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Inquiring more, telling less: Using questions to lead difficult conversations in children service’s work

Tue, 12 Dec

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Online Training Course

This participatory two-session virtual workshop will provide a clear process and steps using questions and inquiry to establish constructive and purposive conversations with the other person, whether child, parent, relative or professional colleague or partner.

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Inquiring more, telling less:  Using questions to lead difficult conversations in children service’s work
Inquiring more, telling less:  Using questions to lead difficult conversations in children service’s work

Time & Location

12 Dec 2023, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm GMT

Online Training Course

About the event

With Andrew and Pene Turnell

Child protection work is challenging, practitioners, managers and senior leaders are involved in ‘difficult conversations’ where the other person, whether, family members, colleagues, professional partners including police, service providers, or the judge have different opinions about the safety and well-being of children and what needs to be done. A

Child protection practitioners and professionals are constantly having to talk about emotionally charged issues with people that often feel defensive, scared and/or asserting their position as right. While we think first of the challenges of talking to families, professional conversations are often equally if not more difficult to navigate. 

Under the time, resourcing pressures and imperatives of child protection work it is very easy for the practitioner, manager, and senior leader to become caught up in telling people what the problem is and what they must do about it. This approach will very often lead to greater defensiveness, even hostility or passive aggression from family members and children. Many parents and children will passively agree with whatever the professionals say to try and get to go away. Sometimes this is called ‘disguised compliance’.

This participatory two-session virtual workshop will provide a clear process and steps using questions and inquiry to establish constructive and purposive conversations with the other person, whether child, parent, relative or professional colleague or partner. 

The systemic and brief therapy theory base for this approach will be explored grounding the sessions in the skill set required to navigate challenging conversations without minimizing the seriousness of the issues.  Question types and a clear amplification process for turning questions into conversations will be presented utilising scenarios that participants bring. A clear process will be offered for working with ‘denial’ disputes.

In advance of the programme commencing, all participants will be invited to answer a few questions to describe their particular interest and questions they bring to this training. Handouts will also be provided to all participants.

Cost: £115

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