Upcoming Workshops
Specialist in face-to-face or virtual training.
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| Event | Venue | Date | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-Up – client response training for administration staff | Airport International Motel Hamilton | February 2, 2023 9:30 am | Administration workers are often the first persons with whom a client or potential client of your agency will have contact. When that initial contact is by an upset, highly anxious or angry client, it is not easy to find the right response. This workshop equips and supports administration workers in their role of providing ‘first-up’ responses to clients and members of the public who present in person at reception or over the phone. We consider how to interact calmly and safely with people who are presenting in a state of crisis or affected by alcohol or drugs, including how to convey empathy while encouraging the client to contain their anger or upset or behaviour. A workshop for all admin workers who may be ‘first-up’ in responding helpfully in difficult situations or helping to de-escalate potential crises. Who should attend?Administration workers in human service agencies who have direct ‘front counter’ or telephone contact with clients and members of the public. |
Sold Out |
| For The record - effective recording for child and youth work (Online workshop) | Online Workshop | June 14, 2023 9:30 am | Recording – from case notes to formal reports – is essential to effective child and youth work but can be difficult to do well. This highly interactive workshop examines the art of recording in various contexts. Learn how to write well-structured notes and reports which achieve their purpose as tools to help protect and support children and young people. Participants will learn to apply the ‘rules’ for succinct but effective recording, producing efficient and useful documents to support good practice. The focus of this workshop is on improving the capacity of workers to make written records which ‘serve their purpose’, whether this is for accountability, or to guide their work with a family, young person or child, or to help review progress. By helping workers to consider how best to structure and approach different types of written records, this workshop aims to remove some of the barriers to good recording and make this a less arduous task. There is a focus on recording in a way that is inclusive of clients and makes written records accessible to them. This workshop is relevant for any workers in child, family and youth welfare who are required to keep case-notes or log entries for various purposes. In practicing recording skills, we go ‘back to the basics’ to examine how to make an effective record, irrespective of the technology used. Who should attend?Government and community agency workers, family support workers, youth workers, foster and kinship care support workers, intervention service workers, Assessment and Service Connect practitioners. |
Sold Out |
| Family Ties – enabling kin to care for family (Online workshop) | Online Workshop | August 9, 2023 9:20 am | The research is in! Children living away from home need to be cared for by kin whenever possible. However, there can be some challenges to negotiate. Family relationships and interactions, cultural matters and worries about capacity or intergenerational trauma can all impact here. This workshop uses contemporary research and thinking to spotlight how workers can be most effective in collaborating with families to enable and promote safe and responsive care by kin for children and young people. If we understand care by kin as ‘family supporting family’ then the question for workers is how to best support, resource and enable this? Who should attend?Workers actively supporting care by kin from government and non-government services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agencies and non-Indigenous organisations. |
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| First-Up – client response training for administration staff - 24 August | TBA | August 24, 2023 9:30 am | Administration workers are often the first persons with whom a client or potential client of your agency will have contact. When that initial contact is by an upset, highly anxious or angry client, it is not easy to find the right response. This workshop equips and supports administration workers in their role of providing ‘first-up’ responses to clients and members of the public who present in person at reception or over the phone. We consider how to interact calmly and safely with people who are presenting in a state of crisis or affected by alcohol or drugs, including how to convey empathy while encouraging the client to contain their anger or upset or behaviour. A workshop for all admin workers who may be ‘first-up’ in responding helpfully in difficult situations or helping to de-escalate potential crises. Who should attend?Administration workers in human service agencies who have direct ‘front counter’ or telephone contact with clients and members of the public. |
Sold Out |
| Repairing Broken Threads - Reconnection and reunification practice (Online workshop) | Online Workshop | November 1, 2023 9:20 am | Work to reconnect or reunify children, young people and their families is complex, sensitive, challenging and rewarding. It must be done well. We know that most children and young people living away from their families will return home – at some point, in some way. Even for those who cannot ‘go home’, research suggests there are benefits in family connection. The craft of this work lies in how to determine the optimal level and nature of this connection for individual children and young people. If you are interested in exploring this area of practice with a view to clarifying and consolidating your understanding, skills and approach, this is the workshop for you. Contemporary thinking and research inform activities designed to develop your knowledge and skills in: assessing safety; planning effective support and intervention; and collaborative work with children, young people, their families and carers in this emotive and critical work. Who should attend?Government and non-government alternative care and reunification workers, residential care workers, foster and kinship care support workers |
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| Holding the Space - effective supervision for supervisors (Online workshop) | Online Workshop | November 29, 2023 9:20 am | Supervisors in the area of child, youth and family welfare commonly learn how to supervise solely through ‘on the job’ experience. Their main source of knowledge may be their own experiences of being supervised. This interactive one-day workshop helps supervisors in child and family welfare and youth services to understand supervision as a specific area of practice and to develop their practice skills in this area. Participants consider contemporary thinking and knowledge around supervision frameworks and models and are supported to use this in developing their supervision practice approach. Who should attend?Government and community agency workers currently supervising staff, new supervisors and workers interested in taking on a supervisory role. |
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Workshops not currently scheduled but available for delivery on request
Are the Kids OK? - being child-aware while supporting families
Targeted at anyone working in a support role with families and young people, this workshop is a popular favourite which regularly receives rave reviews by participants. All who work with families, children and young people must have as their focus the safety and well-being of the children. An ability to assess the risk of harm, and to recognise both protective factors and indicators of danger, is crucial. This one day workshop provides an opportunity for participants to develop their knowledge and skills specific to work with families where the well-being of children is a focus. Participants will have the opportunity to apply core concepts and knowledge to their own practice context.
Who should attend? Workers providing early intervention and family support services; people who work with young parents and families in crisis; workers in housing, DFV, and health services.
Bridging Troubled Waters – resolving workplace issues and difficult team dynamics
Positive team dynamics underpin effective workgroups and when all is well, we may take this harmony for granted. But when conflict or personality clashes persist, everyone is affected and productivity can plummet. This workshop considers the tricky issues in managing workplace conflict and tension and restoring harmony. How do you engage ‘difficult’ workers who do not respond to the usual supervisory efforts to address unacceptable behaviour. How do you use your own personality and negotiation skills to ensure fair dealing while getting to the source of trouble? What strategies and techniques might help? This workshop is for competent supervisors who need a few more ‘tricks up their sleeve’ for resolving workgroup issues and for those who want to avoid such issues arising.
Who should attend? Team leaders, supervisors and managers responsible for workgroups in both government and community agencies.
Building Bridges – child protection practice for educators
This workshop is specifically designed for teachers and school personnel. The concept of ‘building bridges’ acknowledges the roles of educators as conduits between home and school in promoting student wellbeing. This workshop covers legislative requirements for identifying and responding to harm to students, along with core concepts of effective child protection practice. Case scenarios guide participants to consider child protection risk and protective factors, to determine risk of significant harm and to decide the most appropriate course of action. We consider contemporary research about how best to support families within the school community to help prevent child protection crises.
Who should attend? Teachers, principals, school counsellors, school nurses and designated student protection officers.
Building the Picture for educators – identifying and responding to harm and sexual behaviour (half-day)
This half-day workshop equips educators with knowledge and skills to meet mandatory training requirements for identifying and responding to harm. It considers concepts of abuse/neglect and likely harm to children, within the context of legal requirements and duty of care. It explores children’s sexual development and distinguishes between normal and problem sexual behaviour, providing a framework that guides educators in responding to all types of sexual behaviour including problematic behaviour. There is opportunity for participants to discuss behaviour and concerns encountered in work settings so that they leave the workshop with more confidence and potential solutions.
Who should attend? Child care educators, child care directors, family day care educators, outside school hours (OSHC) educators and directors.
DNA – development ‘N’ attachment for child protection work
Together, child development and attachment theory form a critical cornerstone underpinning practice across child protection, family support and youthwork. Yet many workers say they have only a hazy understanding of critical theoretical concepts and little real idea of how to use these in their practice. This new one day workshop draws on contemporary developments in research and theory to provide a practical working knowledge of child development and attachment for frontline child protection workers. Participants explore the implications of theoretical concepts for assessment and intervention and consider how to integrate theory with daily practice in their specific role.
Who should attend? Front-line workers, their team leaders and senior practitioners across the child protection, family support and youth sectors.
Playing It Safe – child safety risk management for educators (two hours)
Every school and childcare service has a duty of care and legal obligations around ensuring the safety of children and young people from abuse. The educators and others involved will be aware of the child protection policy – but is this enough? It needs to be acknowledged that sexual abuse and other harm can and does occur in school and childcare settings. And then there is the responsibility of being alert to the needs of children and young people who may be at risk at home. This short workshop goes beyond the basics and assists your key people – teachers, group leaders, in-home educators – to not only recognise child protection issues, but also to respond appropriately to the children and young people relying upon their vigilance.
Who should attend? This workshop is aimed at schools and childcare services, of all types and across the P-12 spectrum. Contact us to arrange a suitable time for us to come to you, including evenings.
Pursuing Possibility – using appreciative inquiry to transform your work
Interested in opening up the possibilities for real and positive change in your work with families? Wondering about how to transform the culture and temperament of your workplace? This is the workshop for you! Participants explore the principles and models of appreciative inquiry, an inquiry-centred and strengths-based approach to change, problem-solving and leadership. Participants work with practical conceptual tools to enable new possibilities in their work with families and within their workplace.
Who should attend? Human service workers in government and community agencies across the child protection, family support, youth work and domestic and family violence sectors; and their team leaders, senior practitioners and managers.
SaFa® training – The relationship route to safe families: integrated planning
When faced with multiple complex issues and the involvement of multiple agencies, it can be difficult to ‘hold it all together’ in working with families towards the possibility of change. A commitment to client-directed planning can seem at odds with ‘imposed’ goals around child safety, and working with other agencies to ensure integrated support planning brings its own challenges. This workshop examines:
- effective inclusive support planning with families whose lives may appear chaotic
- inclusive planning in which the process itself engenders hope and promotes change
- working through relationship to craft effective responses and avoid drift of focus.
Who should attend SaFa® training? Child protection workers in government and community based services, including Family and Child Connect, intensive family support, statutory intervention services and FIS, foster and kinship care support, reunification services, Assessment and Service Connect Practitioners and Family Wellbeing services. Both experienced workers and those newer to the field will benefit.
Starlight, Starbright – practice tools for change in families
You have your case plan and are home visiting regularly, but what should you actually be doing when you see your families? You know there must be more to it than having a chat about how everything is going. How do you help families “make the change”? Illuminate, brighten and shine up your practice by participating in this very practical workshop that explores the “how-to’s” of real work with families to achieve outcomes. During this workshop you will have the opportunity to be introduced to a range of practical techniques and tools that you can implement with families during home visits. By the end of this skills-oriented workshop you will have new strategies in your “tool kit” for immediate use in your practice with families in seeking the change they want to achieve.
Who should attend? Family support workers; government and community agency workers providing early intervention and support services.
Weaving the Tapestry – applying relationship based parenting approaches in family support
Parenting approaches have changed significantly with the emergence of attachment theory and neuroscience based understandings. How do we use this advanced knowledge in practical everyday parenting? This workshop takes you on a journey of discovery towards applying attachment principles in the daily parenting of children and invites you to consider how you use this knowledge in your family support work. You’ll have an opportunity to understand Circle of Security™ concepts and how to talk about these with families you support. Parenting approaches that strive to control behaviour do not respond to children’s underlying needs and feelings. Relationship based approaches such as Circle of Security™ allow parents to see behaviour as a form of communication. This workshop will give you an overview of these approaches so that you in turn can support the parents you work with.
Who will benefit? Family support workers, foster care support workers, family intervention workers, child safety staff, child care workers, anyone who provides skills-development and support to the families or carers of young children.
Y Links – engaging young people with family and community
If you work with young people, you have one of the most challenging and yet rewarding of jobs. You must respect young people’s rights to autonomy while having a developmental focus and also taking into account issues such as trauma and loss which influence individual needs. This workshop looks in particular at how to support young people to make positive linkages with family and community to help meet identified needs. We examine the concept of ‘optimal connectedness’ and what this means in tricky situations where family functioning appears counter to a young person’s interests. We consider the balancing act of working through relationship to support sustainable connections with others, especially with ‘disconnected’ young people and those whose lives are impacted by complex issues.
Who should attend? Workers in youth support services, child safety and residential care workers, transition to independence workers, youth justice officers, youth counsellors, community workers with a focus on youth work.