In conversation with Lisa Cherry today is Colby Pearce who is a Clinical Psychologist who lives and works on Kaurna (pronounced “Garna”), Nurungga (pronounced as it reads), and Nukunu (pronounced “nookunoo”) country in the land known as Australia. Across the last twenty-eight years Colby has worked continuously with children and young people recovering from a tough start to life, and adults who interact with them in care and professional roles. He maintains three busy psychotherapy clinics, but also finds time to write and deliver programs intended to enhance awareness of the experience, needs ..read more

The Bio: "Smash Life was formed by Matt and Andy Smith who spent their childhood in the care system. The brothers were unfortunately abused in care but have spent a combined 40+ years working in various roles in social care to ensure their past pains have been used as a purpose to be a listening ear, voice and advocacy for many children navigating through their own care journey now. Both are “being who they needed when they were younger” Smash Life is an award winning company that leads from the heart and provides mentoring, experiences, events, group work, inspirational talks and training ..read more

Lisa Cherry is in conversation with Emm Irving,  Senior Programme Manager for Improving Population Health, NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board who leads on the Adversity, Trauma and Resilience Programme. The ambition is for the whole of West Yorkshire to become Trauma Informed by 2030. Lisa and Emm discuss the challenges, dealing with overwhelm and facing our own traumas alongside why we need to start with the workforce!  ..read more

In a follow up to Part 1, we dive even more deeply into talking about power, suffering and empathy. The conversation on adversity and childhood suffering is not an easy one and both myself and Suzanne have times where we really struggle to articulate ourselves. What you'll hear is a compassionate, honest and thoughtful discussion about ACEs, trauma and adversity.  References to books that arose in conversation:  Children's Homes: A History of Institutional Care for Britain s Young by Peter Higginbotham  | 30 Jul 2017 The British Betrayal of Childhood by Al Aynsley-Green | 28 ..read more

Join Lisa Cherry and Karen Treisman in a live webinar conversation about changing organisational systems, services and cultures.   ..read more

Join Lisa Cherry in conversation on a live webinar with Peter Blundell and Danica Darley on boundaries and relational practice. Professional boundaries are there for the safety and security of service users and professionals. However, there are factors that can increase professionals' use of boundaries that can lead to defensive and distance-based practice rather than relational and effective practice. The best professional social care practice is relational, yet boundaries (if used ineffectively) can interfere rather than foster those relationships. We are advocating for relationship-based p ..read more

In this episode, Lisa Cherry is in conversation with Alex Kemp exploring professional kindness, culture and leadership.  Alexander Kemp has been working with children and families for over 20 years. He holds a degree in social work and a masters of public administration.  He lives in Brighton with his husband who is a doctor working in intensive care.  Alex is care experienced.  Alex has worked in senior roles within large organisations specialising in the provision of services to children and families who need help and protection and with children in care and care leavers ..read more

Luke Billingham, part-time researcher, part-time youth worker, talks all things about shifting the lens on how we view youth violence, the significance of mattering and how we need to step away from 'boundaries receptacles for blame'. Here's a link to the "Terrifying abyss of insignificance" paper: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/1185/1395 Worth mentioning that the title of that paper is a quote from a brilliant book by Tony Ellis: https://www.routledge.com/Men-Masculinities-and-Violence-An-ethnographic-study/Ellis/p/book/9781138040274) Here's a link to Against Youth Violen ..read more

What happens when youth work, the decimation of preventative services and a community that feels left behind collide? In this collaborative book, Cut Short; Why we’re failing our youth – and how to fix it, Ciaran charts life during the most challenging years of the last decade. The emergence of the VRU in London is recorded as are the real lives of those living in their community as violence escalates against the backdrop or even in response to, the ideology of austerity and a changing political landscape. I absolutely loved this book and as far as I'm concerned, it is a must read inviting a ..read more

Dr Amanda Taylor-Beswick’s main research interest is in the area of digitalization and professional education, in particular, how social work education socializes and equips students for practice in an emergent and complex digital social world. Research projects include: an examination of the contribution of social work education to the preparedness of students for practice in the connected age; navigating digital contact for children in out of home care; the design and development of a wearable device to help to reduced drug deaths in high risk populations in Northern Ireland; a youth-co-rese ..read more