Morag Duff is a former solicitor who currently works as a freelance specialist CHC consultant. She has worked within the field of NHS continuing healthcare for over 10 years providing specialist advice and training for both health and social care organisations Morag is passionate about ensuring the individual is always at the heart of the assessment and care delivery process. In order to achieve this, she believes that partner organisations across health and social care must develop and nurture long-lasting and trusting relationships. This can only be achieved through a shared understanding and acceptance of the principles that underpin the National Framework as well as the processes that are set out in that guidance. Morag has worked closely with ADASS, the Department of Health and NHS England over the years, and was recently involved in the current revision of the National Framework, due to be implemented in October 2018.

Alex is a barrister at 39 Essex Chambers in London, and recommended as a ‘star junior’ in Chambers & Partners for his Court of Protection work. He has been in cases involving the MCA 2005 at all levels up to and including the Supreme Court. He also writes extensively, has numerous academic affiliations, including as Wellcome Research Fellow at King’s College London, and has his own website, www.mentalcapacitylawandpolicy.org.uk, on which he publishes news and blogs on MCA law and policy.

Lucy is a Principal Consultant in Hampshire County Council’s Transformation Practice and is currently Programme Manager for Transforming Social Care for Children and Families. Lucy gained over 15 years’ experience from within fast paced commercial organisations (from health care and financial services to cruise lines) before joining Hampshire County Council in April 2018. Prior to joining Hampshire County Council, Lucy worked exclusively with leadership teams to support strategy development and Target Operating Models, in order to deliver profitable and sustainable results. Lucy has extensive experience in stakeholder engagement, developing relationships and successful programme delivery and contributing to significant programme turnaround activity in a range of private and not-for-profit organisations. Throughout her career Lucy has gained a reputation for championing and representing the customer (both internal and external) throughout periods of change. Lucy's extensive experience in the private sector means she is passionate about delivering value, not only as an outcome but also from within the teams and environment she is working within. Lucy is now using this experience to improve outcomes for children and families in Hampshire, as well as the teams in Children’s Services who support them.

Gretchen Precey is an independent social worker, trainer and consultant specialising in work with children and families. She has had 25 years of experience in working with Fabricated or Induced Illness as both a practitioner and consultant, including a particular interest in safeguarding children with disabilities where FII is a possibility. Gretchen has trained widely on FII across the country and has published a number of papers related to this subject.

Stewart MacLachlan is Senior Legal and Policy Officer for the Migrant Children's Project, part of Coram Children’s Legal Centre. He manages the project’s training and legal guidance programmes, as well as contributing to the policy work of the project. He is co-author of Seeking Support (fifth edition), a guide to working with separated children and young people. Stewart is a practising Scottish solicitor, qualifying in 2010, and was previously accredited as a level 2 supervisor under the Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme in England. He has worked at an immigration firm in Nottingham, and worked for over 4 years in law centres in Scotland. He is also on the Board of Trustees at the Scottish Child Law Centre.

I knew when I was an adolescent that I wanted to be a Social Worker because I learned of the Sargent Cancer Care for Children charity and made it my mission to one day work for them. I qualified in 1997 having spent four years at Bath University, but knew that Sargent only employed ‘Senior’ Social Workers, so I spent a couple of years in C&F statutory teams in South Gloucestershire. I promised myself that I would apply for the first Sargent post that was advertised when I ‘hit’ my two years PQ, wherever in the Country it was! On my two-year PQ anniversary, a post was advertised in Birmingham Children's Hospital and my dream came true. I spent nearly five years doing my dream job till I decided it was time to move on and I found myself naturally gravitating ‘home’. I’ve worked in Hampshire since 2003, joining the Council initially as a Senior Practitioner. I was fortunate enough to spend 18 months seconded to the Isle of Wight in the initial stages of our partnership with them in 2013. I have learned so much through supporting other Local Authorities, learning that I draw on regularly and never take for granted. I have been in my current role as Head of Strategy and Operations for the East of Hampshire since February 2018 and have been the Strategic and Operational Lead for our exciting Transforming Social Care programme since March 2019. I can honestly say I love my job and working in our Outstanding service with my Outstanding colleagues. One of the proudest days of my career is, and I think will always be, sitting with the Senior Leadership Team in May 2019 and hearing the provisional feedback from our Ofsted inspection that we were Outstanding across the board – what an emotional moment! I love managing staff, supporting them to grow and observing their passion to improve the outcomes for children and families. I feel proud every day of the innovative, forward-thinking organisation that I work in and of the incredible people I get to work with. It is not every day that you get to be part of leading the way in changing the way we practice social work and transform service delivery. Hampshire has invested in me as a professional, showing commitment to my growth and development. I came to Hampshire as an Assistant Team Manager and have been grown by Hampshire into a Senior Leader for which I will always be grateful.

Dr Andy Mantell qualified in social work in 1991 from the University of Edinburgh. Since then he was worked in most areas of social work, but specialised in hospital social work with people with neuro-disabilities. He was accredited by East Sussex Social Services as a specialist in acquired brain Injury and completed his doctorate on carers for people with Huntington's disease. He qualified as a practice teacher and as an approved social worker (the predecessor to Approved Mental Health Professionals), he has a post qualifying award in social work (PQSW) and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority. He is a trustee of the Brain Injury Social Work Group (BISWG) and an executive committee member of the International Network of Social Workers in Acquired Brain Injury (INSWABI). Since 2005 he has worked as an educator and trainer with social workers and mental health nurses and recently joined Anglia Ruskin University London as a principal lecturer. His research interests include safeguarding adults, neuro-disability, carers, mental health, mental capacity, reflective practice and professional curiosity.

Geese Theatre Company is an internationally renowned team of applied theatre practitioners and group workers, working primarily within the UK criminal justice system and social welfare arenas. The company presents interactive theatre performances and facilitates workshops, specialised training for professionals and consultations for a wide range of social welfare agencies. These include the National Probation Service, community rehabilitation companies, prisons, special hospitals, young offender institutions and youth offending services, local safeguarding boards, clinical commissioning groups and social work teams. Established in 1987, the company has delivered training to over 200,000 people; presented work internationally, most recently in Australia, Sweden, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan; and been the recipient of many national awards, including a BAFTA, a Butler Trust Certificate, and the Arts and Health Award from the Royal Society of Public Health. The session will be led by Andy Watson MBE, the company’s artistic director. Having trained in Paris at the Lecoq School of Mime and Physical Theatre, he joined Geese in 1997, and became artistic director in 2003. His work involves overseeing the artistic integrity of the company’s work, devising theatre performances for use in a wide variety of social welfare settings, and developing creative projects with people in prisons, secure hospitals and in the community. He regularly delivers staff training events for professionals working with vulnerable, marginalised and volatile populations. Andy was appointed MBE in the Queen’s 2018 New Year Honours List for Service to the Arts in Criminal Justice.

Meena is Bond Solon's senior lawyer trainer for health and social care. She is a specialist child protection and family lawyer, and safeguarding trainer, with over 20 years' experience of legal practice, teaching and training. She has spent 14 years as a legal adviser to the magistrates' court, and, has had had case management responsibility for care cases from application to final hearing.

Hannah Doughty qualified as a social worker in 1998 and started her career in youth justice. She worked in a number of youth offending teams as a practitioner and manager before becoming head of targeted services for Liverpool City Council in 2014. This was an integrated service including the youth offending service, targeted youth service and teams working with missing children and exploitation (child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation). Since October 2017, Hannah has been working in the London Borough of Croydon as head of adolescent services with a wider remit including social work teams specialising in working with 13- – 18-year-olds where there is risk outside of the home. Hannah has a specific interest in adolescent risk, child criminal exploitation and county lines. She is involved in looking at the most effective strategies to address these areas within a children’s services context but also in how to influence and work successfully with partner organisations: working with children experience exploitation but also in targeting perpetrators.

Lydia Guthrie BA (Oxon), MSc, Dip SW, Systemic Practitioner, works as a trainer and supervisor across social work, criminal justice, mental health, secure forensic and voluntary sector settings. She qualified as a social worker in 1998, and spent ten years working for the Probation Service in frontline and management roles. She completed an MSc in attachment theory in 2014, is trained in the strange situation procedure and the adult attachment interview, and is in her final year of training as a systemic psychotherapist at the Institute of Family Therapy.

Emily is a directory-ranked leading junior who acts in a wide range of complex and sensitive cases relating to private and public law children. She regularly appears in the High Court and has acted in a number of very significant cases in the Court of Appeal including Re R (a Child) (2014) EWCA Civ 1625, Re T (a Child) (Early Permanence Placement) [2015] EWCA Civ 983, B (A Child) (care proceedings) [2018) EWCA Civ 20. In public law, Emily’s cases often involve non accidental injury or death, sexual abuse or fabricated and induced illness. In private law, Emily has a particular interest in the application of Practice Direction 12J to cases which involve allegations of domestic abuse, including coercive or controlling behaviour. Emily is frequently instructed on behalf of vulnerable adults or children and is particularly sensitive to clients with learning disabilities, special needs or mental heath difficulties. She has frequently been instructed to act through the Official Solicitor when a client lacks litigation capacity.

Sass Boucher MSc BA (Hons) MBACP is a counsellor and psychotherapist registered with the BACP, working in private practice, and as an affiliate for an employment assisted programme. Sass is co-founder and a director of SelfCare Psychology Ltd, a start-up with a strong social desire to make changes in human services, creating awareness around the concepts that can impact on those listening to other human beings in distress and experiencing trauma. Following her MSc research project Sass has written for the BACP Workplace Journal, The Law Society, Social Work News, The Counsellors Café, Women in Trade magazine and contributed to ‘SHARE a new model for Social Work’, specifically around self-care from both a personal and professional perspective. She has also co-authored 50 Acts of Professional Self-Care for Social Workers, published by Kirwin Maclean.

Joanna has worked in child protection and safeguarding for 24 years, the first 13 as a child protection social worker and for the last 11 as an independent consultant and trainer. Joanna has been a core trainer for her local safeguarding children board/partnership for ten years, delivering multi-agency training, she also delivers bespoke training for organisations. As a safeguarding consultant, Joanna leads on case reviews, including serious case reviews and child safeguarding practice reviews. She is a co-opted board member of Cafcass, and is the safeguarding adviser for a range of organisations, some charities and some private organisations. Much of Joanna’s work is going into organisations and reviewing their safeguarding arrangements and working with them to develop a safeguarding framework, updating policies and procedures and delivering training. Joanna also does some work overseas, including international development. Joanna is a published author and as well as books she also writes for a number of organisations. She is also a national commentator on safeguarding, regularly appearing across the BBC and ITV.

Nana Bonsu is a qualified social worker (Goldsmiths College, University of London), family and systemic psychotherapist (Institute of Family Therapy and Birckbeck, University of London) and a systemic supervisor (Tavistock and Portman). Since qualifying as a social worker 17 years ago, Nana has worked for social care and CAMHS in five London boroughs. Nana’s passion has been to use her dual qualification to introduce systemic practice in social care services. This has resulted in practice that privileges relationships as a means to effect change. Currently as the systemic practice service lead in Croydon, Nana has developed a practice framework with systemic practice as the foundation, alongside other relational techniques. Croydon is embarking on an exciting journey of deploying a whole system approach, training all staff in systemic practice.

Appointed in March of 2018, Dave was previously an executive director at Essex County Council from 2010, having worked in the same role in Merton and Croydon. Dave trained as a social worker and has worked in the field since 1977. Dave has been the Department for Education’s commissioner at Norfolk and Birmingham. He is a past president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services and was awarded a CBE for services to children’s social care last year.

Jacquie has been a senior leader in statutory children’s services for 10 years. She is a qualified social worker and has worked in statutory and voluntary sectors as well as in child mental health. Jacquie has a keen interest in systemic practice and its application in system  leadership and direct work with children and families. Jacquie loves her job, enjoys working in an environment that is challenging and with a lot of fun she wants you to join her in bringing the fun and the challenge into the important business of creating excellent services in Surrey.

Debbie is an approachable and effective change manager, facilitator and coach, with experience working at all levels of an organisation. She has a wealth of transformational change experience, and a passion for strengths-based practice - making a positive contribution to both health and social care organisations alike. Described as “personable, engaging, dynamic, positive, and creative” who’s “huge energy and drive is backed up by a genuine and caring attitude towards clients”, Debbie is currently supporting multiple councils on their strengths-based practice journeys.

Kate is a founder and managing director of Unseen, a charity offering safety, hope and choice to victims of human trafficking. Kate’s role encompasses the development of new support services, oversight of service delivery teams, and research and development. Kate is regarded as an expert on trafficking; she has advised, collaborated with law enforcement, statutory agencies and businesses to assist them to identify and eradicate modern slavery in their sectors. She has won the McWhirter Award and the DSC Influencer Award for her work in the sector.

Colum became chief executive of Social Work England in September 2018. He is a registered social worker and previously led the professional regulator for social work and social care in Northern Ireland from 2013 to 2018. Prior to this, Colum spent six years as chief executive of a large not-for-profit organisation providing care services in all programmes of care across both jurisdictions in Ireland. Colum has worked in statutory family and child care services, early years policy, funding and service provision, and family systems support services in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Lord Patel is chair of Social Work England. A qualified social worker, he worked in inner city Bradford and then established a number of third sector agencies working with those misusing drugs and those with mental health problems; later moving to academia working with a number of universities.

Sarah is the executive director of standards and qualified as a social worker from Trinity College Dublin in 1997. Since then, she has worked in a variety of national and international contexts, from frontline practice in Dublin, to working with street children and ex-child soldiers in Sierra Leone during the civil war, to managing services for children and families in the UK. Sarah has worked across statutory, voluntary and regulatory services. She has spent the last six years in Scotland, where she was deputy director of inspection with the Scottish social care regulator, and executive director of delivery and development for a large mental health charity.

Judy is a journalist, editor and publishing strategist. As editor of Community Care, she led the development of products including Community Care Inform's supported learning programme and the retention risk tool, which is designed to help employers measure the risks to social work retention within their organisations. She now works as a consultant, providing digital marketing services, and as an associate for Community Care.

Tim is a lawyer who specialises in mental capacity, mental health and social care law, legal editor at Community Care Inform and senior lecturer at Kingston University. At the Law Commission he led the reviews of adult social care, health and social care professional regulation and the deprivation of liberty safeguards. He is currently on a secondment to the Government Legal Department (DHSC) where he is working primarily on the implementation of the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019.

Malcolm MacDonald is a dual qualified solicitor and barrister in England and Wales, and Australia. He qualified in Australia in 2004, cross-qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2005 and was called to the Bar in 2010. Malcolm has extensive advocacy experience in complex family law litigation.