The core of effective practice is establishing and maintaining respectful relationships of trust with children, young people, and families. For many different reasons, this can be far from straightforward.

In this workshop, participants will explore the power imbalance experienced by families during social care interventions, and develop practical strategies to engage with families when issues such as anxiety, reluctance, or hostility makes relationships difficult to establish.

With an emphasis on self-reflection and reflexive practice, participants will develop interpersonal skills for building relationships that include support and healthy challenge – essential aspects of relationship-based working.

Designed for

Family help and social care practitioners working directly with children and families.

Learning outcomes

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Explain how power differentials and dynamics can operate in social care intervention with families.
• Compare different voices and perspectives about social care interventions.
• Challenge and reconceptualise the language often used to describe families who may not want to work with services.
• Understand reasons for, and causes of conflict in professional-family relationships.
• Promote healthy challenge in professional-family relationships with increased confidence.
• Identify actions to support the development of your practice in this area.