Registrations for this event are now closed.

The Craft of Social Care

Innovations and good practice to enhance a person centred approach to working in the care sector.

Workshop for Service Providers presented by international speaker Heather Simmons.

In collaboration with Thistle Foundation, Scotland. 

About the workshop: 

Heather Simmons is acknowledged internationally for her approach to facilitating learning to create change, having extensively worked with people and organisations who provide support in aged care, mental health and intellectual and physical disabilities.  

Join Heather, during her return visit to Perth from Scotland, for a workshop exclusively for  professionals working in service delivery in WA’s care sector.  

Heather’s work with Thistle Foundation in Scotland, helps support thousands of people with disabilities and long-term health conditions to achieve what matters most to them. As part of their journey to recruit, train and retain its workforce, in the wake of the global pandemic, Thistle Academy was successfully launched and continues to have significant impact. 

Be inspired and encouraged as Heather shares Thistle Foundation’s journey to deliver the Academy. Common difficulties will be explored and innovations and good practice shared, with a values led, person centred approach.    

Registrations close midday Wednesday, 16th October 2024.

Date: Wednesday, 23rd October 2024 

Time: 9.00am – 12.30pm 

Location: Telethon Speech & Hearing Centre Auditorium, 36 Dodd Street, Wembley  WA 

Includes light lunch. 

Tickets: $75 for single ticket. $60 per ticket if 2 or more tickets are purchased.

Thistle Academy – The Craft of Social Care 

In common with many organisations, Thistle Foundation has been on a journey to develop its workforce in the wake of the global pandemic. 

Managing the crisis in recruitment, training and retention of workers in the social care sector had become a worrying and frustrating administrative function in the organisation. It often seemed a joyless task, in stark contrast to the opportunities Thistle felt it offered the people who used their services in Supported Living and Health and Well-being. The desperate need to ‘find bodies’ undermined the skill and craft required of workers and seemed to shroud the work in grey. It seemed difficult to aim for joy and excellence in the work and this was undoubtedly having an impact on the people who were the supported by Thistle.  

In the midst of this, the CEO of the organisation, Mark Hoolahan, imagined an Academy which aimed for excellence, elevated and celebrated the Craft of Social Care while providing a solid foundation of learning and practice all of this underpinned by the solid values of the organisation and the Radical Hospitality that welcomed people in and encouraged them to commit to their work and stay with Thistle. 

• This workshop will hear how in the three years since Mark imagined it the idea of the Academy has grown and developed. 

• Participants will learn about the thinking behind the innovation and the steps taken to introduce the idea to Board and the rest of the organisation.   

• The idea of the Craft of Social Care will be explored and the curriculum designed to embed that idea will be shared with participants 

• The impact the Academy has had on the people we support and on our existing workforce 

• The idea of Radical Hospitality will be discussed and the effect it has had on the delivery of the Academy 

• The impact of the Academy will be shared with participants, including data around recruitment and retention as well as the impact on the culture of the organisation 

The aim of the workshop is not to present THE way forward regarding recruitment and retention of staff but rather, from a place of common difficulty, share stories of innovation and good practice, rooted in a values led, person Centred Approach to the work. The hope is that by sharing the Thistle Foundation journey there might be something in it that participants will recognise in their organisation and be encouraged on the way.