Trauma, Risk and Responsibility: Bridging Therapeutic and Social Work Perspectives in Parenting and Change
1-Day Professional Workshop

Overview

Introduction

This workshop is designed to deepen professional confidence when working in complex parenting and safeguarding contexts, where clear thinking, ethical awareness and integrated practice are essential. It looks at integrating therapeutic and social work perspectives on parenting capacity and change while supporting an understanding of different professional lenses on trauma, attachment and risk. It explores how therapy and social work conceptualise trauma, risk and pathways to change.
This specialist workshop brings together forensic therapeutic practice and social work perspectives to explore how professionals understand and respond to trauma, risk and parenting capacity within complex safeguarding contexts. While therapeutic approaches often draw on attachment theory, integrative psychotherapy and parts-based models to understand internal processes of change, social work practice is grounded in risk assessment, observable behaviour and child protection responsibilities. The workshop provides a structured space to examine these different professional lenses, how they can lead to divergence in understanding and how they can be more effectively integrated in practice.

Workshop Focus

• Understanding different conceptualisations of trauma
• Linking early attachment experiences to parenting capacity
• Integrating risk assessment into therapeutic work
• Working with denial, minimisation and resistance
• Balancing empathy, accountability and safeguarding responsibility
• Translating therapeutic insight into clear safeguarding language

Learning Outcomes

Participants will be able to:

• Critically compare therapeutic and social work perspectives on trauma and risk
• Apply a forensic-informed therapeutic lens to parenting work
• Recognise how trauma impacts internal functioning and external behaviour
• Assess when therapeutic change does — and does not — indicate reduced risk
• Work more effectively within multi-agency safeguarding systems
• Maintain clinical depth while ensuring safeguarding clarity

Workshop Approach

This workshop provides high-level, practice-focused training, incorporating:

• Case-based learning
• Reflective and experiential exercises
• Exploration of complex professional dilemmas
• Integration of forensic, therapeutic and social work perspectives

Certification

The College will issue a certificate of attendance to those who take this workshop.

CPD: 6 hours

Cost

The cost of the workshop is €95.00. (15% discount for IICP College students/alumni and VCS counsellors)

This course is part of IICP College’s Summer Series and is eligible for our 3 for 2 offer — book any two summer series workshops and get a third one free!

(Note: The discount for IICP College students, alumni and VCS counsellors cannot be used in conjunction with the 3 for 2 offer.)