Conference
USING A THERAPEUTIC APPROACH WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Date held 3rd June 2009
Notes from the Conference
Chair
Ed Nixon, Chief Executive, Family Care Associates
Ed has significant experience in Local Authority social work and management prior to joining Family Care Associates in 2001.
This experience has been acquired in a number of different settings of ‘field’, ‘residential’ and ‘day care.’ At various points in his career he has been responsible for the delivery and/or management of services including Child Protection Systems, Services to Looked After Children, the Juvenile Justice System, Preventative Services and Leaving Care and Aftercare Services.
In his past life he has been involved in
- Merseyside New Start Management Board.
- Inter Agency Development Programme Steering Group.
- Learning Gateway Steering Group.
- Sefton Social Inclusion Task Group.
- Sefton Looked After Children Group (Chair)
- Liverpool L.E.A. Education of Looked After Children Group.
- Sefton Accord Group (Preparation for the Connexions Strategy)
- Sefton L.E.A. Behaviour Support Plan Implementation Group.
Guest Speakers
Dr Peter McParlin
Dr Peter McParlin is a member of the British Psychological Society and a chartered child and educational psychologist
Peter, himself was in care from the age of 2 weeks to 19 years and was classified as having special educational support needs and a low IQ.
Peter left school with no educational achievements and despite spending a period of time homeless; he went on to be a Cambridge graduate and ultimately achieved a PhD. in child psychology.
Peter has spent most of his professional life campaigning for vulnerable and dispossessed children and has tried hard to replace the importance of the term "looked after" high in the Government’s agenda.
Peter was instrumental in conducting -a five-year longitudinal study of university students with a care background which is the first ever research about how care leavers experience university (The “By Degrees” project), this work has made a significant contribution to developing policy on widening access to higher education and on improving the support provided to young people in and leaving care.
David Kingsley
Dr David Kingsley is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Lead Clinician for Affinity Healthcare’s Young People’s Service based at Cheadle Royal Hospital in Manchester. During the past five years he has presided over the development of a 38 bedded adolescent inpatient facility including an open acute unit (Orchard), a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (Meadows) and Woodlands, a specialist Low Secure Unit for young people who pose serious risks to themselves and/or others. He also led the development of a partnership with Family Care Associates to open Lymefields, a CAMHS-supported specialist residential placement to optimise the success in integrating risky young people into the community. Dr Kingsley has research interests in self-harm, personality disorder and parenting, and adolescent psychosis.
42nd Street
42nd Street is a service for young people aged 15 to 25 (in Manchester) facing a broad range of problems including self-harm and suicide. They offer a variety of individual support alongside a range of groups based at the resource and within the local community. They have initiated specific schemes, including a suicide/self-harm project offering individual and group support to young people. Having completed a research project on young people, self-harm and suicide, they have produced an excellent book based on their findings.
Gallery - Pictures from the day (Click on images to view large image)
Chair's view of the Conference – A reflection
I am please to say that this conference was extremely well received and that the vast majority if not all of delegates found this a rewarding event.
Our objectives for the day were simple. We wanted to afford practitioners out there at the 'coal face' time out to think; to challenge all of our thinking with some hard hitting messages and through the workshops offer some practical examples as to how we may make a difference to young peoples lives through creating a safe environment, looking at measured risk taking and some therapeutic techniques that may help young people and practitioners alike. Whilst in many senses we concentrated on Looked After Children we hope that the messages offered are every bit as relevant to children and young people who are, if appropriate therapeutic interventions are not identified and implemented, likely to become Looked After. After all it seems only reasonable that all children should be equipped to answer the questions:
"Where do I come from?"
"Where do I belong?" and
"Where might I be in the future?"
I believe we succeeded in our objectives and I thank all of the delegates for their attendance, input and participation in the day along with their feedback to us. I hope that we will be able to meet at future events.
I should also like to thank all the staff of Family Care Associates who worked hard to make this day so successful and the speakers for their input and encouragement to all of us step out of our comfort zones in considering if every child really does matter enough.
Ed Nixon
Chief Executive / Operational Manager
Family Care Associates / Young Alliance / Families@FamilyCare
