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
" alt="thumbnail" />
This presentation will include findings from ‘Wellbeing in Schools and Colleges (WiSC)’, an empirical research study in Wales, where the objective was to understand stakeholder experiences of delivering and receiving mental health and wellbeing provision for care-experienced children and young people (CYP) in secondary schools and FE Colleges, in order to develop recommendations to enhance service quality and ensure equitable access. In particular, it explored the relationships between social workers, school and college staff, mental health professionals, and care-experienced CYP and how they impacted on delivery and receipt of wellbeing provision. The focus of the presentation will be on the qualitative findings from this mixed methods study including case studies with secondary schools, FE colleges, social care teams, and mental health teams. Firstly, study themes relating to care-experienced CYP’s mental health and wellbeing needs and how schools and colleges try to meet these needs will be explored. Then themes relating to the role of cross-professional boundary working between social care and education staff will be discussed, including the challenges and opportunities of working in this way and how they differ according to age and care experience, e.g. foster care and kinship care. The presentation will conclude with recommendations for practice and policy in relation to care-experienced CYP’s mental health and wellbeing in educational settings and as they transition between them.
Online, ZOOM
13:00
- 18/09/2024
" alt="thumbnail" />
"The voice of young people with learning disabilities and autism in supported employment: Engage to Change and building partnerships to promote what works" This presentation will explore the importance of partnership working in Supported Employment, based on Engage to Change, a 7-year national project supporting young people aged 16-25 with a learning disability and/or autism, to achieve paid employment with job coach support. The project offered employment support and opportunities through a partnership of organisations, aiming to promote cultural and social change in Wales and to influence policy to promote employment for young people with learning disabilities. The presentation will be led by the Engage to Change Lead Ambassador who is an Autistic young person with lived experience, and two researchers. We aim to inspire attendees on building strong partnerships between organisations on national and international levels. We will include the importance of involving member-led and self-advocacy organisations to empower young people with learning disabilities. It will also include a description of changes over recent years and how accessible working and co-production actively supported influencing work with young people, employers, local government, families and carers. The presentation includes videos of people with lived experience and activities for attendees to participate in. We aim to explore what works and how lessons learnt can be used to promote cultural change and enhance inclusion in employment.
Online, ZOOM
13:00
- 21/10/2024
" alt="thumbnail" />
This webinar will explore findings from a major new study led by Professor Burch in England (published by NFJO, 2024) exploring the prevalence and experiences of parents with learning disabilities or difficulties with babies in care proceedings. The study builds on earlier (2019) research in Wales exploring similar themes for Welsh Government. A major finding from the 2024 study includes that, in over one third of recently concluded care proceedings involving babies, at least one parent had learning disabilities or difficulties. What does this mean for services and professionals working with children and families at risk of entering care? This 1 hour webinar will consider this and other findings from both studies regarding parent experiences and their implications for national policy makers, local authorities and people working in the family courts (judges, barristers and solicitors). It will also offer an opportunity for questions and reflections from people joining the webinar.
Online, ZOOM
13:00
- 08/10/2024
" alt="thumbnail" />
This webinar will explore the "What About Me?" project. Funded by the NIHR (Research for Patient Benefit), the project investigates what it is like to be a person with learning disabilities who relies on unfunded support. The project has been co-produced with self-advocates, and this presentation will explore the experiences of those who have been involved in developing the research, doing the interviews, and making sense of what the data says. We will also explore the importance of the topic for people with learning disabilities and what we have learned so far.
Online, ZOOM
13:00
- 14/10/2024
" alt="thumbnail" />
Webinar: Ageing with Learning Disabilities Presenter: Professor Sara Ryan Abstract to Follow
Online, ZOOM
13:00
- 09/10/2024
ExChange Wales Learning Disabilities Conference OCTOBER 2024 This conference series aims to focus on learning disability, highlighting research and innovative work being undertaken in this field. The title ‘Being Seen, Heard and Valued’ was chosen to recognise and illuminate the…
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.
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
