Final line up for ARC's 2019 Annual Conference Announced

The Attachment Research Community (ARC) has announced the full details of their fourth Annual Conference at the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre (BCEC) on Thursday 21 November 2019. The conference will help guide and support delegates in their attachment aware practices in order to give delegates the tools to become attachment aware. Delegates will be given the chance to share their learning with innovative practitioners, as well as hearing from leading experts in the field of attachment.

This year’s keynote speakers include Dr Margot Sunderland, Luke Rodgers BEM and Dr Janet Rose. Dr Sunderland is a Director of Education and Training at The Centre for Child Mental Health in London and has published over twenty books in the field of child mental health. Dr Sunderland’s presentation, ‘Working Effectively with Traumatised Children, Attachment and Trauma Informed Care and Attachment and Trauma Informed Schools’, focuses on trauma and how it can affect children and young people on such a deep level. She will explore interventions that will help delegates reach out to the most defended children and young people to help them thrive.

Dr Janet Rose is the Principal of Norland College and author of numerous academic publications. Dr Rose’s presentation, ‘Effective Attachment Aware and Trauma Informed Schools – what works and what can we learn from schools around the world?’, will highlight some of the key lessons from research into schools who have embarked on becoming attachment aware and trauma informed organisations.  It will also identify some of the models being adopted internationally to see what we can learn from schools around the world.

The third keynote speaker, Luke Rodgers BEM is the Founder Director of the Care Leaders, a social enterprise that aims to improve services for young people. Luke’s presentation, ‘The Voice of Young People and how it can Support Schools to Become Attachment and Trauma Aware’ will focus on authentic collaboration with young people and how it can be a powerful driver for change. Luke will also share his experience of working with young people and adults to ensure the voices of young people are heard, the challenges this creates and the opportunities to see young people make progress and adults to gain powerful insights into their experiences.

As part of the day delegates will break out into two workshop sessions and will hear from a variety of different practitioners and peers. Delegates will delve deeper into the topic and will hear from last years Alex Timpson ARC Attachment Award winners, be introduced to a framework for understanding children’s accommodation of parental separation, hear from an Ofsted outstanding school who have put attachment at the heart of their learning as well as exploring gang culture, how they operate, how they recruit and groom young people then subsequently ensnare them in exploitative enslavement including county lines and sexual exploitation.

Andrew Wright, ARC Chair, says; “We are extremely excited about our fourth annual conference. Our keynote speakers will provide differing perspectives on the topic and provide ideas and inspiration. We also hope, the mix of workshops will enable each delegate to take away the knowledge and tools appropriate for their setting in order to continue to support children with attachment and trauma issues in schools and settings.”

Booking for this year’s conference is open and can be booked via the ARC website www.the-arc.org.uk. Delegate prices are £189 + VAT for ARC members and £249 + VAT for non-members.

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