Dear AllIt's been a bit of whirlwind, rollercoaster and at times stuck in the mud slow coach over the past couple of months in the Teaching Partnership. Now summer holidays have arrived and with it the question of 'what is the new normal' for many of us. Our personal and professional lives in practice and academia have changed beyond recognition due to Covid 19 and no one quite knows what the future may hold.So we thought we just tackle month by month in the Teaching Partnership and keep you up to date with a newsletter to review what we have done and what we are planning for students, practitioners and academics alike- I hope you enjoy the read! Looking Back:News from Wiltshire and our LPC Louise Downes:In Wiltshire we have been embracing the virtual world.

Journal Club has moved onto Microsoft Teams enabling Practitioners from all across the county to join, share ideas and learning. We have recently held sessions exploring 'Hope theory' and how we can use hope in our work and also examining our own hope and how it may be an ‘antidote to burn out’.

The ASYE’s have been engaging in group reflective supervision sessions using MS Teams. In the sessions we have been using a reflective tool to guide our discussions, linking theory and research to some really challenging cases! SWE CPD event

In July we offered 2 webinars with Philippa Geddes and Tilia Lenz to explain how to create and update your Social Work England CPD account. Nearly 200 practitioners attended and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive!

We are aware that not all practitioners in the Teaching Partnership have activated their account and uploaded their CPD. For those of you who struggle with this, needs some hints and tips, the SWE are offering

more webinars with step by step guidance. https://www.socialworkengland.org.uk/news/introduction-to-social-work-england-and-cpd/

July MasterclassOn the 20.07.20 Dr Louise Oliver was able to share her research into Child on Parent Violence and Abuse with 137 (!!!) practitioners in the Teaching Partnership. Just imagine our nerves for a moment…The session was an absolute success and in the words of Jack Corrigan, PSW from Dorset:  'I thought that the webinar this morning was great. The format worked too and likely aided attendance.'And Anne-Marie Wren from Dorset shared:'Thank you for allowing me to join today’s webinar on child to adult abuse. I have some experience of working in this area and it was useful to learn about some of the research, approach to language and prevalence.It would be helpful to perhaps have a follow up with tools to use for this particularly with reference to trauma based approach. How can we turn what we learned today into working tips when involved in these children and families.'So, Lou has accepted the challenge and will look for future research funding to undertake more in-depth work in this area- let us know if you want to be involved! Students and placementsIn case you have missed it, the Student Support and Placement Team at BU had send out a heartfelt Thank You to all of those who were involved in practice placements in the last semester.https://pdwtp.org.uk/news/a-heartfelt-thank-you-from-bu-to-placement-facilitators-and-an-invitation-to-be-involved/ It has been a challenging task for everyone involved but we are pleased to say that on the whole, the students were able to complete their placements and the BA level 6 students and the MA2 group have finished their studies at BU. We are very proud of their achievements and want to congratulate them again- WELL DONE! A lot of students have already been able to gain employment in the Teaching Partnership and we are excited to welcome those as ASYEs in the Social Work teams. Looking forward: August Masterclasshttps://pdwtp.org.uk/event/trauma-stress-and-self-care-in-times-of-covid-19-how-do-we-cope-in-social-work/Trauma, Stress and Self Care in times of Covid 19. How do we cope in Social Work?An invitation for reflection and discourse from the Pan-Dorset and Wiltshire Teaching Partnership. In March 2020 our personal and professional lives were turned up side down- or was it the other way? Over the past few months we have adjusted and readjusted to professionally adopt the ever changing government guidelines whilst juggling the emotional turmoil that lockdown brought to all of us.Some of us have coped well, some of us have struggled greatly and most of us are probably having good and bad days.We would like to take the opportunity to review some of the early research findings from our project to evaluate the impact of Covid 19 on Social Work practice whilst considering the toll the pandemic has taken and acknowledge the need for selfcare.

We aim to give practitioners a voice through sharing the research findings and learn how we can manage stress and trauma in times of isolation and distance from our peers. Semester Planning at BUAt BU we are now planning for the next semester and We Need You! Practitioner input in teaching and academic activities has become surprisingly easy and achievable through the use of online teaching methods. If you would like to become involved, have a look here: https://pdwtp.org.uk/resources/practitioner-involvement-in-academic-activities-expression-of-interest-form/ Enjoy the summer!

Even if your holiday plans (like mine) have been changed by the pandemic, we still need to look after ourselves, take stock and recharge our batteries. So I shall leave you to enjoy the summer, sunshine and whatever activities you have planned with the feedback from Bex from Dorset who attended an ASYE session: 'really enjoyed the presentation on Vicarious Trauma '…a really insightful and thought provoking subject and good for the further awareness of need for self-care and work boundaries'

Take careTilia, on behalf of The Teaching Partnership Team