Holding onto hope, talking and being with heart: Towards building home: Centring narratives of gain and moving away from narratives of loss

This workshop, Holding onto Hope – Talking and Being with Heart, invites participants into a reflective and compassionate space where the focus shifts from what has been lost to what can still grow, strengthen, and emerge. Grounded in relational and trauma-informed practice, it explores how the stories we tell—about ourselves, the children we support, and the families we work with—shape outcomes, expectations, and possibilities.

A central focus of the workshop is the role of social workers and foster carers in building meaningful, respectful relationships with birth parents to better inform the care of looked-after children. Rather than positioning relationships within fixed or adversarial roles, the workshop encourages collaborative approaches that recognise the ongoing importance of family connections. By strengthening communication and trust with birth parents, practitioners can develop richer, more informed understandings of children’s histories, needs, and identities.

Drawing on Attachment Theory, participants will explore how secure, reliable relationships can be created across the network surrounding the child. The workshop also introduces the SOFTA (System for Observing Family Therapy Alliances) model as a framework for noticing, reflecting on, and strengthening relational alliances between professionals, carers, and families.

Participants will engage with narrative approaches that help reframe experiences, moving away from deficit-based “stories of loss” towards “stories of gain” that recognise resilience, effort, and potential. Alongside this, structural ideas will be explored—particularly the shift from traditional hierarchical systems toward more flexible, collaborative heterarchies. This includes reflecting on how power, voice, and expertise can be more evenly shared between professionals, carers, and birth families in ways that centre the child’s wellbeing.

Through discussion and shared reflection, attendees will develop confidence in “being with” rather than “fixing,” learning how presence, language, and relationships can help sustain hope. This is a space to reconnect with purpose, deepen understanding, and cultivate ways of working that honour vulnerability, partnership, and possibility.