Top tips on how to use attachment theory and trauma
Improve your observation skills, direct work and intervention with children and families in child protection
Part of BASW's Child Protection Social Work Practice Masterclass Series - click here to view the full programme
Back by popular demand, new dates for the Child Protection Masterclass series have been released for 2024! Get inspired with highly practical, research-based training that will equip you with ideas to implement in your social work practice. These focused sessions will be jam-packed with knowledge, practical ideas, and research. Delivered by Richard Devine, who draws on his wealth of experience and expertise. You will leave feeling more confident and re-energised in the work you do with children and families.
Suitable for all social workers nationwide with an interest in child protection.
Course overview:
This session focuses on the coping strategies that children and parents develop in the context of adverse experiences. It will introduce you to an exciting and innovative theoretical framework developed by Dr Patricia Crittenden, called the Dynamic Maturational Model (DMM). Attachment theory is a lifespan model that is critical for understanding how people learn how to relate to one another, and the problems that can emerge when healthy relationships aren’t provided.
In this focused masterclass, Rich Devine, drawing on twelve years of frontline experience and specialist training will share the most influential and important theory on his practice – a theory that provides a highly practical and research-informed way to understand how and why parents harm their children, and importantly, what we can do to help parents and their children within a child protection context.
This masterclass will explore the relationship between attachment and trauma, with the impact of a traumatic experience significantly influenced by the attachment relationship. It will also explore the different ways trauma can be processed and what that means for a child or parent's functioning.
Learning Outcomes
- Learn about the different attachment strategies and how they influence a child’s behaviour
- Develop observations skills that aid understanding and inform assessment that supports looking beyond the surface behaviour to understand the underlying function
- Learn about the different types of traumas and how they impact a child and adult
- Develop practical tools and ideas for helping children and parents experiencing social and emotional problems
- Learn about the critical cause of danger and critical cause of change, where you focus on one important problem rather than several difficulties at a time
- Be more confident in understanding how attachment theory can improve your ability to understand and help children and families
The trainer:
Rich Devine (Twitter @RichardDevineSW) is a Consultant Social Worker, with over 12 years’ experience working with children and families in a child protection context.
He has a Masters in Attachment Studies from Roehampton University, London (2018) and is trained in several attachment procedures. Currently, he is a Visiting Researcher at Cambridge University. He writes one of the UK’s most popular social work blogs, exploring topics such direct work with children, assessment, and relationship-based practice.
In 2022, he co-facilitated a series of webinars on co-design and co-production with Tim Fisher, one of the leading UK experts on participatory approaches and he undertook research on parental advocacy with Dr Clive Diaz from Cardiff University (to be published in 2023).
Delivered online using MS Teams.