Paula McCreary, Training, Education and Consultancy
Social Work, Social Care and Health
I’m an independent, freelance trainer and consultant focusing on the social work/social care sector.
Some of the Clients I’ve Worked With
Areas of Training
Training courses to support social care professionals develop skills and knowledge.
I can also deliver bespoke training on range of topics to meet your organisational needs or work with you to design your own in-house training packages that you can deliver yourselves.
PROFESSIONALISM, VALUES & ETHICS:
Professional Boundaries for Social Workers/Social Care Workers.
- Professionalism and professional identity
- Codes of professional practice
- Roles and responsibilities
- Professional ‘curiosity’
- Communication in complex situations
- Confidentiality and discretion
- Managing challenges and difficulties
Values and Ethics
Including the Social Care Wales Codes of Professional Practice and Duties and Responsibilities.
- Employer/employee responsibilities
- Standards of conduct and practice expected
- Professional values and ethics
- Wellbeing of individuals
Professional Curiosity
- Raise awareness of the underpinning principles of “Professional Curiosity” and how it can be embedded within practice
- Increasing skills and confidence in the critical analysis of information and effective challenging when working with individuals, families, and other professionals.
- Exploration of how use of “Professional Curiosity” can support practitioners to develop the communication and observational skills required to work effectively with individuals and families.
- Building the confidence of practitioners to question assumptions, become aware of personal and confirmation bias.
- Exploration of some of the challenges and difficulties face by practitioners and mangers/supervisors when working with “respectful uncertainly”.
SUPERVISION, MENTORING & PRACTICE EDUCATION / ASSESSING:
Mentoring Skills for Mentors
- Role and Purpose of Mentoring
- Responsibilities of agencies/mentors/mentees
- Understanding Adult Learning styles
- Getting the balance right
- Skills for mentoring including listening, interacting, challenging, and motivating the mentee
- Underpinning values and principles
Mentoring Skills for Mentors of Newly Qualified Social Workers in Their First Three Years in Practice
- The Role and Purpose of Mentoring including responsibilities, developing competence & confidence, links to National Occupational Standards, Codes of Professional Practice and Social Care Wales First 3 years in Practice guidelines and Local Authorities Policy.
- The Principles of Mentoring including process, values, relationship between supervising, coaching and mentoring, managing boundaries, motivating and empowering mentees.
- The Practice of Mentoring including mentoring skills, interacting, listening, facilitating, encouraging networks, preparation, self-evaluation, theories and models, goal setting, use of LA mentor/ supervisor toolkit.
Supervision Skills
- Purpose and principles of supervision
- Roles and responsibilities of the agency, supervisor and supervisee
- Skills, knowledge and awareness needed for the effective delivery of supervision
- Managing expectations
- Motivating
- Dealing with difficulties and challenges
- Promoting best practice
- Exploring the ways in which supervision feeds into the probationary/assessment process
Promoting and Assessing Professional Practice in Social Work for Practice Educators
A series of bespoke workshops / training / peer support aimed at developing skills, knowledge and strategies which help in building a toolkit for the practice education and assessment of social work students in a practice learning environment.
These can be run as half day workshops or amalgamated into full days training event.
- Theme 1 – Setting the scene – Preplacement meeting and the induction
- Theme 2 – Supervision of social work students
- Theme 3 – Making to most of the observation/critical feedback
- Theme 4 – Dealing with difficult and challenging situations.
- Theme 5 – Working with difference and diversity
- Theme 6 – Integrating theory to practice, evidencing the NOS and CoPP.
- Theme 7 – writing the report – assessment and evaluation
Reflective Practice
- To explore the purpose and principles of critically reflective practice
- To consider models and theories of reflective practice
- To consider how critically reflective practice links professional decision making and analysis
- To explore reflective techniques and develop skill at working reflectively.
In-house Training Packs
These self delivery training packs are designed to be used in-house for workshops, professional development sessions, in team meeting or for small groups training.
"Attending this course will help me a great deal to better support staff in social care teams. The course was presented very well. Paula gave great examples and made sure everyone got involved in the session."
Manger – Social Care
Ceredigion Council
Attending 'Professional Values and the Code of Professional Practice'
Underpinning Values and Principles
Paula aims to work with practitioners, managers and other professional to support them to develop skills and embed knowledge, and awareness to be able to practice in a way which is:
- Inclusive
- Non-discriminatory
- Based on effective partnership working, including with individuals and/or their carers
- Takes account of disadvantage, inequality, diversity, and power differences.
The training is delivered using a range of inclusive and person-centred methods including presentations, individual and group-working, use of practice scenarios and case-studies, problem-solving exercises, reflection, and self-evaluation.
Social Worker – Bridgend
"I particularly like the multi-agency joined up discussions with varied views and experiences and the tool used to look at situations from a different perspective. The training reinforced and built confidence in respect of what I do."
Attending 'Professional Curiosity'