Faculty for Children, Young People and Families Annual 2024 conference
- Children, young people and families
About
Following on from our successful 2023 conference with the theme 'Hear me, don't blame me', in 2024 we are maintaining a trauma-informed, non-blaming perspective but with a focus on children and young people who do not have permanent homes and/or are living in temporary arrangements.
This could be for a variety of reasons including being:
- Homeless and/or living in temporary accommodation and/or frequent moves
- An asylum seeker or refugee
- In the care system
- In the criminal justice system
- In a family fleeing Domestic Abuse
The number of children and young people in some of these groups is rising and may be disproportionately affected by a range of issues and challenges compared with the wider population.
This is compounded by intersectionality, with some ethnic groups, socio-economic groups or genders over-represented and perhaps experiencing additional difficulties as a result.
Despite this, we know that support and services may be harder for these children, young people and their families to access.
The conference will provide an opportunity to come together with a range of speakers to think about ways of improving psychological wellbeing for children and young people and their families who do not have permanent homes and/or are living in temporary arrangements.
How to attend
This event will be held at:
- BPS London Office
30 Tabernacle St
London
EC2A 4UE
Contact us
If you have any questions please contact us at [email protected].
Registration
Please note: Registration will close at 10am (GMT) on Monday 11 November 2024.
Cost
Please note: all rates listed are inclusive of VAT at 20%.
| BPS Member | £48 |
| Non BPS Member | £96 |
| Student | £24 |
| Faculty for Children, Young People and Families Member | £24 |
How to register
Returning customers (members and non-members)
In order to register for the event you will need to sign in using your BPS website login details.
We have implemented a new Membership Database and if you haven't received your pre-registration email you will need to request your unique registration link.
Once you have the link, you can complete your registration on our portal.
Once you have registered on the portal please use your username and password to log in and register for the event.
If you have forgotten your login details, you can reset your username or password.
New customers (members and non-members)
If you are not a returning customer, you will need to create your BPS account on the portal. The process is straightforward and takes just a few minutes.
Once you have registered on the portal please use your username and password to log in and register for the event.
Programme
Bringing systemic perspectives to working with the emotional and mental health of needs of children looked after - research, theory and practice.
This presentation will look at facilitating best practice approaches to the wellbeing of children looked after, illustrated by the work of a specialist NHS team working in London.
Systemic and Narrative Work with Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children
This presentation will provide a contextualised, research-based tools to support the emotional health and well-being of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Some of these interventions include Fast Feet Forward, the Distress Screening Tool and Continuing Bonds Enquiry. The authors of the framework will describe a narrative approach developed from a clinical understanding of trauma, as well as presenting the words of children and young people they worked with.
Challenges for accessing and providing health care for Gypsy, Roma and Traveler communities
This presentation will discuss the discrimination faced by GRT, what we have learned about their health needs and their barriers to accessing healthcare, their experiences of trauma and working with system around the child and supporting access to other agencies.
Children separated from families owing to hospitalisation
The speakers will bring their extensive experience of NICU, PICU and other hospital settings to discuss the impact of hospitalisation on attachment etc
Young people facing homelessness
The speakers will present on their partnership pan-London work across London Vanguards with New Horizons youth charity which specialises in supporting young people facing homelessness. Vanguards are NHS funded projects working with children/young people and families affected by serious youth violence. Young people affected by serious youth violence are over-represented in those experiencing economic deprivation, marginalisation and social exclusion. Homelessness, unstable housing and housing challenges based on fleeing violence are therefore a common occurrence for this cohort.
Over time the speakers have explored and co-developed ways that psychology professionals can support and respond to these challenges for families experiencing housing instability in the context of youth violence. Ideas they hope to share:
- The role of psychology in housing assessments
- Co-produced advocacy alongside families
- Cross borough partnership working - opportunities to integrate service offers and sharing skill sets
- The speakers hope this will support psychology/mental health services to feel more equipped in exploring homelessness/housing needs for young people and embed these considerations into service delivery more routinely.
Speakers
The programme is currently being finalised, and there will be further presentations, but we can confirm the following:
Wendy Lobatto is a systemic psychotherapist and social worker, who managed a specialist child mental health service First Step, working at the interface of the London Borough of Haringey and the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust, for 13 years. She is currently working in a Mental Health Support Team in Schools, seeing how these principles continue to apply in a different context.
Elisa Marcellino is a Clinical, Counselling and Health Psychologist and CMM Fellow. She is a committee member of the Faculty for Children, Young People and their Families at the British Psychological Society. Elisa has a wide experience in the areas of trauma, adversity (ACE's) and attachment, and has been working clinically using a range of therapeutic approaches with families, systems, and children in or on the edge of care, unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people, young offenders, adopted children and looked after children. Elisa is co-author of several papers about working with unaccompanied minors and looked after children including Continuing Bonds Enquiry (CBE), Fast Feet Forward (FFF) interventions and the Location, Dislocation and Relocation (LDR) framework. She is co-author of the book ' Systemic and Narrative Work with Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children: Stories of Relocation' (Routledge, 2024).
Ana Draper is a Clinical lead and consultant systemic psychotherapist at The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. She has obtained a doctorate in systemic psychotherapy and she is also a clinical supervisor. She has worked in the fields of childhood bereavement and palliative care with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, as well as adopted and looked-after children. Her current role is as outcomes lead, supporting the implementation of an all systems change for Mindworks Surrey, a clinical alliance of which the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is a partner. She has written a number of research papers, as well as theory and practice links, and have presented her work in the United Kingdom, Ecuador, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Australia, and Europe. She has also received national awards for clinical excellence in a career that has spanned 30 years and given her the privilege of being with and learning from others.
Samantha Thomson is employed as a Highly specialist Family and Systemic Psychotherapist and CMM fellow. She has over 25 years of experience working with adults, children, and families in a range of different settings. Samantha's experience includes working in the NHS, charity, local authority, and education sectors, with a specialism in working with previously looked-after children and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. She has facilitated parenting groups, including Non Violent Resistance (NVR) and Family Connections. She has also delivered Fast Feet Forward groups with adopted children and asylum-seeking young people. Her work has included training different professionals in the Location, Dislocation and Relocation practice framework. Samantha is co-author of the book 'Systemic and Narrative Work with Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children: Stories of Relocation' (Routledge, 2024)
Tanya Blumenfeld was a single handed GP with a large cohort of Irish Travellers and Gypsies (1200 of 4000 patients).She developed an interest in working with the communities and with support from medical students completed reviews to try to understand their health needs (now published). The work was recognised by Lancet. Currently now working as a Portfolio GP, and a researcher for the University of Essex Medical Sociology and Human Rights, on a research for patient benefit study (NHIR) around exploring barriers and solutions to access to healthcare for Roma, Gypsies and Travellers (GRT).
Kirsty Abbas is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the Great Ormond Street Hospital Psychological Services Long Term Health Conditions team.
Ellie Atkins is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Evelina Children's Hospital and the lead psychologist for the London Neonatal ODN.
Kate Bond is the Head of Service for the Youth Justice team at New Horizon Youth Centre since 2012, managing a service of case workers who work directly with young people who have interacted with or are currently interacting with the criminal justice system or those impacted by exploitation and or violence. Prior to this she spent over ten years working for three different local authorities in Children's Social Care and as Youth Disorder and Safety Co-ordinator for Camden Council. Over her twenty year career she has worked directly with young people and their families from across London.
Charlie Wilson is a clinical psychologist working within a specialist community mental health service for young people and families who have been affected by serious youth violence and/or the criminal justice system. The partnership service has been designed to offer holistic, psychologically informed interventions to support mental health and wellbeing which includes practical and emotional support and takes into account the socio-political and contextual challenges children and young people are facing. The projects aim to offer more accessible and acceptable forms of mental health support and to create wider systemic change, through drawing on the expertise of young people and communities. Charlie has been supporting young people and families within multiple settings including community and youth services, secure estates and third sector organisation for the past 5 years. A particular focus on her work has been working with charities and local authorities to develop tailored psychological services and housing pathways which support young people who are homeless due to fleeing violence. This has included working alongside young adults to co-produce a new housing model specially designed for those who have been unable to access or benefit from existing housing provisions.
Angella Fosuaah is a Senior Clinical Psychologist within New-WAY (Newham Vanguard) a specialist community psychology-led service for young people/young adults and families who have been impacted by serious youth violence in Newham. The service aims to offer flexible, responsive interventions to marginalised young people and families and prioritises promoting choice and empowerment throughout all support offered. Angella has worked in various roles alongside young people and families to support their mental health and well-being in inpatient, community and third sector settings for 10 years and is passionate about highlighting communities' strengths. She has interests in community psychology, social justice, systems change and taking therapy out of the clinic room and making it accessible and acceptable for all.
Bursary
We recognise that the cost of attending an event such as our annual conference, perhaps especially the cost of travelling to London, can be a barrier for some people. We are keen to facilitate wider access to our event to support with career development and are pleased to offer 10 funded places with up to £150 towards travel each. There are 5 'Pre-qual' places for DCP Pre-Qual members or BPS student members and 5 'early career' places for DCP members who have been qualified for less than 5 years.
To apply for the bursary please complete the form below by the end of the day on 4th September, with successful applicants being informed by the end of the following week.
If you are successful we would request that you contribute to a blog about bursary winners' experiences of attending the event which will be included in our first newsletter after the date of the conference.