A Commentary for the Holistic Politico - Psychological Model(2011) - for the Solution Focussed Discussion of a Child’s Mental Health Needs and their Wellbeing within the Context of a Multi-professional Planning or Child in Need Meeting.

Dave Traxson, who is a senior educational psychologist for Worcestershire County Council has provided us this text of a seminar which he presented on January 12th, 2012 to the British Psychological Society (Division of Educational and Child Psychology) conference "Change in Mind : Changing Times" at Stratford upon Avon.

Dave believes the paper represents a radical attempt to promote solution focussed discussion at case conferences about a child's mental health needs. It is rooted in humanistic psychological principles and it is compatible with the ethos of Social Pedagogy.

Dave and his colleagues would like this model to be it widely circulated for caring professionals to use. They make notes to help formulate their hypothesis on the blank proforma and use the full version as an aide memoire for prompting areas of discussion. Initial reactions have been very positive and they are looking for further support with this shared endeavour in order to challenge the influence of the imminently arriving DSM5 from the United States of America in 2013 which will widen prescribing and would in his view result in many false positives in the mental illness for children and young people.

The text can be found by clicking on therapeutic care and social pedagogy on our title strip at the top of the page.

This news item first appeared on the goodenoughcaring homepage at http://www.goodenoughcaring.com  

Flying through an ethereal letterbox near you : issue 10 of the goodenoughcaring Journal lands on December 15th

The new issue of the goodenoughcaring Journal goes online in mid-December. In our last issue John Stein wrote about the influence of mothers and so one of the themes of this next issue is the relatively less explored territory of fatherhood and aspects of this are examined in a poem by Jan Noble and in articles by Joyce Carol Oates, Alex Russon, Mark Smith and John Stein. Marion Bennathan writes about nurture groups in schools and Cynthia Cross recollects the nature of residential child care in the 1960s and compares it with current practice. Jeremy Millar makes a personal assessment of the work and thoughts of Chris Beedell while Moira Strachan discusses the relevance of a child observation placement toward her development as a social care worker. Noel Howard has written a moving review of Danny Ellis' CD 800 Voices : the heartache and the healing. John Molloy provides a review of Richard Webster's book The Secret of Bryn Estyn Bob Forrest has provided us with part two of The Kerelaw Papers and Pat Petrie writes about the Sing Up for Looked After Children project. News of further articles will appear here within the next few days.

This news item first appeared on November 25th, 2011 on the home page of the goodenoughcaring website at http://www.goodenoughcaring.com

Conference : Young People in Crisis? Exploring transitions to adulthood

The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and Kids Company are holding a joint conference on Friday, December 2nd, 2011 at the Tavistock Centre in London.

"Young People in Crisis? Exploring transitions to adulthood" is being held at a time when concerns about young people have spilled over once more into anxieties about the cohesion of society and social relatedness. The aim of this one day conference is to explore the key issues faced by young people with difficulties in making the transition to adulthood.

The conference will bring together the innovative practice developed by Kids Company, which effectively reaches out to many young people who find it difficult to access services, and the developmental approach of the Tavistock Clinic's Adolescent Department's to clinical practice, supervision, teaching and research. The conference will draw on recent understanding and developments of young people from a range of perspectives including neuroscience and psychosocial.

It is suitable for all practitioners working with young people (15-30 years) in CAMHS, adult services, social care, children, adult, leaving care, youth offending and criminal justice organisations. It will also be relevant for managers and policy makers.

The speakers include:

Camila Batmanghelidjh, Founder and Director, Kids Company,

Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London,

Professor Stephen Briggs, Associate Dean, Specialist and Adult Health Services (SAMHS), The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

The fee for the conference is £110 (£90 for Tavistock students and TSP members).

For more information or to book a place at the conference telephone 020 8938 2285 or Fax 020 7447 3837

email : events@tavi-port.ac.uk or go to http://tavistockand portman.ac.uk

This news item first appeared at http://www.goodenoughcaring.com on the goodenoughcaring website home page in October 2011.

Flying through an ethereal letterbox near you : issue 10 of the goodenoughcaring Journal lands on December 15th

Flying through an ethereal letterbox near you : issue 10 of the goodenoughcaring Journal lands on December 15th

The new issue of the goodenoughcaring Journal goes online in mid-December.The new issue of the goodenoughcaring Journal goes online in mid-December. In our last issue John Stein wrote about the influence of mothers and so one of the themes of this next issue is the relatively less considered matter of fatherhood and aspects of this are explored in a poem by Jan Noble and in articles by Joyce Carol Oates, Alex Russon, Mark Smith and John Stein. Marion Bennathan writes about nurture groups in schools and Cynthia Cross recollects the nature of residential child care in the 1960s and compares it with current practice. Jeremy Millar makes a personal assessment of the work and thoughts of Chris Beedell while Moira Strachan discusses the relevance of a child observation placement toward her development as a social care worker. Noel Howard has written a moving review of Danny Ellis' CD 800 Voices : the heartache and the healing. John Molloy's remarkable review of Richard Webster's book The Secret of Bryn Estyn which is currently on this page in the section about Richard Webster will also be published. News of further articles will appear here within the next few days.


This notice first appeared on December 1st, 2011 on the goodenoughcaring homepage at
http://www.goodenoughcaring.com/

Separation and Reunion Forum annual conference, November 25th, 2011

Dr Elaine Arnold of the Separation and Reunion Forum informs us of its 12th Annual Conference, Imprisonment of parents and children: exploring attachment, separation and loss which will take place on Friday 25th of November at the Tower Block, London Metropolitan University,Holloway Road, London N7 8DB opposite Holloway Road Tube Station. Bus services to the venue are nos. 4, 17, 43, 91 and 271.

The conference fee is £60 for the standard delegate rate, £35 for students and retired persons and £50 for SRF members. Payment by cheque should be sent to The Administrator, Separation and Reunion Forum,c/o Room 003, 250 York Road, London SW11 3SJ or for further details visit

http://www.serefo.org.uk

This news item first appeared on the home page at  http://www.goodenoughcaring.com/ on October 11th, 2011.

A new Ofsted report about outstanding work in children's homes

A new Ofsted report published on March 2nd, 2011, Outstanding Children's Homes analyses the high quality of residential child care provided by 12 English children's homes. It can be downloaded at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documents-by-type/Thematic-reports/Outstanding-children-s-homes

This item was first posted in June, 2011, on  the home page of the goodenoughcaring website at http://www.goodenoughcaring.com/Home.aspx?cpid=1

International Seminar on the History of Child Care

Child Care:Learning from History

An International Seminar on the History of Child Care will be hosted by Scotland's New Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children and the Child Care History Network (CCHN) on Monday, 7th November, 2011 at Jury's Inn, Glasgow.

The aim of this international seminar is to consider issues concerning the history of child care, in particular focusing on lessons which have been learnt which can affect current and future practice.The seminar will be based partly on the experience of the host country, Scotland,while speakers and participants from other countries will also be involved. It will cover statutory, voluntary and private child care services, and both personal and organisational histories.

The seminar will present an exciting and varied range of speakers.

The content of the seminar will be of relevance to managers of child care services and practitioners, as well as regulators, academics and researchers. There will be additional activities before and after the Seminar, including the opportunity for study visits to local projects on Tuesday 8th November.

Confirmed Speakers,in programme order, include:

Professor David Divine (England): Formerly James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies, Dalhousie University, Canada, 2004 - 2009, currently undertaking furtherpostgraduate study at Durham University.

Keith White (England): Director of Mill Grove Residential Community in East London.

Mark Smith (Scotland): Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Edinburgh and formerly lecturer at the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care.

Moyra Hawthorn (Scotland): Lecturer at the New Centre.

Zachari Duncalf (Scotland): Research Fellow at the New Centre. Angela Davis (England): British Academy funded post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of History at the University of Warwick.

Beno Schraepen (Belgium): Graduate of the University of Ghent and founder of INCENA (the study centre for inclusion and enablement) in partnership with the University of Antwerp.

Delyth Edwards (Northern Ireland): Completing a PhD at the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queens University Belfast.

Christine Oliver (England): Senior Research Officer at the Thomas Coram Research Unit.

Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent (England): Director of Operations / Deputy CEO at Coram, the UK’s oldest children’s charity.

Ian Milligan (Scotland): Senior Lecturer at the New Centre.

Ann Kirson Swersky (United States): Independent scholar. Her current research was carried out on the records of the Monson State Primary School in the Massachusetts State Archives.

Shurlee Swain (Australia): Professor at the School of Arts and Sciences at the Australian Catholic University in Victoria.

Sue Owen (England): Director of the Well-being Department at the National Children’s Bureau and formerly Director of National Children’s Bureau’s Early Childhood Unit.

Kristian Bredby (Norway): Director of the Sanitetsforening Brusetkollen in Oslo.

Jim Goddard (England): Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Bradford and Secretary of the Care Leavers’ Association.

For further information :

General enquiries should be made to the Office for the New Centre:

Tel:             0141 950 3683

Email: "sirccevents@strath.ac.uk"

"www.sircc.org.uk/CCHN"

"www.thenewcentre.org.uk"

"www.cchn.org.uk"

This news item first appeared on the home page of the goodenoughcaring website at http://www.goodenoughcaring.com/ on September 11th 2011.