Last year’s International Gathering in Kansas City featured the best line-up of presentations of any Gathering so far. They came from Missouri, Cambodia, Japan, Ireland, Canada, Australia and the UK, and covered everything from Words and Pictures in frontline practice, to whole-village mappings in a developing country, to the successes and challenges of implementing Signs of Safety on a national scale.
Above: Sarah Sundman introducing presenters at the 11th International Signs of Safety Gathering
Our next Gathering in Ireland will take this to the next level again. If you’d like to stake a claim for how your organisation is changing the story of child protection, submit a presentation application by 1 June and join us in Dublin. Here’s some additional information about the kinds of presentations we’re looking for.
Submissions are invited for presentations of either 30 or 45 minutes in length.
Presentations should focus on the actual impact that the Signs of Safety has made for practitioners, agencies and ultimately for families and children through the direct practice of Signs of Safety. Presentations involving supervisors/practice leaders, front-line practitioners and those that capture the experience of families will be favoured.
We are looking for presenters to communicate the detail of their practice in applying the Signs of Safety and to describe the differences and significance of the work for practitioners, service recipients and the agency. We’re particularly looking for presentations that capture the enthusiasm and energy of yourself, your colleagues and your agency for this work.
Presentations are encouraged in all aspects of applying Signs of Safety ideas and practice to the child protection task; from intake and investigation to ongoing work through to case closure including areas of practice such as assessment, safety planning, involving children and parents, working with at risk teens and children in care conferencing, foster care, court work and building collaboration among professionals.
Alongside the focus on direct practice we also welcome presentations describing organisational processes, including training, supervision, research, management and implementation strategies that support and sustain Signs of Safety practice.
To submit an application and plan your presentation, we recommend reading the Call for Gathering Presentations page. This page contains details about the kinds of material you’ll need to provide, the timeline for providing them, the tools and equipment available to you on stage during your presentation, and the support we can provide to ensure you give the best possible presentation.