Links

Young peoples' experiences of CPS

Australia has a unique non-profit organization called the CREATE Foundation which is set up to provide support and a direct voice for young people in the Australian care system so they can influence governments and professionals. One example of their work sees young people involved with CREATE from every state attending all major professional child abuse andneglect conferences to influence, interact and speak with leading childprotection professionals. I use CREATE young people to speak to the socialworkers I teach in Western Australia. Check out their website at www.create.org.au

Parents' experiences of CPS Family Rights Group in London

provides advice, support, advocacy and represents families whose children are involved with social services. Their website is www.frg.org.uk

Brief Therapy

For an introduction to Solution-focused Brief Therapy you can upload three papers Andrew wrote with Larry Hopwood which cover the first session Turnell & Hopwood SFBT1, second and subsequent sessions Turnell & Hopwood SFBT2 and what to do if you get stuck Turnell & Hopwood SFBT3. Papers available here.

Brief therapy thinking and skills are at the heart of the Signs of Safety approach – here are links to leading centres of brief therapy training and practice around the world:
The Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee USA -- the home of solution-focused brief therapy, where Steve deShazer, Insoo Kim Berg and their colleagues have created the model. Their website provides access to many solution-focused books and training resources, including resources specific to the child protectiontask.

Harry and Jocelyn Korman are brief therapists and trainers in Sweden,their business is called SIKT and they are based in Malmo. I conduct an annual five-day Signs of Safety intensive each March at their centre and other workshops during the year. Check out their home page.

The Brief Therapy Practice in London probably provide more training and consultation inSolution-focused Brief Therapy than any other organization anywhere. ChrisIveson, Evan George, Harvey Ratner, Yasmin Ajmal, Guy Shennan, Jane Lethem andDiana Iveson maintain an ongoing clinical practice and are continuing to grow the solution-focused model. A number of their group have extensive experience in social services and child welfare work. Their homepage has details oftraining, consulting and therapy.

The Brief Therapy Institute of Sydney - www.brieftherapysydney.com.au - run by Michael Durrant would be the leading centre for brief therapy training in Australia. Michael has extensive experience in child welfare work and has written a book about residential care for children.

Karin Nordström and Ann Ternström in Stockholm through their business Danderydsteamet www.danderydsteamet.se provide brief therapy consultation and training services and consultation to teams using the Signs of Safety. Danderydsteamet host trainings by Andrew in Stockholm each September.

Dr Walter Oppenoorth from The Netherlands provides brief therapy training and resources through his website www.octir.nl The site also has for sale numerous DVD¹s from training Andrew has provided in Holland.

The European Brief Therapy Association website www.ebta.nu provides more information about brief therapy around the world and also offers wonderful practitioner-led conferences each year.

Strengths-based Practice in ChildProtection

St Luke's in Bendigo, Australia has a long history of providing and describing strengths-based, client-centred, solution-focused, just childwelfare practices. They have many publications and practical resources available, go to: www.stlukes.org.au

Family Group Conferencing

Family Group Conferencing or Family Group Decision Making as it is called in the US, is an approach to child protection conferencing that was born in New Zealand drawing upon Maori practices and puts the family and their network at the centre of decision-making. Family Group Conferencing is probably the most sustained and radical experiment in partnership-based child protection practice and is used in countries all over the world. The American Humane Association website offers an excellent introduction and many resources -www.americanhumane.org/pc_fgdm

Signs of Safety in Sweden

Tomas Embreus who has been using the Signs of Safety approach in Sweden for 6 years. As well as practicing as a child protection worker in Trollhatten he also provides training and consultation for other professionals. See www.embreus.se for more information.

Signs of Safety in Denmark

Henrik Vesterhauge-Petersen, Mette Vesterhauge-Petersen and Lester Johannessen-Henry from the consultancy organisation Solution Denmark (www.solutionfocus.dk) provide training and consultation in Signs of Safety and Solution-focused Brief Therapy and sell books and DVDs for both.