Strengthening Partnerships Programme
Here at Strengthening Practice we understand the importance of collaborative working and how it can directly support the work of your partnership.
Do you want to improve your knowledge and skills in safeguarding children and consider how you can work more effectively in your role?
At Strengthening Practice training and practice improvement is our principal focus. We have taken what we know is helpful and worked with our skilled team to develop an in-depth programme that speaks to current issues and theories informed by practice.
Our online Workshops are trainer led, capped at 20 participants to ensure a quality learning experience in the virtual learning space. They are supported by a wealth of learning strategies, quality materials, and tools to support practice.
Discounts apply for multiple sessions and for organisations sending up to 5 delegates
Workshop 1
Workshop 2
Working with families where their
engagement is reluctant and sporadic
 |
 |
 |
| 3 hours | Online | £124.95 |
Workshop 3
Workshop 4
Workshop 5
Workshop 6
Who is the course for
Our Strengthening Partnerships Programme (SPP) is for all practitioners working directly or indirectly with children, young people, and families. This includes adult services who work with parents and carers to help them understand the role they should play and the role of other practitioners.
Our Trainers
All our trainers are highly experienced and close to practice. Our Safeguarding expert Suzy Kitching MBE will be delivering the Workshops. Suzy has over 25 years’ experience as a social worker and practice leader, is an author for Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews and an Independent Scrutineer for a Child Safeguarding Partnership.
The Strengthening Partnerships Programme
We have combined our knowledge and experience with learning from the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel about contemporary safeguarding practice to develop a programme that supports practice within, and between, agencies.
The Programme is centered around the six key practice themes that can make a difference to children and young people identified by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. Whilst the six workshops form a whole and are arranged in a sequential order, you do not need to attend them all and you may attend them in any order.
The Strengthening Partnerships Programme consist of
-
Six multi-agency workshops inclusive of all training resources and tools.
-
Workshops designed to maximise multi-agency engagement and learning by expert safeguarding trainers online.
-
All the Workshops are 3 hours (including small group working)
Additional thematic Masterclasses
- Masterclasses to share ideas and strategies to “stubborn and perennial problems in multi-agency child protection practice.”
- Facilitated conversations to get insight and solutions by expert safeguarding leads.
- All the Masterclasses are 3.5 hours (including small group working)
- Includes a comprehensive workbook
- Inclusive of all training resources and Tools
Multi-agency peer coaching
- To consolidate learning and build relationships
- Groupwork with specific cohorts of staff and /or practice leads/strategic leads.
The workshops
Workshop 1 : Understanding what the child’s daily life is really like
This workshop covers:
- Understanding the child and practitioner’s role
- The voice and lived experience of the child
- Communicating with children
- Understanding contributors and early signs of abuse, neglect and exploitation
- Adult issues and children’s needs; the impact on the child
- What is the research and evidence telling us, including children and young people
Workshop 2 : Working with families where their engagement is reluctant and sporadic
This workshop covers:
- Relationship based practice
- Understanding resistance and reluctant engagement
- A strengths-based approach to working with families
- Exploring family’s motivation for change
- Working with the whole family not leaving anyone out – seeing fathers, relationships, and family networks
Workshop 3 : Critical thinking and challenge
This workshop covers:
- Skilful use of authority
- Principles of reflective practice
- Understanding the child’s experience
- Supporting critical thinking skills
- The role of reflective supervision
- Making and challenging decisions based on analysis
Workshop 4: Responding to changing risk and need
This workshop covers:
Understanding respectful uncertainty
Understanding the child’s experience, patterning, and triangulation of information
Understanding signs of abuse, neglect, and exploitation
Pathways to harm, pathways to protection
What is the research and evidence telling us, what is knowable and what is unseen
Workshop 5 : Sharing information in a timely and appropriate way
This workshop covers:
- Working with thresholds
- Informed consent
- Information sharing between and across services managing incomplete information from a systems perspective
- The child’s record
- Facts , opinions, and meanings
Workshop 6 : Organisational leadership and culture for good outcomes
This workshop covers:
- Developing a multi-agency environment for practice to thrive
- Creating a learning system, learning from audits and reviews
- Maintaining a grip on frontline practice and focussing on ‘wicked issues’
- Drivers and barriers to multi-agency working
Thematic Masterclasses
These Masterclasses focus on specific learning themes covering existing and emerging practice learning, they can be delivered single or multi-agency depending on the needs of the partnership. They have been created to consolidate and support reflective learning. They support findings from both National and Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (LCSPR) and can complement and stretch knowledge following initial Rapid Review learning.
They are standalone, intensive courses and address some of the most “stubborn and perennial problems in multi-agency child protection practice.”
They are strengthened by quality learning materials in a Digital Workbook and additional access to our online learning platform with additional self-directed activities available for 12 months.
Session Delivery mode
Online via Microsoft Teams (max three hours)
Currently available are Masterclasses in
- County Lines (online only)
- Thresholds for intervention
- The Child’s Journey
- Engaging with Adolescents to help make a difference to their lived lives
- Working effectively with domestic abuse
- Working effectively where neglect is an issue
- Poor mental health and its impact on behaviours , parenting, and families
- Informed consent, information sharing and recording
- Professional judgement, risk assessment, and decision making
- Reflective practice
- Relationship- based practice
- Working in partnership
- Seriously good case clinics
- Strengthening Care
- Improving assessment, a parent’s perspective (part of our Expert by Experience programme)
- Developing culturally competent practitioners (under development)
- Non-accidental injury in under 1’s ( national review under development)
- Seeing men (under development)
Contact Erica on 01900 824458 for a quotation
Multi-agency peer coaching
Strengthening Practice has been using coaching as part of its core teaching offer for the past three years. SP also developed and supports the British Association of Social Work Professional Support Service (BASW SWPSS), a coaching service for social workers across the 4 nations.
Our experienced coaches at Strengthening Practice can offer group supervision, team supervision and individual supervision.
We specialise in coaching for senior leaders and teams who are working together to make a good difference to the lives of children and young people.
Anti-discriminatory practice
In the Professional Capabilities Framework for social workers in England, there is a Diversity and Equality domain.
The domain for experienced social workers states:
DIVERSITY AND EQUALITY – Recognise diversity and apply anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive principles in practice
- I inform, guide and model good practice in the application of understanding of identity, diversity and equality to practice
- I model critically reflective practice and support others to recognise and challenge discrimination, identifying and taking professional action
- I act (individually or collectively) to challenge breaches and limitations in the ability of my own or others’ organisations to advance equality and diversity and comply with the law
- I demonstrate and model the effective and positive use of power and authority, whilst recognising and providing guidance to others to avoid oppressive practice.