Building better social care in Wales
Doing Adult Safeguarding with Service Users and Carers Presented by: Dr Jeremy Dixon, University of Bath *A discount code will be provided to attendees for those who wish to purchase Jeremy’s book, Adult Safeguarding Observed* This presentation describes social workers’ accounts of doing adult safeguarding work with service users, family carers and paid carers. It… Read More
Championing a research culture within Adult Social Care – How are we making robust decisions without calling upon the research base? Research enriched practice has always been a gold standard within social care. However, making it a natural part of practice within busy frontline local authority teams dealing with complex and fluid situations has always… Read More
ExChange Wales brings leading researchers together with practitioners and service users to share expertise, research evidence and care experiences.
Through our conferences, workshops, lectures and seminars, ExChange provides free, high-quality training to support the ongoing development of social care professionals across Wales. Attracting leading national speakers, together we learn and advise on research, impacting both policy and practice. Our events and resources enrich skills while foregrounding the lived experience of care-experienced people.
We have a range of ways that you can work with ExChange. If you wish to host an ExChange workshop, webinar, podcast or blog, simply contact us.
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Improving practice with fathers in children’s services Presenter: Jonathan Scourfield, Professor of Social Work, CASCADE, Cardiff University 15th April 2024 12 - 1pm There is a long-standing and ongoing problem of practice in children’s services focusing primarily on mothers and failing to properly engage fathers (the term used here in an inclusive sense). This works against the interests of women, men and children. The causes of the problem are complex. The presenter first studied it when doing his PhD in the late 1990s and more recent evidence would suggest there has been little change since then. This webinar will introduce the issue and then describe research-based training and organisation development designed to improve the situation. ISAFE (Improving Safeguarding through Audited Father-Engagement) was developed by The Fatherhood Institute and CASCADE at Cardiff University. Its effectiveness is currently being tested in a randomised controlled trial funded by Foundations, the national What Works Centre for children and families. ISAFE is based on previous work by the two organisations: training developed by the presenter and colleagues in Cardiff and a multi-layered father-engagement intervention designed and implemented by the Fatherhood Institute, which the presenter evaluated. Also, the skills training element introduces motivational interviewing, the use of which in children’s services has been pioneered by CASCADE academics.
Online, ZOOM
12:00
- 15/04/2024
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Research studies about carers’ wellbeing over the last decade have highlighted the impact of caregiving on informal carers’ financial, physical and mental health. In this seminar hosted by the Centre for Adult Social Care Research (CARE) at Cardiff University we focus on the implications for carers’ social wellbeing and present some of the latest research from the UK and Australia about the social welfare of carers. Join us for this free in-person seminar.
Event Space, sbarc|spark, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ
11:00
- 21/05/2024
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Our research in collaboration with senior practitioners has led the Welsh Government to overhaul its safeguarding review procedures for the most serious incidents and deaths in Wales due to domestic violence, mental ill-health, offensive weapons and those involving vulnerable adults and children at risk. A key aspect of the implementation of the new Single Unified Safeguarding Review (SUSR) process has been to commission us to develop the Wales Safeguarding Repository (WSR), utilising the expertise of criminologists, subject matter experts and computer scientists applying text mining and machine learning techniques. The WSR is globally unique in its scope, security, functionality, and centrality to government, and will enable researchers and practitioners to extract new learning about violence, abuse, vulnerability and safeguarding. This presentation will discuss the underpinning research, engagement with stakeholders to develop the SUSR and WSR, the distinctiveness of the WSR as a resource for researchers and practitioners, and potential for it to significantly impact policy and professional practice across Wales.
Online, ZOOM
13:00
- 29/04/2024
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This presentation explores how creative and collaborative approaches can be drawn on as techniques of data production and tools of dissemination and impact. The focus of the presentation is a qualitative study into the educational experiences and aspirations of care experienced children and young people in Wales (n=67). The project worked with care experienced peer researchers and drew on visual, creative, and participatory techniques to explore participants experiences of education and, importantly, their opinions on what could be done to improve it. This multimodal approach allowed space for participants to think through their subjective, mundane, but important, experiences that operate alongside, and interact with, more structural challenges. Alongside a report, book and journal articles, a range of films, magazines, artwork, and music outputs were developed, as well as training workshops and a website, to ensure that the project recommendations could reach wide and diverse audiences. This presentation suggests that the perspectives of children and young people need to be given a platform to inform policy and practice. Accordingly, researchers need to be creative in their approaches to both fieldwork and dissemination; harnessing the impact of the arts to make positive changes in the everyday lives of children and young people.
Online, ZOOM
13:00
- 09/04/2024
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This session will provide an overview of our work on child criminal exploitation in Wales. It will begin with a brief introduction about how CASCADE became involved in this research and the importance of working with stakeholders from the research design stage to the co-production of research outputs. Presenter: Dr Nina Maxwell The session will consider how the research team engaged with young people, parents and professionals to ensure the research added value to existing practice. The session will finish with a critical overview of the impact of this research portfolio on policy and service provision with reference to some of the co-produced outputs.
Online, ZOOM
12:00
- 22/04/2024
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Professor Donald Forrester 'The Enlightened Social Worker' Book Launch In this webinar, Donald Forrester introduces his new book, which positions human rights as central social work practice.
Online, ZOOM
13:00
- 10/04/2024
1st – 24th November 2023 This conference series will run throughout November 2023. We have brought together a range of speakers and researchers who consider issues of mental health throughout the life course, including for children and older people. We…
Our third webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health “Supporting people with mental health problems to build social networks and reduce loneliness: lessons for practice and research from intervention trials” Abstract People with mental health problems are more likely to have smaller networks and experience loneliness and social isolation than… Read More
Our fourth webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health Abstract The ability to form strong relationships is viewed as central to mental health recovery. Few studies have explored the experiences of people with mental health problems in forming or maintaining romantic relationships. This study addressed this gap through conducting focus… Read More
Our second webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health “Webinar: What works to improve the mental health of care-experienced children and young people: Systematic review evidence” Abstract The mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced children and young people remains a major concern. To date, it has not been clear which… Read More
Our first Webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health Abstract In this presentation, offered as a basis for discussion, Peter, drawing on his own and other people’s lived experience, aims to help us rethink both understandings of mental wellbeing and distress and helpful ways of addressing the difficulties we may… Read More
Last year, a group of hosts in and around Cardiff, some from CASCADE, worked together to provide Christmas dinner and a celebration for care-experienced people. The team were filled with nerves ahead of the big day, with referrals still coming in up to the week before Christmas. A chef volunteered three days of their time… Read More
** WALES ONLY** Parent Advocacy Online Workshop (Wales) We are inviting social work practitioners and managers, parental advocates, parents, advocacy managers, family support workers and academics in Wales to participate in an online workshop on parental advocacy and its effectiveness in supporting parents whose children are open to social care. The event is part of… Read More
Understanding care pathways and placement stability for infants in Wales with Dr Laura Cowley from Population Data Science, Swansea University on 4 October 12:30-14:00. This presentation provides new empirical evidence about entry routes to care, pathways through care, and placement outcomes for the very youngest children in the care system in Wales. By addressing questions about… Read More
