). 

1.00-1.30pm

Decolonisation and Cultural Competence – Learning from racially minoritized families using family group conferencing 

Omar Mohamed 

Omar Mohamed, is a new social worker in children’s social care as well as holding roles and expertise in being a lecturer, researcher, author, activist, leader, and expert by experience. Omar’s passion and activism lies in the decolonisation and indigenisation of social work globally. Omar is the Co-Chair of the BASW Experts By Experience Group, Non-Executive Director on BASW Council, member of the BASW International Committee, and Co-Vice-Chair of the BASW Diaspora Special Interest Group.

12-12.45pm

Enabling Childrens Participation in the Family Court – Applying an ecological systems approach to the children’s journey in and through court.

Beverley Barnett-Jones

Dr Beverley Barnett-Jones MBE is Associate Director at  Nuffield Family Justice Observatory and a social worker. In 2022 she became an Advisor to the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood and is a Trustee for the Charity Kinship. Beverley is lead on Nuffield FJOs young people programme, piloting a new participation young people pathway in public law. 

12.45-1.30pm

It’s always impossible until it’s done: how to create confident and effective leadership in Social Work

Lisa Hackett & Lisa Zaranyika

Lisa Hackett, Frontline’s Chief Social Worker is a registered social worker, leader and educator with 29 years’ experience of direct work with children and adults in the statutory, private, charitable and academic sectors. She has worked in child protection, adult mental health, fostering, the youth offending service, Women’s Aid and residential social work.  

Lisa Zaranyika, Frontline’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Director is a registered social worker, leader and educator with 19 years’ experience of direct work with children and families in the statutory, health and charitable sectors. She has worked in child protection, child and adolescent mental health, practice education and practice leadership.

12-12.45pm

Education for Sustainable Development  -Interdisciplinary case studies  for integrating sustainability into the curriculum  – learning from the Changemakers Programme run by Students Organising Sustainability (SOS)  

Anna Elliott 

Anna Elliott, Dip HE Social and Environmental Problems, BA (Hons) Social Science , PGDip Social Work, MSc Professional Practice , PGCAP.  Anna has been a Social Worker for over 30 years working in a variety of fields Youth Offending Teams, Local Authority Children and Families and in the Voluntary and Independent Sector. She has also lived and worked in New Zealand working in a Community Based Domestic Violence Project. Over the past 7 years she has worked in HEIs at UWE Bristol and now at the Open University.  Anna has always been passionate about the environment and the benefits of being outdoors for mental health and wellbeing . Her aim is to work with others to raise awareness of and embed the UN SDGs into the Social Work curriculum .

12.45-1.30pm.  

Addressing social and environmental sustainability issues through nature-based interventions.  

Rebecca Conway

Rebecca is a MASW graduate and current Marie-Skłodowska-Curie fellow and  engaged in a PhD at Bielefeld University, Germany. Her research topic focuses on nature-based interventions in Ireland for young people in precarious situations. Prior to her move to Germany, Rebecca worked as a social work practitioner in Aotearoa New Zealand.

12-12.45pm

Social Workers in Health Organisations – Identity, Professional Development and Multi-Disciplinary Working 

Angela Button & Denise Monks 

Angie has been a qualified social worker for 23 years, working primarily with Older Adults. Angie has managed a specialist integrated Care home liaison team; before taking on a Social Work lead role within a Mental health organisation. Angie has recently moved from practice to take up a lecturing post at the University of Hull.  

Denise Monks is a Professional Officer with BASW England.  She is a registered social worker, with over 20 years experience as a social worker, operational and strategic manager and commissioner, across services for people with learning disabilities, children’s short breaks services, integrated adult rehab services and mental health.  

12.45-1.30pm

Bide Oot

Transformative outdoor experiences for families in Scotland

Simon McGowan & Rosemary McCabe

12-12.30pm

Researching Practice and Practicing Research 

Florie Schmits & Katie Riches

Florie is a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Bristol. Her research focusses on sibling placement in care. The project uses a mixed-methods design: a quantitative analysis of children’s social work case documentation and interviews with social workers, to examine sibling placement decision-making, factors influencing these decisions and facilitators for improving sibling care.    

Katie is a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Bristol.  Her research explores parental capacity for change in a child protection context, with a focus on how social workers develop their understandings and judgements about the likelihood of change. Katie is using qualitative narrative methods, which involves listening to social workers tell their stories about working with families to try and support change and analysing those stories to understand influences on social worker's thinking and reasoning. 

12.30-1pm

Improving the ways we improve social work 

Chris Mills 

Chris is fully retired since 2015. Previously worked in training and consultancy, child protection policy, IT management, and research (into probation, child protection, children’s services). Academic appointments in social work/social policy and operations management.  Was a children’s social worker and manager, having started social work career in the Probation Service in 1978. 

1-1.30pm

Embedding a Social Work Led Family Support Team in a Hospice

Wendy Ashton 

Wendy is the Family Support Team Lead and Palliative Care Social Worker at Eden Valley Hospice/Jigsaw Children’s Hospice. Wendy is the co-education representative of the APCSW.  She is interested in MDT and health settings and passionate about supporting people to live a life as best they can for as long as they can. 

2.30-3.30pm

Eco-Wisdom for Social Workers – dimensions of justice

Josien Hofs & Richard de Brabander

Richard de Brabander is professor (lector) Ecosocial Work. He writes about justice issues, politicization of social work and ethics. The central question of his research group is how to create a sustainable society that is socially and ecologically just and what role social work has to play.  

Josien Hofs is a former social worker / social work teacher, now at IFSW Europe leader of the project Eco-wisdom for social workers. Holding interactive webinars and workshops, involved in the conference on eco-social work in Rotterdam June 2024.  
 

2.30-3.30pm

Co-Building a New Social Work Paradigm: The challenges and opportunities for social workers in partnership with people and communities

Ruth Stark, David Grimm & Kellie Doubtfire

David, Kellie and Ruth are professionals with ‘lived experience’ and have worked together in different partnerships over the last 20 years. Most recently they have contributed to The Global People’s Summit and contributed to the People’s Charter with UNRISD & IFSW for balanced, harmonious, sustainable shared futures. The People’s Charter for an Eco-Social World – Co-Building a New Eco-Social World (newecosocialworld.com). 

2.30-3.00pm

Enhancing the Wellbeing of Social Workers Using a Holistic Framework of ResilienceEnhancing the Wellbeing of Social Workers Using a Holistic Framework of Resilience

Sarah Rose

Sarah is a lecturer in social work at Edinburgh Napier University and a qualified social worker. She has a particular interest in research and practice in the area of wellbeing, resilience and self-care for social work students and professionals.

3.00-3.30pm

‘I think it might kill me' - Using Binary Frameworks to Think About Social Worker Retention Rates and Wellbeing as Informed by Person-Centred Practice

Sarah Brown

Sarah Brown joined the Open University in 2023 as a Staff Tutor and Regional Academic at the Open University having previously been a Reader in Social Work at the University of Kent. Prior to that she was in front line youth justice social work and latterly a Family Group Conference Co-ordinator. She is an independent Practice Educator and was the lead for the Practice Educator Professional Standards Refresh in 2022. Sarah is on the BASW Professional Capabilities and Development Group and is a member of the National Organisation of Practice Teachers. Sarah's research interests include Family Group Conferencing, theory to practice, developing communication skills in students, practice education and retention in social work.

2.30-3.30pm

Crisis? What Crisis?

From Social Workers to Sustainability Advocate

Corinne Ferguson

Corinne Ferguson is an Independent Social Worker and Interim Team Manager for Gael Og Fostering Project in Inverness. Corinne has been a Social Worker for 23 years, primarily working in children and family settings for both local authorities and the voluntary sector.  She has been an environmentalist for considerably longer and in the last few years has completed a degree in Sustainable Development with UHI.  She is also a community activist.

2.30-3.00pm

The Environment - Testing the temperature in social work 

Geraldine Graham & Dr Iris Altenberger

Geraldine Graham is a Social Work Lecturer, University of the West of Scotland. A qualified Social Worker with over 30 years of experience working and teaching in social care and social work. Teaches Critical and Radical perspectives linking the impact of climate change and the wider environment.   

Dr Iris Altenberger, Social Work Lecturer, Robert Gordon University. A qualified social worker with an interest in a wide range of research areas such as are urban sociology, semiotics, migration, visual and art-based research methods, and environmental social work.

3.00-3.30pm

The Shame of Unequal Dying: Developing trauma informed end of life services within an inclusive, eco-social model of care

Jeannet Weurman & Anne Cullen

Jeannet Weurman is a retired social worker based in Cambridge, UK and involved in the Association of Palliative Care Social Workers. She has worked in adult mental health, hospital discharge, older people, and palliative care. Her last social work position was at Arthur Rank Hospice. She is currently involved in developing the Trauma-Informed Palliative Care Project.  

Anne Cullen has worked as a social worker, manager and researcher in children’s and adults’ services, latterly palliative care. She works currently as a Schwartz Round mentor and on a voluntary basis as research lead for the Association of Palliative Care Social Workers, including the Trauma Informed Palliative Care Project. 

3.45-4.45pm

Community Social Work and Climate Change – Practical steps to address poverty and injustice

Colin Turbett & Jane Pye

Jane Pye is a lecturer in Social Work at Lancaster University, a former practitioner at social worker and manager levels. She has research interests in rural social work and social work education. She co-edited with Colin Turbett, the newly published Rural Social Work in the UK: Themes and Challenges for the Future.   

Colin Turbett is a retired career social worker and front line manager in Scotland. He writes and consults on community social work and radical social work themes, and his book A Practical Guide to Community Social Work Practice in the UK (with a chapter by Jane Pye) is to be published in September 2024. 
 

4.45-5.30pm

Empower, Connect, Transform: Coaching for Change in Social Work

Kate Cuthbertson & Keith Dyer 

Keith is a Quality Assurance and Compliance Manager with City of Edinburgh Council.  Keith has been a qualified social worker for the past 23 years, working entirely in local authority social work in that time. In Keith’s current position as Quality Assurance and Compliance Manager, which he always caveats with ‘I’m a social worker to trade’, he has a key role in the quality, governance, and regulation for all areas of social work, children, adults, and community justice, as well as managing the public protection lead officers for the local authority. Keith became a qualified coach in 2007.  

Kate Cuthbertson, Coach Supervisor (BASW).  Kate has worked in the Social Care sector since 1999. She qualified as a Social Worker in 2009 from Bournemouth University. Kate has worked in Childrens and Adult Social Work settings, in roles up to Deputy Service Manager level both in the UK and Internationally. Working for Local Authorities, NGOs and the charitable sector. Kate is a qualified BIA and Practice Educator as well as a Certified Coach and has a GradCert in Family Therapy. Kate is currently undertaking her Coaching and Mentoring MA with Oxford Brookes University.

3.45-4.30pm

The importance of anti-racism to supervision and practice 

Shabnam Ahmed & Rachael Rooke

Shabnam Ahmed is a social worker and trainer. She has recently been awarded an MBE for her outstanding contribution to the field of social care. She is a member of the Black and Ethnic Minority Professional Symposium, a closed group as part of the British Association of Social Workers, which focuses on promoting anti-racist practice nationally.  She led and created an antiracist supervision template, which is very popular and has widely influenced supervision policy and practice across several Local Authorities.  

Rachael Rooke joined Manchester Metropolitan University in 2019 and is a senior lecturer teaching across BA, MA, Step-Up and Social Work Degree Apprenticeship Social Work programmes. She has 20 years’ experience as a registered social worker and before working as an academic, Rachael was a full-time Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP), and prior to this, a Care-Coordinator on a Community Mental Team.  Rachael remains in AMHP practice alongside working in academia.

4.30-5.30pm

Leaving No One Behind – Welcoming workforce representation in social work education admissions

Caroline Bald, Suzette Jackson & Caroline McDonald

Caroline Bald is a registered social worker and lecturer at the University of Essex researching inclusive education admissions and curricula. Her interests lie in who and what makes it into classroom and why. She is co-chair of BASW England criminal justice group.  

Suzette Jackson, a Pākehā Māori (Te Ātiawa) woman, is employed as a researcher at Higher Ground Drug Rehabilitation in Auckland, New Zealand. She is a registered social worker and currently works as a trauma and addiction counsellor. Additionally, she lectures on addiction and substance use at Auckland University of Technology. Suzette is a Doctoral Candidate in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, focusing her research on exploring the experiences of mothers with a substance use disorder during their six months in residential care at Te Whare Taonga, an integrated rehabilitation and parenting program. Her research is devoted to amplifying the voices of marginalised and disenfranchised individuals and communities, reflecting her commitment to social justice and equity.  

Caroline McDonald is a home grown social worker who started out as a skillseeker 27 years ago. Since qualifying as a social worker in 2016 Caroline has completed the Practice learning award (Practice teaching) and a PG Cert in child protection and child welfare practice. Caroline is currently a team leader in a locality children and families team in Glasgow HSCP. She is currently the co vice chair at sasw but moving onto co chair in June and basw council appointed director.  
 

3.45-4.45pm

A Discovery of Identity, Leadership and Change – Birmingham City University’s journey towards achieving sustainable expert by experience involvement

Cheryl White & Reshma Patel

Cheryl White is a registered Social Worker with over ten years of experience in Social Work practice. She is currently a lecturer in Social Work at Birmingham City University and teaches across the Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes. Cheryl is the academic lead for the involvement of Experts by Experience across the College of Education and Social Work.    

Reshma Patel is an Expert by Experience (EBE) Lead at Birmingham City University. Over the past 6 years Reshma has initiated and trialled many models of effective working practices to ensure meaningful involvement of EBE’s and systems to ensure reliance is not on one passionate individual but is owned by the everyone to ensure sustainability. 

3.45-4.45pm

Writing about Social Work Research and Practice – Key lessons from BASW journals 

Reima Ana Maglajlic, Robin Sen & Christian Kerr

Dr Reima Ana Maglajlic, Reader in Social Work, University of Sussex and Co-Editor of the BASW British Journal of Social Work.   

Dr Robin Sen, Lecturer in Social Work, University of Edinburgh and Co-Editor of the BASW Practice Journal 

4.45-5.30pm

Scholarship in Social Work- Can compassion facilitate engagement?

Vicky Soutar, Jason McMillan & Cath Shaw

Vicky is a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Stirling and currently teaches across Adult Support and Protection and Leadership pathways for qualified prof essionals. Vicky has worked in adult services in Scotland since 1996, and for most of that time as a Mental Health Officer, with a later period as an Adult Support and Protection Lead. She previously led on the MHO Postgraduate Award at the University of Edinburgh, and continues to sit on the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland as well as undertaking some MHO locum work. Her interests are in specialist mental health practice, human rights and safeguarding, and compassionate practice.   

Jason  is a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Stirling and currently teaches across the Adult Support and Protection and Leadership pathways for qualified prof essionals. He also teaches on the BA Social Work qualifying programme for undergraduate students.  Jason qualified as a social worker in 2004 and predominately worked in adult services during his time in practice. He also spent time  in Yorkhill Hospital, and the Beatson Oncology Centre, providing social work support for children and young people diagnosed with cancer and their families.  Jason subsequently pivoted to working as a lecturer in further and higher education. His areas of interests include the understanding the needs and experiences of older adults and also people living with addiction.   

3.45-4.30pm

Sustaining Social Workers through protecting employment rights and welfare at work

Lyse Hurd, Colin Anderson, Lindsey Huxtable-Dowd, Beth Kinnell & Calum Gallacher

Lyse is a social work trained and previously registered social worker in child protection. She has been working as a trade union official with BASW for more than 11 years now. Whilst she has experience in both regulatory body representation as well as employment representation, she is now only doing representation in employment matters.

4.30-5.30pm

Therapeutic gardening and nature connection: incorporating plants, gardens, and greenspaces into social work practice

(Weather permitting this workshop will take place outside in the grounds of Dynamic Earth. No seating.)

Emma Martindale & Autumn Roesch-Marsh 

Emma Martindale is Training and Standards Officer for Trellis. Emma has a varied background in ecology, horticulture, and social work.  She is self-employed running Nature on the Mind: improving wellbeing through gardening and time in nature. Emma also works for Trellis, developing training for therapeutic horticulture practitioners, and the new UK Association for Social and Therapeutic Horticulture (trellisscotland.org.uk).   

Autumn Roesch-Marsh is a Senior lecturer in social work, University of Edinburgh. Autumn is a qualified social worker with experience of working with children in residential and community settings. Autumn currently works at the University of Edinburgh as a Senior Lecturer in Social Work and is currently supervising a student completing a dissertation in therapeutic horticulture and mental health. 

11.30am-12.30pm

Transitional Safeguarding: Building a sustainable future for young people 

Professor Christine Cocker & Dr Adi Cooper OBE

Dr Christine Cocker is Professor in Social Work and Head of School of Social Work at the University of East Anglia. She is a qualified social worker with over 30 years experience working with children and families. Christine’s research interests include Transitional Safeguarding, mental health and care-experienced young people, and LGBTQ+ issues in social work. She is the independent chair of the London Borough of Haringey Children’s Academy.   

Dr Adi Cooper is a qualified social worker and was awarded the OBE in 2015 for services to adult social care and adult safeguarding. Adi is an ex-Director of Adult Social Services. She has worked to improve safeguarding practice and outcomes; influenced national policy and guidance and led on the development of Making Safeguarding Personal. She is the independent chair of two Adult Safeguarding Boards. 

12.30-1.00pm

Space and Place in Supporting Relationships – learning from a process evaluation of Siblings Reunited (STAR) in Fife, Scotland 

Mark Hardy 

Mark is a Researcher at the Association for Fostering, Kinship & Adoption (AFKA) Scotland, and a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh.  His research interests include siblings, kinship care, the digital world, poverty, and report writing.  Mark spent 16 years in local authority social work and residential child care.

11.30am-12.30pm

Climate Breakdown and our responsibilities as safeguarders - what does this mean for us?

Climate Child Protection and Safeguarding Team 

Ruth Allen: Practising as a psychologist/ social worker for 25 years, within a forensic/ child protection specialism. Began addressing climate breakdown in 2019, launching the Climate Emergency Centre network (2020), and now a founding member of CCPAST applying the UK child safeguarding framework for climate risks/ harms to children. Mother of two.   

Sarah Yapp: 30 years as a therapist, now working as a social prescriber in primary care with safeguarding responsibilities for the last seven years.
A mother, concerned about climate harms, stood as a Green Party parliamentary candidate in 2015, and now a founding member of CCPAST applying the UK child safeguarding framework for climate risks/ harms to children.  
 

12.30-1.00pm

Social Work Education and the Climate Emergency: Responsibility and Action

Gillian Ferguson & Lindsay Giddings

Gillian is Practice Lead for social work at the OU. She is a lecturer involved in research around workplace learning, academic/practice knowledge, climate justice and social work responsibility. She is a registered social worker and active practice educator who has worked across third sector and local authority practice roles.  

Lindsay is Programme Lead for social work at the OU. She is a lecturer and lead for the Social Work Research Group. Lindsay has been a registered social worker for over 15 years working as a social worker and senior practitioner specialising in work with children with disabilities and transitions. 

11.30-12.30pm

Thriving, Not Surviving

Russell Hogarth & Graham Price

Russell Hogarth is an Honorary Fellow, Community Engagement Ambassador and Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Central Lancashire. Russell chairs the UCLan Honorary Fellow advisory group and the EU award winning international Creative Communities Group. www.ccguk.org  He is an advisor to the British Association of Social Workers. Russell is a trustee for the BASW charitable foundation trust.

12.30 -1.00pm

 ‘Including the Excluded’ Social Work with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities

Dr Peter Unwin  

11.30am-12.15pm

Co-Producing a sustainable community approach with local primary schools in Grimsby, England

Dr Thea Shahrokh & Debra Batty

Dr Thea Shahrokh is Research and Evaluation Manager at the NSPCC. She is an experienced qualitative and participatory researcher. Thea is currently co-leading innovative evaluation and learning work on the Together for Childhood programme which is a place-based systems change initiative to prevent child abuse.   

Debbie Batty, Team Manager at Grimsby NSPCC. Debbie is an experienced social worker who is passionate about empowering and building authentic connections with others.  Debbie has line management responsibility for practitioners in the Together for Childhood Grimsby site, NSPCC’s innovative  place-based approach to prevention and early help work in primary schools in the East and West Marsh wards of Grimsby. 

12.15-1.00pm

 Film: A Life in Social Work - Celebrating the impact of a long and inspirational career in social workA Life in Social Work 

David Morris 

David is Emeritus Professor in the School of Social Work, University of Central Lancashire. 

The BASW produced film A Life in Social Work tells the story of Daphne McKenna following her untimely death in 2020 aged 65. The story of Daphne's work and life exemplifies how a life dedicated to social work can sustain and influence practice, colleagues and people experiencing social work services in profound ways. The film is part of BASW's Heritage 50th Anniversary Project that has been focusing on celebrating the history, legacy and future inspiration of social work over the past fifty years and more.  This is a touching, thought provoking and inspirational film. The session will be opened by David and BASW CEO Ruth Allen and will include some time for discussion.

The film - co-produced by by her husband, social worker and academic David Morris with his friend and Daphne's former colleague, Marie Diggins - presents one story of what makes a great social worker whose legacy was described as 'quietly immense' by a contributor to the film.  Another said: 'Even now when I'm involved in a project, I often ask myself, 'and what would Daphne say?'.

Ruth Allen, Chief Executive of BASW, said: "This film is part of BASW's educational role as a professional body to share the authentic stories of what social workers did in the past, what they do now and help us look forward and imagine what a social worker of the future can be.  It will help in our work to influence public and media understanding of social work because it reflects so positively on what a dedicated social worker can achieve'.

11.30am-12.30pm

Solution Focussed Conversations in Social Work – Sustainable and Empowering Practice for Clients, Practitioners and Organisations

Paul Wiggins & Allegra Harrison

Allegra Harrison, Practice Supervisor Essex Solution Focused Centre, Essex County Council Social Care.  Allegra has over 30 years of experience in the social service and mental health fields working within a variety of contexts and populations in the UK and USA. In her current role she delivers Solution Focused training & courses whilst also providing direct Solution Focused interventions and support for children and families with social care involvement. 

Paul Wiggins, Practice Supervisor, DBIT Edge of Care Service, Essex County Council Social Care.  Paul brings 12 years of experience in children’s social care. Seven years ago, he discovered solution-focused practice and has remained passionate about working with families in this empowering way. Paul has developed and delivered training courses, and currently supervises and works alongside a team of practitioners practicing this approach. 

12.30 -1.00pm

Understanding Family Group Conferencing in the Context of Mental Health 

Lucy Morter & Sarah Buchanan

Lucy Morter is a Social Worker who has been working with NHS secondary mental health services throughout my career. I am trained in compassion focused therapy, CBT & DBT skills, family mediation, reducing parental conflict and systemic intervention. I am currently working in the Adult Mental Health Family Group Conference team as an FGC Coordinator.  

Sarah qualified in 2004 as a mental health nurse and have worked across both children and adult services.  I have trained in brief solution focused therapy, EMDR and have skills in family behavioural therapy, CBT & compassion focussed therapy. I now work in the Mental Health Family Group Conference Team. 

2.00-3.00pm

BJSW Kay McDougall Prize 2023

Best Editor’s Choice Paper in the Volume

Recognition of Family Life by Children Living in Kinship Care Arrangements in England

Dr Paul Shuttleworth

Paul was a social work practitioner for over 20 years. Since completing his PhD, he has worked for BASW, was awarded an ESRC Post-Doc, wrote for publications on kinship care and child participation, and has been an academic at Sussex and Kingston Universities. He is the UK Jewish Social Work Group chair and co-hosts the Do Do Social Work podcast. 

The abstract for Paul's paper in the British Journal of Social Work is:  

Kinship care is the long-term caring arrangement within the family constellation for children who cannot remain with their birth parents. Despite being the most prevalent alternative care arrangement for children worldwide, there are significant gaps in the knowledge about kinship care and few children’s perspectives in kinship care research. This presentation focuses on how children’s views, understood through theories of recognition, can assist understanding their lived experiences in kinship care. The recognition of kinship care has implications on how it is supported, regulated and financed. Insights were drawn from nineteen children in England using dialogical participation and critical realism methodologies, and methods such as child-led tours, photo-elicitation and visual methods. Analysis of the children’s insights unsettles simplistic dichotomous recognition of kinship care, family, participation and childhood seen in most current UK social work policy and practice. The research also demonstrates that children’s views are worthy of further inclusion in social work policy, practice and research, especially for kinship care. 

3.00-3.45pm

Social Work’s Role in Disasters, Preparation, Action and Recovery 

Enya Richards & Kateryna Buchko

Enya Richards, Children and Families social worker based in Edinburgh. Studied and worked in Plymouth, Devon, practicing through the Covid-19 Pandemic and Plymouth Shooting. An advocate for the role of Social Work within disasters and the need for the topic to be embedded in Social Work education.   

Kateryna Buchko, PhD. Lecturer, researcher from Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine), currently working on a project 'Exploring Ukrainian Narratives of Displacement' at the Department of Social Work  (University of Stirling) under supervision of Professor Lena Dominelli. 

2.00-2.45pm

The Journey of strengths based practice in Wales: A nation without language (Communication) is a nation without heart

Rachel Scourfield and Jay Goulding

Rachel Scourfield- Knowledge Mobilisation Manager and NIHR fellow. Rachel has been social worker for 20years.  Her practise has been within the field of Substance use across Adult and Childrens services.  As a Consultant Social Worker Rachel has worked within the Integrated Family Support Service and has supported the roll out of strengths based practice throughout her local authority.    

Jay Goulding- Engagement and Development Officer in Social Care Wales .  Jay has 25 years’ experience of practicing, training and leading strengths-based practices in social care. In Social Care Wales he supports people in social care to develop and embed strengths based practices. 

2.45-3.30pm

Getting General Election Ready: Campaigning and Influencing MPs and Candidates

Kerri Prince & Jonny Adamson

Kerri Prince is BASW UK's Public and Political Affairs Lead, focusing on Westminster politicians, politics, and elections. Kerri coordinated the 2024 BASW General Election manifesto, and is leading on engaging with candidates ready for a new UK Government. Prior to working for BASW, Kerri worked for a Member of Parliament in Westminster for four years. 

Jonny is BASW’s Communications and External Relations Officer. He works across the organisation on a range of campaign and influencing work, which feature throughout BASW’s 2024 General Election manifesto. Prior to working for BASW, Jonny oversaw communications for an MSP at Holyrood and was a Campaigns Organiser for the Scottish Liberal Democrats during high-profile elections.

2.00-2.45pm

Using Web-Based Maps and Relationship Building for Inclusion of Marginalised Group Voices in City Planning 

Temple Raiders Research Group- Lukas, Leah, Tyler, Gerard, Jerry and Eileen   

Members of the Tyneside Outdoors youth group, Temple Raiders, live within cycling distance of Temple Park in South Shields, England. Twelve young people ages 12 to 22, two youth workers and one PhD student met in July 2022-April 2023 to co-design a research project on young people’s cycling experiences. Some of them will be present in the workshop. Using an iterative process, they developed a platform for their cycling lived experiences (with text and video) by adapting Photovoice and Bike Along Interview methods. The platform was a free Web 2.0 map in Padlet.

2.45-3.30pm

Medical Models – A social worker’s friend or foe?

Aimée Robinson

Aimée Robinson is a Specialist Renal Social Worker.  She has been a practicing social worker for 8 years, working in health settings such as hospital discharge planning, A&E in intervention and prevention and currently for Cambridge University Hospitals Trust as a renal social worker. Aimée is interested in the sociology of health and the interactions between the social and health models.  

3.30-4.00pm

Neurodiversity – facilitating and creating neuro-comfortable spaces through research, knowledge and lived experience

Dr Lesley Deacon & Zeta Bikova

Dr Lesley Deacon is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Sunderland. Vice Chancellor’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Fellow,  ARC Social Care Research Fellow. Lesley  is a neurodivergent, academic-based practitioner researcher. She is a registered social worker with Social Work England. Her main areas of interest are neurodiversity, practice research and safeguarding. She combines research, knowledge and lived experience to underpin all her work.  

Zeta Bikova is a Senior Lecturer in Health, Wellbeing, Care and Society at University of Sunderland.  Zeta is a highly qualified educator with a master’s degree in social Welfare, a PGCE in Special Educational Needs and a Higher Education Fellowship. She has over ten years’ experience as a teacher and lecturer in higher, further, mainstream, alternative provision and SEND education. Her main areas of interest are neurodiversity, safeguarding and domestic violence. 

2.00-2.45pm

Trading Places: Exploring the ethics of social workers as practitioner researchers

Rachel Murphy, Jenny Gibbs  together with members of the Social Work Practitioner Research Network

2.45-3.15pm

Crisis social work in an airport setting

Rebecca D’Sa

Social Worker, Heathrow Travel Care

2.00-2.45pm

Navigating Burnout in Social Work: Understanding, Addressing and Thriving

Andrea Ferdinand 

Andrea Ferdinand is a licensed and registered social worker and therapist, whose practices include movement, energy, sound, soil, and EMDR; modalities that have informed her approach, ‘MESSE’. Rooted in healing, social, and restorative justice frameworks, her work involves aiding individuals and communities in processing and recovering from systemic harm and trauma. 

2.45-3.30pm

Thriving, Surviving or Not At All Coping - Interviews with social workers exploring professional burnout.

Hannah Kingsford

Hannah is a registered social worker and has worked in adult services since 2018. She is currently seconded to Kent Research Partnership on a Research and Training Fellowship, an opportunity offered to social care practitioners to develop their research skills. Hannah’s research project is exploring burnout in social workers.

3.30-4.00pm

“I’m Done!” - Re-establishing a connection to social work

Sarah Redmond

I am Sarah Redmond, a social worker of 20 years and while my professional interests are extremely varied, they include the retention of social workers. Over the past 3 years I have been delivering a course aimed at social workers who are feeling the effects of burnout and wanting to leave the profession. I hope to share what I have learned and support more social workers to stay in this challenging but inspiring profession!