CO0570 Systemic Training – Adult & Children & Families Services ESCA

Systemic social work is a way of responding to family problems by recognising that we are all part of complex systems. Essex County Council’s Children and Families (C&F) service overarching approach is relationship based, within this we use four main theoretical models; Systemic Practice, Solution Focused Practice, Strengths Based Approach and Restorative Practice.

These four models provide practitioners with the skills and knowledge to deliver relationship based social work practice in Essex. Please refer to Appendix A Our Vision and Values for Children and Families.

Essex County Council’s Adult Social Care (ASC) is one of the first County Councils nationally to adopt the Systemic Practice model into ASC. Systemic Practice is one of the 3 key elements of ASC’s Practice Model, we have named Inclusive Essex.

This also includes Trauma Informed Practice and being Strengths-Based. This helps all staff in Adult Social Care.

As of 2024 Systemic practice also forms part of our mandatory CPD offer to ASC staff called our ‘Essentials Programme’ The scope of the Systemic Training course is to deliver courses with Adults Social Care workforce and Children and Families workforce. The requirement has been split into the following Lots.

Lot 1 –Systemic Training for Children & Families and Adults Lot 2 – Systemic Strategic Training for Leadership and Management across ASC & C&F Lot 1 (A) Children and Families Within the C&F services most of our training courses run face to face and are to be held centrally at County Hall, Chelmsford.

ESCA will organise and finance venues for the training to take place. The only session the Children and Families service require to be delivered virtually is Team Manager Group Supervision.

The target audience for this training course will be alternatively qualified workers, qualified social workers, senior practitioners, team & service managers, heads of service and directors from Children and Families. The aim of the training programme is to upskill participants with core systemic theories, which transfers into relational social work practice.

The courses will be based on the following. Introduction to Systemic - These three days are an opportunity to explore some key ideas from the field of systemic practice and understand their application within the social work context.

The introduction sessions are open to all Children & Families social care staff. Systemic Team managers group supervision - These virtual 2-hour workshops are led by our team managers in attendance, giving them the opportunity to adapt these valuable sessions to meet the needs as a group.

These sessions are open to our team managers only. Systemic approaches to management and supervision - This is a 6-day programme which aims to equip Senior Practitioners and team Managers to provide an overview of key systemic ideas which comprise the foundation year in systemic practice so that managers are familiar with concepts and approaches that social workers will begin to apply in practice.

This course is open to all our Children and Families staff who are in a supervisory role (e.g. Team managers, Practice supervisors, Senior Practitioners) Systemic Foundation - The course aims to equip social workers and practitioners within the field of children’s social care with key theories, models and techniques from the field systemic practice for the purpose of offering parents, carers and wider systems help and support to safely care for vulnerable children. These sessions are open to all our Children & Families social care staff who have completed the systemic introduction as a minimum requirement.

Staff have the option as to whether take the course with or without the accreditation. Examples of the learning outcomes are provided at Appendix A.

Lot 1 (B) Adults Within ASC the course will be based on the following: Introduction to Systemic Training This is a 3-day course to introduce the learner to Systemic Practice. There is also a further consolidation day which will take place after the course has completed to allow for feedback and discussion on the implementation of systemic practice theory into everyday practice.

This course will be applicable to all frontline practitioners - community support workers, OTs, Newly Qualified Social Workers, Social Workers, Senior Practitioners and Deputies, and Managers. The three days are an opportunity to explore some key ideas from the field of systemic practice and understand their application within the adult social care context.

Students will learn how systemic social work can support and complement the service offered to adults accessing support through social care. Students will have the chance to apply these ideas to case examples and will leave the training with practical skills to take into their own practice.

Systemic Approaches for Management & Supervision This course for aspiring managers, deputy managers, and managers aims to provide an overview of key systemic ideas on day 1 which comprise the Foundation Year in Systemic Practice so that students are refamiliarize with concepts and approaches that social workers will begin to apply in their own practice. Students will consider how these ideas may be useful in the supervision and management of casework by modelling the application of ideas to casework and they will begin to identify changes that the organisation may need to embark on to support the development of systemic practice within a safeguarding context.

There will be a further consolidation day following these 2 days of training, which will consolidate the learning and reflect on how learners have been able to apply their learning in practice thus far. Refresher for Introduction to Systemic Training These sessions would aim to go through all the systemic model approaches, quiz the participants on their knowledge, and explore how systemic training has been used in their practice so far.

This course is for everyone who has completed their Introduction to Systemic Training and 2 years have lapsed since their completion. Refresher for Systemic Approaches for Management & Supervision These sessions would aim to go through the management and supervision systemic approaches with a focus on safeguarding and explore how the managers have used them in their practice so far.

This course is for everyone who has completed their Systemic Approaches for Management & Supervision and 2 years have lapsed since their completion. Action Learning Sets – Case Study Learning These bimonthly 2-hour sessions will allow learners to work through a live case in a systemic way to reinforce the learning from the previously attended training.

Learners are asked to bring a case with them to the session where the trainer will choose a suitable case to work through. ASC Systemic Resources This learning resource is designed to support and embed the learning learners have completed on their systemic training days.

The material they will access here will remind them of some of the key concepts they covered in the training and hopefully keep the ideas fresh in your mind. ESCA currently utilises a refresher systemic tool and would require a similar tool to be deployed under this contract.

Along with other resources that can enable refreshing for systemic approaches for management & supervision. The scope for the Strategic Leadership and Management programme is to deliver these courses with combined cohorts of Adult Social Care staff and Children and Families staff, commencing April 2025.

This course is to be delivered face to face at County Hall, Chelmsford. ESCA will organise and finance venues for the training to take place.

The target audience for this training course will be Directors, Service Managers and Aspiring Senior Managers. The purpose of the programme is to enable leaders and managers to become familiar, confident in understanding and application of systemic ideas to respond to current dilemmas and create future plans whilst maintaining an overview of the contribution that other professionals make to the coherent and smooth delivery of services to families.