In September, IRCT held their first in partnership with two other like minded charities: The International Centre for Therapeutic Care and Family For Every Child. We all share an ambition to improve services for vulnerable and traumatised children and this conference was an opportunity to share ideas from across the world on trauma informed practice and what works best for children and families.
The Woodbrooke Learning Centre in Birmingham provided a tranquil venue for the conference with lovely grounds, good food and comfortable accommodation and created the ideal context for a relaxed and enjoyable event with plenty of variety and opportunities for networking.
We were fortunate enough to welcome a number of expert speakers from Hungary and Mexico as well as from around the UK across the two day event. Our first day focused on the role of narrative in recovery and started with an inspiring opening presentation by Lisa Cherry. In the evening we enjoyed a showing of the film “Resilience: The Biology of Stress & The Science of Hope” followed by a lively discussion.
On Day two we heard about the evidence base for good practice through hearing about practice examples and research in a residential resource (Caryn Onions), specialist foster care in a community setting (Sylvia Duncan) and kinship care (Juliana Trujillo).
We thank all our guest speakers, and hope to make this first of many joint ventures and establish an Annual Conference.
