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
Find out more about our upcoming events and webinars, and how you can sign up, on this page. For a list of past events, visit our archive.
" alt="thumbnail" />
Life Story Work (LSW) is widely recognised in health and social care settings as a powerful approach for supporting care-experienced children and young people. By using biographical and narrative techniques, LSW creates opportunities for individuals to explore, reflect on, and make sense of their lived experiences. It is frequently referenced in policy, practice guidance, and research as a way to strengthen identity, promote placement stability, improve understanding of personal histories, and support emotional well-being. Despite this, recent studies suggest that the effectiveness of LSW in practice remains under-researched, with limited qualitative evidence and a wide variation in how LSW is delivered. Scoping reviews reveal diverse models—ranging in intensity, length, and approach—raising important questions about what LSW should actually include. In this webinar, we’ll explore how clearly defining approaches to Life Story Work can help provide clarity for practitioners and researchers, support better outcomes for children and young people, and move us closer to consistent, evidence-based practice.
Online
12:00
- 02/07/2025
" alt="thumbnail" />
Dawn Mannay and Victoria Timperley present their essential guide to the innovative qualitative research technique of sandboxing. Originating from play therapy, sandboxing enables children, young people, and adults to create three-dimensional scenes using miniature figures and everyday objects in a sand-filled tray. Creating these sand scenes offers opportunities for individuals and groups to reflect on and represent memories, everyday experiences, and ideas about the future, which are then shared and discussed. Offering an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners, this comprehensive book: - introduces a creative and engaging approach to qualitative data generation; - features key international case studies, real-world examples, and thoughtful reflections on the method's strengths and limitations; - equips readers with the tools needed to effectively implement sandboxing in their research journey. By drawing on creativity, reflexivity, ethics and expertise this book unlocks sandboxing's potential to transform your research with an inventive and imaginative approach.
Online
13:00
- 09/07/2025
There is growing awareness of the need for better dementia research to improve the support given to people living with dementia. The Alzheimer’s Society has estimated that 1 in 3 people born in the UK will be diagnosed with dementia…
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
