Children’s Social Care

The course is a one-day programme which aims to equip social care professionals to have a greater understanding of mental health problems affecting children and young people, and how these impact on their emotional wellbeing and behaviour. Through understanding the context of young people’s lives and mental health difficulties we will consider ways practitioners can work towards providing better support, recognising the personal, familial, and societal risk factors and how they impact on children impacting on children’s behaviour. Participants will be introduced to the core concepts of Dan Hughes’s PACE (playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy) model of intervention, and how this can be used to enhance communication and support to children and young people experiencing mental distress. The course will provide reflective space for participants to consider the needs and risks of a young person they are working with, and there will be a sharing of local and national resources relevant to the client group including discussion of Camhs referrals and current resource issues.

To equip housing team members with the skills and knowledge to effectively apply professional curiosity in their daily interactions, ensuring better support and safeguarding for vulnerable adults and children.

Delegates attending this course are called upon to prepare statements and reports for use in court proceedings involving children and to, potentially, attend court to give oral evidence based upon those reports. The Court Skills for Children's Social Workers Training course will provide the necessary skills to enable delegates to produce concise, accurate and compelling written evidence and give guidance as to how to present that evidence to best effect in the courtroom. The second day of the course enables delegates to practise giving oral evidence in a formal setting and to be cross examined by our experienced barrister-trainer

To raise awareness of and begin to develop strategies for safeguarding children and young people with disabilities.

In the UK one in six people have some level of hearing loss. This means that you are likely to meet people who are D/deaf on a daily basis. This course is aimed at individuals and organisations who want to develop their understanding of D/deaf awareness, gain skills to improve their communication and improve their organisation’s accessibility.

The purpose of one day session is to introduce participants to the concept of neurodiversity, what that means for our practice and how we can make our services more accessible and our interaction with neurodiverse customers more engaging and productive. The course will include information on areas such as Autism, Autistic Spectrum Disorder (Including Asperger’s Syndrome), ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia amongst others and will allow discussion on what these conditions mean for those experiencing them, but also what we can do to engage with and be more engaging for our neurodiverse customers/clients

On completion of this session delegates will have a better understanding of workplace Hazards and precautions put in place to control them.

Supervision, both in name and practice is subject to competing tensions – between the needs (for example) for support for individual supervisees and teams, the needs for organisations to provide overview, quality assurance and evidence of its ‘work’, and of course, the needs of service users and others for accountable and transparent process and planning. Supervisors themselves are likely to experience such tensions in terms of time (or lack of it), competing work and professional priorities, recording (what and where?!), as well as (at times) keenly feeling the ‘emotional labour and challenge’ of working in a field characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This half-day workshop considers issues around ‘authority’ and supervision; focusing in particular on areas which provoke intense anxiety, such as performance management, and ‘game playing’ in supervision and the importance of engaging in ‘difficult conversations’. Themes introduced include: working in a diverse environment, the nature and limits of supervisory ‘authority’; the parallels between supervision and practice; the importance of contract/agreement around supervision and the idea of ‘candour’ in work relationships.

In this session we will be exploring what intersectionality is, some of the key concepts and principles and what we can do to take an intersectional approach when working with people

This course aims to give participants the opportunity to reflect upon, develop and maintain skills and attributes of professional curiosity in practice. It will consider the importance of healthy scepticism and respectful uncertainty, encouraging workers to fact check and cross reference as an evidence base; to attune to their professional instincts.

The Assessed and Supported Year in Employment for social workers in England, is now well established and involves a holistic approach to assessment based on the Professional Capabilities Framework. These courses are designed to assist employers in developing supervisors to meet the ASYE requirements. The one day programme is for participants who have already completed an In-Trac core supervisory skills module, whereas the two day programme is a standalone course. The aim of both programmes is to support supervisors to use their supervisory skills in the holistic assessment of newly qualified social workers in their first year of employment.

A 1 day course to give you an understanding of childhood trauma

Permanence is about providing the child with a sense of security, continuity commitment and identity …. a secure stable and loving family to support them through childhood and beyond.’ (DCSF 2010). The right of every child to belong to a family is underpinned by the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Children Act 1989 states wherever possible a child should be brought up within their own family, the ‘Ideal family’ being birth parents or members of their extended family, the permanency planning process will explore all the options thoroughly.

This two-day conflict awareness training session helps participants to develop their insight into the reasons why we may encounter conflict in the workplace. In this session we share simple and effective strategies for creating and maintaining safe working practices and environments.

This one-day conflict awareness and verbal response training session helps participants to develop their insight into the reasons why we may encounter conflict in the workplace. In this De-escalation - A Proactive Approach to Conflict Training course we share simple and effective strategies for creating and maintaining safe working practices and environments.

This session is aimed at individuals who work in the community and is intended to provide the practical skills to disengage a potential attacker.

This session is aimed at individuals who work with, support or care for children, young people or adults and provides practical techniques to release and re-direct situations whereby we are grabbed or held.

This one-day introductory programme of Social Care training Safeguarding Disabled Children aims to explore good practice in the protection of disabled children from abuse, and promote effective working together for all those concerned for their safety and welfare.

To provide participants with an opportunity to develop their understanding of how appropriate assessment of risk can be used to consider the impact of parental substance use on children and to plan appropriate child focused responses. Underpinning knowledge The course will be underpinned by appropriate research, theory and knowledge drawn from service user reports, serious case reviews, inspections and government inquiries.

This course aims to develop practitioners’ knowledge and understanding of parenting assessments

Keeping children and young people safe online and protecting them from exploitation, is of major importance in a world significantly influenced by social media. This course explains how children and young people use the internet and mobile technologies, the key risks and the strategies for managing incidents that may occur.

This a one-day course designed to provide social workers with a good working knowledge of all the different aspects of family law as well as the legal system of England and Wales The course is conducted in a dynamic, informal and accessible way. Delegates are encouraged to participate in group discussions, share experiences and ask questions at any time The course adheres to the requirements set out in the Department for Education’s “Post-qualifying standard: knowledge and skills statement for child and family practitioners” (KSS) and within the Professional Capabilities Framework of the British Association of Social Workers

The Writing Section 7 and 37 Reports Training course provides a detailed guide as to the construction of these important court reports. The legal basis of the reports (and the differences between them) is explained and participants introduced to the basic formats and shown many of the common pifalls in drafting reports to the court. Particular regard is had to analysing how the writer of the report can provide the court with accurate, fair and trustworthy evidence, insulated from cross examination. Participants are given guidance as to the rules regarding information gathering and how to discern the relevant from the irrelevant as well as the opportunity to analyse good (and bad) examples of report writing. Additional guidance is given as to the lead up to a court appearance, courtroom etiquette and the realities of cross examination.

This a two-day Court Familiarization and Evidence Giving Training course designed to provide social workers with insight into the legal system together with the skills and confidence to give effective and compelling evidence in court.

Our Advanced Statement Writing and Court Skills aims to deliver a good working knowledge about the inner-workings of a courtroom setting and prepare you to appear in a courtroom environment. You will identify issues (and include facts which support these issues), the source and weight of evidence while insulating written evidence against cross-examination. The course will explore the layout and formalities which take place within court as well as the use of exhibits/appendices/photos/plans/maps and using contemporaneous notes as the basis for statements/reports. You’ll learn how to deliver your statements clearly, getting your message across to your peers. The course will give you an opportunity to develop an objective, critical eye in relation to written evidence and the procedures and process of giving evidence, as well as preparing you to give your own evidence. It will inform you about the roles of the various people in court/tribunal and instill you with the confidence to take the oath or affirmation with certainty. In non-intimidating, realistic role-play, you will gain experience in being cross-examined: learning valuable skills about the techniques lawyers use in cross-examination and how to handle them; how to give clear, honest, impartial testimonies – receiving detailed feedback in order to properly prepare you for the real thing.

A course to demonstrate how analytical writing requires an assessment of the weight given to information gathered, drawing on knowledge from research, experience and practice, combined with the service users’ needs within the family or the context in which they live. The course aims to improve delegates’ confidence in understanding what is relevant and meaningful, and how to write it down in an effective way

The course will provided participants with a comprehensive guide to recent developments in legislation and prospective changes to government policies affecting family law. The course will look at recent and pending legislation, case law, developments in the family courts and the implications of this upon present practice and policy within local authorities together with key changes needed in practice and service delivery

This Court of Protection Training course provides an overview of the workings and approach of the Court of Protection to family disputes, capacity issues, best interests and safeguarding.

Significant case law has developed practice in the deprivation of liberty safeguards and their application to children and young people under 18. The law commission has reviewed the legislation relating to mental capacity act 2005 and deprivation of liberty safeguards(DoLs), the recommendation is for a replacement of DoLs with Liberty Protection Safeguards and these be applied to 16/17 years old and extended beyond hospitals and care homes. This will have a significant impact on children’s Social Care and the workforce need to be prepared for the changes in practice. This course will consider the developments in case law and how DoLs has become relevant to Children’s Services’ practitioners. It analyses the ‘Cheshire West’ Case and associated case law developing the scope of parental responsibility’ and its application for children and young people.

The aim of this course is for the participants to be able to plan, prepare and conduct an interview with a victim and or witness, complying with the requirements and competences compatible with carrying out an interview and investigation.

This course has been designed to increase the theoretical knowledge of health and social care professionals on the up to date legal framework, code of practice and human rights that covers the patients’ capacity to make decisions, protection of their cognitive decision making process, and understanding the principles of proper care towards these vulnerable patients and clients.

Replacing the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 is expected to come into force from April 2023. The new system (expected to be referred to as the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS)) will cover care in a wider range of settings. NHS bodies, Local Authorities and Care Providers will all need to understand their new responsibilities and start preparing to implement the new system.

This course is designed to provide professionals working with children and families a good understanding of the terms, effects and principles of Special Guardianship Orders. Delegates are introduced to the legislation and regulations and are provided with a detailed analysis as to how that legislation impacts upon decision making and best practice in the real world. The course also includes in depth consideration of the role of the Local Authority, an analysis of the construction of the “SGO report” in the context of the court decision making process and an examination of the often controversial requirements of the “support package”. There is an update of recent relevant case law, regulations and policy

This a one-day course designed to provide social workers with a good working knowledge of all the different aspects of family law as well as the legal system of England and Wales

The role of the Appropriate Adult was created in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 (updated 2019), with the intention of safeguarding the rights and welfare of young people and vulnerable adults in custody. When someone is arrested by the police and taken to a police station they have three basic rights; • The right to free and independent legal advice • The right to have someone informed of their arrest • The right to consult the Codes Of Practice (concerning police powers and procedures) Having identified a young person or a vulnerable adult, the custody officer has a duty to request the attendance of a responsible adult, ( known as an ‘Appropriate Adult’) .This role is different to that of a solicitor. An Appropriate Adult can be a family member, friend or a volunteer or social / health care professional. The training will provide the knowledge base required to fulfil the above role in an appropriate manner. It will instruct and update professionally qualified staff from health and social services (who work with adults with mental health problems or learning disabilities that make them vulnerable), on the subject of PACE and Appropriate Adult work

This course is intended to give social care professionals a greater insight into the complexities and principles of working with families where sexual abuse of children is a feature and use this to improve risk assessment and risk management. This is achieved through understanding who perpetrators of sexual abuse are, what behaviour they exhibit and motivations behind offending and developing knowledge of the risk factors behind sexual offending. Delegates will also develop knowledge of the legal framework with reference to the Sex offender register (SOR), Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPOs), Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme (CSODS) and the role of criminal justice agencies in the management of these cases. The course also looks at the role of the non offending parent or caregiver and how we can use this understanding to work more effectively with families. Delegates will also develop skills in working with those who perpetrate sexual abuse against children and be able to signpost them to support services.

The aim of this Life Story Work Training course is to give practitioners and Foster Carers an awareness of what is meant by Life Story Work and the importance of it in the child’s journey. It explores the impact of traumatic experiences on memory and helps Carers to find ways to help the child to collect present memories to shift the balance. It will support practitioners to manage the difficult conversations that Life Story Work sometimes creates for children and young people and explore their own emotions and feeling around having these discussions. Finally it will demonstrate to practitioners the important role they have to play along with other professionals and the child in helping them to fit together the missing jigsaw pieces in the Cared for Child’s Life Story

Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking Course Outline The International Labour Organisation suggests there are more than 40 million people in modern slavery across the world, with nearly 25 million in forced labour; in addition to forced labour, modern slavery encompasses human trafficking, slavery, and servitude. In human trafficking cases, exploitation can take many forms, including sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery, servitude and forced criminality. This is a serious concern when related to children who are being exploited as part of County lines. This course will provide an overview of the “Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance for England and Wales” Jan 2021 and include how to identify and recognise indicators of modern slavery, exploitation, and abuse. The training has been developed to support Local Authorities who have a statutory duty to identify and refer cases of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery as part of the National Referral Mechanism. First responders and other organisations need to understand the signs of modern-day slavery and be able to recognise indicators of abuse and exploitation which can include physical, psychological, situational, and environmental. This is particularly evident when considering child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation and County lines. It can be challenging to identify potential victims of modern slavery who may be reluctant to come forward or may not recognise themselves as having been trafficked or enslaved. There are likely to be barriers that prevent victims from disclosing or engaging with services. It is a disturbing truth that perpetrators and organised criminal gangs use coercive, controlling, and abusive means to dominate and abuse both adults and children.

This course will examine the effects and risks, trends in drug and alcohol use, drugs and the law, working effectively with young people around drugs and alcohol issues, referral processes and support services. The training is designed to give delegates a greater understanding of the effects of substance use on pregnancy and parenting. In particular looking at different substances and their effects on both mother and unborn child, effects of different drugs and alcohol on parenting and how agencies can work better together to provide appropriate care and support for all the family.

The course is designed to enable participants to develop a working knowledge of the importance of understanding and managing challenging behaviours in a variety of different workplaces.

Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), formerly Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the umbrella term used to describe the leading cause of preventable birth defects and is the commonest known cause of cognitive impairment in children, in the world. 6,000 babies are born each year in the UK with FASD – and many are undiagnosed. If you work with children, adolescents or vulnerable adults you may be supporting someone with an FASD. It is a spectrum disorder caused when a pregnant women consumes alcohol, Improvements in screening, identification, and treatment of children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs) can be enhanced through systematic efforts to educate medical and allied health students and practitioners about these disorders. Such efforts will contribute toward the goal of better identification, diagnosis, and referral for treatment for individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure.

The misuse of alcohol and drugs is a significant problem that affects not only individuals and families, but also the workplace. This course will help employers and organizations across different sectors to develop good practice in all aspects of alcohol and drug related issues.

This course will focus on the impact of the Trilogy of Risk (also known as the Toxic Trio), of domestic abuse, parental substance misuse, and parental mental health on children and multi-agency responses to working with families where this is a feature. In an analysis of 139 serious case reviews, between 2009-2011 (Brandon et al 2012), investigations showed that in over three quarters incidents (86%) where children were seriously harmed or died one or more of a “toxic trio” mental illness, substance misuse and domestic abuse played a significant part.

In this course, we will look at the assessment of a child in relation to all the factors that are influencing and impacting on his or her life within this definition. Therefore, the course will cover County Lines (CL), Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE), Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), Peer-on-Peer Abuse, Online Abuse, PREVENT, Gangs and their origins, whether from the home and family, peers, the school community, their neighbourhood or from the wider society. Within this, we will also look at the roles of agencies that could have a positive influence on the child or young person involved in these matters. In addition to this, we will explore the child’s existing issues which make the child/young person more vulnerable. There is the added option within this training course to feature Derek Bell, an ex Newcastle United professional footballer and a survivor of the football sex abuse scandal to talk on his experiences as an Adult of historical sex abuse and how it ruined his Adulthood along with being sectioned under the Mental Capacity Act, and then about turning his life around.

This course will enable workers who are engaged in work with children and families to develop effective ways and build confidence in working with difficult behaviour, in order to recognise potential impacts on professional dynamics and multi-agency child protection work when professionals are faced with working with families who are hostile and evasive.

To enable participants to become familiar with the role and responsibilities of the multi-agency role within safeguarding children and develop competence and confidence in carrying out their role

Understanding the implications of disguised compliance comes mostly from learning from serious case reviews. Parents’ behaviour can mislead us about the progress they are making and about the true nature of the lived experience of the child. Apparent or disguised cooperation can prevent or delay understanding of the severity of harm to the child and lead to cases drifting.

This course will assist practitioners with child protection responsibilities to reflect on the process of probing and reflective questioning and analysis to form a view about risk and harm and the parent’s capacity to meet their child’s needs. At the end of the course, participants will have developed their ability to critically evaluate practice actions and decision making to enable practitioners to be confident and persuasive when recommending a course of action to parents, to colleagues and to courts to protect a child.

Child criminal exploitation is not defined in law, though the government’s Serious Violence Strategy (2018) defines it as occurring where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into any criminal activity: • in exchange for something the victim needs or wants • for the financial or other advantage of the perpetrator or facilitator • through violence or the threat of violence The most common form of child criminal exploitation is ‘County lines”. County lines is defined by the Government’s Serious Violence Strategy (2018) as “…a term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas (within the UK), using dedicated mobile phone lines or other form of ‘deal line’. They are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move (and store) the drugs and money and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) or weapons.” There are more than 2,000 County lines organised criminal gangs across England and Wales and gang members can give some children and young people a false sense of belonging, safety, and security, filling a gap that exists in their lives.

Motivational Interviewing has its origins in the alcohol field in the 1980’s and is one of the best validated and widely used of all psychosocial interventions for alcohol use problems (Miller & Rose, 2009). Dr William Miller observed practice where people accessing treatment and support were often subject to authoritarian and confrontational approaches which resulted in people feeling let down by treatment. Consequently, he developed MI alongside Stephen Rollnick. MI uses a conversational approach which works with people’s motivations to change grow. The MI practitioner on this 2-day Motivational Interviewing Training course is trained to use a guiding style to empower the service user to consider both their internal motivations for change and growth as well as the impact of external factors (family, friends, society and media). The service user benefits from this approach through being placed in control of their decision making as the expert of their situation. There is a strong focus on the practitioner and service user working in partnership in moving towards change and growth.

To introduce participants to the interface between disability and safeguarding. To recognise ways in which children with disabilities and complex health needs can be more vulnerable to harm.

The session aims to support practitioners to undertake a good quality, analytical, evidence-based assessment to inform the decision making and care planning for children, young people and their family. It covers the theory, principles and value base that underpins best practice in assessment and care planning, including SMART outcome focused objective setting.

Helping a child make sense of his or her past is an important part of a practitioner’s role in working with children and young people. Being able to do this sensitively and effectively will help the child cope with current uncertainties, develop a clearer sense of identity and contribute to plans for their future. This course has been developed with reference to the latest research, legislation, standards and good practice and the delivery of knowledge and skills is designed to take account of a wide range of different learning styles.

There are specific requirements relating to support for care leavers. The ultimate aim of leaving care services is to support care leavers so that they can live successful independent lives. Each care leaver will reach that point at a different age and there should be no assumption that the duty means that all care leavers will require statutory support until the age of 25. Young people are not adults and are also transitioning through developmental stages which impact on their decision-making reasoning, risk taking choices and ability to learn and use life skill. As part of this Transitions (Leaving Care) Training course we will look at brain development in adolescence and how to support young people through a range of transition situations

This one day course explores the meaning of emotional resilience and how practitioners can develop their own emotional literacy in order to increase resilience and be more effective in their practice.

The aim of this course is to offer participants the opportunity to explore recent research into child development and its application to assessment; taking account of findings from serious case reviews and current research.

The focus of this course is to explore racism and discrimination and its impact on black and minority ethnic children and families. This interactive course will inform and assist practitioners to work in a culturally sensitive way, ensuring that stereotyping and prejudice do not affect safe practice.

The aim of this course is to improve understanding and develop practical strategies to help support children and young people who experience significant losses in their lives.

This one day course explores the meaning of emotional resilience and how practitioners can develop their own emotional literacy in order to increase resilience and be more effective in their practice.

The aim of this course is o develop practitioners knowledge and skills in communicating and working with vulnerable children and young people.

To increase confidence of practitioners in engaging ‘fathers’ in children’s safeguarding work; and raise and reinforce awareness of the importance of engaging ‘fathers’ to secure better outcomes for children. ‘Fathers’ = “Biological or other father-figures” (Daniel & Taylor 2001)

For new & existing managers to develop reflective supervision practice & make reflective conversations part of the culture of support for team members.

This interactive one-day course will enable delegates to develop their knowledge and confidence in working with resistance parents and carers to improve the welfare and outcomes for children and young people. This course will develop skills in identifying disguised compliance, why families are resistant, how to identify and evidence in assessments and understand what they can do to move things forward.

To provide participants with an opportunity to increase knowledge, and understanding about the importance of developing secure attachments, and the impact of insecure attachments on children’s development. To provide participants with the necessary knowledge and understanding about child development and attachment, to help them improve skills in supporting children and ultimately improving outcomes for them.

This two-day course aims to provide participants with an understanding of the principles underpinning social work assessments with children and families and the opportunity to develop skills in information gathering, analysis and developing effective plans.

The aim of this course is to offer insight into positive parenting and child development

The aim of the course is to provide participants with an opportunity to develop their understanding of men who abuse women. To consider appropriate assessment of risk and how appropriate intervention can be used to plan appropriate child focused responses. The course will be underpinned by appropriate current research, theory and knowledge drawn from Service User reports, Serious Case reviews, Inspections and Government Inquiries.

The aim of this course is to increase confidence of practitioners in engaging ‘fathers’ in children’s safeguarding work; and raise and reinforce awareness of the importance of engaging ‘fathers’ to secure better outcomes for children. ‘Fathers’ = “Biological or other father-figures” (Daniel & Taylor 2001)

This course will enable delegates to work and engage with parents/carers who have any sort of learning disability. Empowering Social Workers to have the confidence to identify and complete assessments with adults with learning disabilities, enabling them to effectively assess parenting capacity and recognise when specialist intervention is required.

This course is designed to assist practitioners in their assessments of children’s needs where one or more parent or carer has a mental illness. The training recognises the intricate interplay between parental ill health, parenting tasks and the developmental needs of children.

Working to support learning disabled parents and ensure that their children are safe requires an understanding of the multiplicity of risk factors facing learning disabled parents and their children. This course will build on established assessment frameworks and provide participants with up to date knowledge and skills that will assist them to conduct effective assessments and work alongside families and their children to both need and reduce risk. Course aim: This one day course aims to consider how to ensure that children of learning disabled parents are effectively safeguarded.

To help practitioners to recognise and work with the complex factors affecting domestic abuse, and how this impacts on children and use this knowledge to carry out effective assessments which lead to the right help being provided to individual children and their families.

This one day course is to help participants understand different types of behaviour and how to use these in a positive way

This one day course aims to introduce team support workers to best practice in creating effective plans. Lessons from research and guidance from current law and policy will be used to enable participants to explore the link between assessment and planning, the principles of SMART and ExACT plans, and the enhance their understanding of creative outcome focused planning.

This course aims to enable participants to undertake effective and timely pre-birth assessment, in partnership with parents. This is a critical area of practice and this course will enable professionals to develop an effective and evidence-based approach to pre-birth assessments

Taking a neurobiological view – how do we work with Trauma within our perspective roles?

To provide participants with an opportunity to develop their understanding of how appropriate assessment of risk can be used to consider the impact of parental substance use on children and to plan appropriate child focused responses. Underpinning knowledge The course will be underpinned by appropriate research, theory and knowledge drawn from service user reports, serious case reviews, inspections and government inquiries.

This one day course helps staff to understand the affects of mental health on the behaviour in adolescents

To provide staff with an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in chairing child care meetings, including looked after reviews and child protection conferences.

This course takes participants through the key elements of a well-structured report required to be presented to the Agency Decision Maker, Adoption Panel and Court.

The need to successfully capture the views and wishes of children is a concept that is both philosophically shared as well as embedded in legislation. Those of us working with disabled children need to draw on a skills base of creativity, flexibility and advocacy in order to ensure the voice of each child is captured, valued and used to influence and enhance the quantity of disabled children's lives and experiences.

This course will provide frontline staff with the ability to increase their knowledge of development of children through to young people (aged 13 - 25)

Having to communicate directly with children and young people as a social care worker requires a specific and important skill set. This course sets out to guide the social worker to understand the relevant process and dynamics involved and develop reflective and reflexive skills to enable them to master the art of difficult conversations.

This course will provide children's social care staff with the ability to increase their knowledge of child and adolescent development

This course is a valuable introduction to direct working with disabled children. It explains the value of direct work in this context and explo9res how to capture and reflect the voice of the disabled child.

This course will provide frontline staff with the ability to increase their knowledge of development of children from the ages of 0-12

This is a one day course is for anyone who works with children or adults who exhibit autistic behaviours. Many children and adults with autistic spectrum disorders experience diminished or heightened sensitivity to sensory stimuli. This course explores the main sensory processes and the impact on the individual if they are functioning usually. This knowledge can then be applied in designing an assessment which can produce an individual Sensory Profile for each child or adult and how to integrate the results of this assessment into the person’s everyday life to improve communication, socialisation and participation, hopefully making life less stressful and more enjoyable. It will also demonstrate how the assessment results can be used to plan environments, teaching strategies and communication plans for each individual.

This one day course builds on knowledge and skills gained on level one and will enable participants to develop a more detailed understanding of the communicative and environmental strategies that are known to help autistic children and adults make sense of the world.

Communicating with disabled children, particularly non-verbal children requires a very special set of skills. This course sets out to help participants overcome the various barriers to good communication and offers a range of tools and resources to help

This is a one day course for staff to provide day to day support and care to people on the autistic spectrum and to provide an opportunity to build on your existing knowledge of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and to use this knowledge to identify practical strategies that can be used when supporting individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

This one day training workshop aims to offer staff in receipt of 1:1 supervision an opportunity to understand the key elements of effective supervision so they can work with their supervisors in order to maximise its effectiveness

This four day programme is usually delivered as the two day core programme, plus an additional two days approximately one month later. There will be an expectation that participants complete tasks in the intervening period, thus enabling learning to be put into practice. This course may be supplemented by an observation of supervision practice afters day two and day four. his course aims to provide participants with the skills required to deliver effective supervision with a focus on complex practice dynamics and methods and tools for developing and improving performance. Link to PCF domain 7 & 9 Learning Outcomes

Recording a style of supervision which moves beyond a focus on task completion can be a challenge and for example, within Children’s Services, Ofsted inspections in a number of Local Authorities have commented that reflection and analysis are insufficiently evidenced within the supervision records. In-Trac believes that good recording is an important element of good practice as it provides the opportunity for the supervisee and supervisor to reflect on, summarise and agree the key elements of their discussions as well as providing a permanent record of the reasons underlining decisions which is available to others. We have been working with a number of organisations to create formats that support the recording of reflective supervision and have developed this one day workshop to develop the skills of supervisors in this task. The aim of the day is therefore to explore best practice in recording supervision with a focus on the effective recording of case discussions in the child’s records. It is an interactive participative day focusing on the practical skills involved. It is assumed that participants will have attended previous In-Trac training equipping them with the skills required to deliver reflective supervision

This course is mandatory for newly qualified social workers and is also suitable for those working in children’s services who may be working with families where physical abuse is an issue. The aim of this course is to enable participants to gain a greater understanding of how physical abuse affects children and young people and to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to intervene effectively.

Each year well in excess of 100 serious case reviews are carried out by Safeguarding Children Boards. Whilst the purpose of reviews is to contribute to learning and practice improvements, too often the only people who really have the time to absorb the learning are those who have been involved in the review process. Those involved in carrying out reviews hear powerful stories from families and practitioners that may not always be adequately reflected in a published report and a vital opportunity to understand the way in which professional practice impacts on the lives of children (both positively and negatively) may stay within the review team.

Child to parent violence is any behaviour used by a young person to control, dominate or coerce parents. This course aims to help delegates understand and increase their awareness of what this is and give them strategies as a practitioner in working with child to parent abuse

To provide practitioners across all agencies with best practice principles for working with children and young people who have been, or are at risk of being, sexually exploited.

This one-day course offers an overview of recent relevant reviews’ findings, particularly in relation to infants and adolescents (e.g. Complexity and Challenge, Out of Routine, National review of NAI in under 1’s, It was hard to escape, etc). Together with information from relevant research it will set the context to help practitioners begin to identify which may be the more vulnerable groups of children and which may be the most recurrent themes within families.

To provide participants with research and practice-based information that will enable them to effectively identify and manage cases of likely or actual sexual abuse of children and young people.

To give participants an opportunity to consider some of the dilemmas involved in working with families where emotional abuse is an issue. Lessons from research and Serious Case Reviews will be used to enable participants to define and identify emotional abuse, explore assessment processes and examine appropriate ways of intervening

This comprehensive one day course aims to enhance knowledge and awareness of the issues surrounding FGM. The training explores what action needs to be taken if you encounter a child or woman who has had, or is at risk of, FGM.

The aim of this course is to increase participant’s awareness of the particular vulnerabilities of disabled children and to provide them with an opportunity to explore ways in which we can effectively safeguard disabled children from harm.

This course aims to provide an introduction to contemporary attachment theory in the context of other theories. The focus will be on enabling participants to use this knowledge to inform their understanding of parent/child interactions and formulate effective interventions.

We offer 1:1 and Group Safeguarding Supervision sessions facilitated by trained Supervisors

We offer tailored 1:1 Direct Safeguarding Supervision Training sessions facilitated by trained supervisors for individual and group needs.

This interactive one-day course will enable delegates to develop their knowledge and confidence in working with resistant parents and carers to improve the welfare and outcomes for children and young people. This course will develop skills in identifying disguised compliance, why families are resistant, how to identify and evidence this in assessments and understand what they can do to move things forward.

This two day Developing Effective Supervision Training programme (with the option of a third follow up day) aims to focus on the core knowledge and skills needed by supervisors working within a variety of settings in health and social care. For social work supervisors the content of the course is consistent with the approach to supervision set out within the employers standards.