Kibble Annual Conference - Kibble: Specialist services & support for young people facing adversity

Introducing Kibble’s Annual Conference November 2024 Glasgow

Transforming Lives
Date: Monday 11th November 2024
Venue: Radisson Blu Hotel, Argyle Street, Glasgow

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Kibble’s first official conference invites you to be part of a wider conversation about the world children and young people grow up in.

Kibble is on the mission to transform lives, families and communities, and ultimately give young people a chance at life. It is a monumental challenge that cannot be tackled alone, instead, in order to ignite change, we must act together.

Our own inaugural event will bring people from children and young people’s services together in the same room to discuss how to drive valuable transformation from within the sector. Whether you’re part of residential child care, education, secure care, fostering, young workforce development, mental health services or another, we all have a part to play in shaping the world young people grow up in.

Meet the Speakers

Nicola Killean, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland

Nicola Killean became the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland in August 2023. She and her team are responsible for protecting and promoting the human rights of everyone under 18 in Scotland, or up to the age of 21 if they have care experience. 

Nicola has spent the majority of her career supporting children and young people from communities facing particular challenges and disadvantages.  

Before becoming Commissioner, she was the founding CEO of the charity Sistema Scotland which uses music and nurturing relationships to support over 3,500 children and young people across Scotland. 

Maree Todd, Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport

Maree Todd was appointed as Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport in March 2023.

She grew up in the West Highlands, attending Ullapool High School and then studying pharmacy and prescribing at Robert Gordon’s and Strathclyde, as well as taking an ante-natal teaching diploma at the University of Bedfordshire. 

A pharmacist by profession, Maree Todd worked in NHS Highland for 20 years, mainly as a mental health pharmacist in a psychiatric hospital. She also contributed to SIGN guidance on perinatal mental health. 

She was previously the Minister for Children and Young People.

Dr Lisa Cherry, Director of Trauma Informed Consultancy Services

Dr Lisa Cherry is the Director of Trauma Informed Consultancy Services Ltd leading a dynamic and creative organisation that provides a ‘one stop’ approach to delivering on research, consultancy and learning and development. Lisa is an author, researcher, leading international trainer and consultant, specialising in assisting schools, services and systems to create systemic change to the way that we work with those experiencing and living with, the legacy of trauma. Lisa has been working in and around Education and Children’s Services for over 30 years and combines academic knowledge and research with professional expertise and personal experience. Lisa has worked extensively with Social workers, Educators, Probation Workers and those in Adult Services, training and speaking to over 30,000 people around the world including in the US, Australia and Pakistan and across the whole of the UK.

Lisa has produced multiple pieces of research for various settings and Lisa’s own MA research looked at the impact on education and employment for care experienced adults who experienced school exclusion as children in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In February 2024 Lisa completed her DPhil research at The University of Oxford in the Department of Education. The research asked “How do care experienced adults who were also excluded from school make sense of belonging?”

Lisa is the author of the hugely successful and award winning book ‘Conversations that make a difference for Children and Young People’ (2021)and ‘The Brightness of Stars’ 3rd Edition published in June 2022. A new book contract has been signed for publication in 2024/2025 on cultivating belonging.

Graeme Armstrong, Bestselling Author

Graeme Armstrong is a Times bestselling, multi-award-winning author from Airdrie. His teenage years were spent within Scotland’s ‘young team’ gang culture. After studying English as an undergraduate at the University of Stirling, he completed a Master’s in Creative Writing and is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Strathclyde. His debut novel,THE YOUNG TEAM, was published by Picador in 2020. Most recently, he wrote and presented a BBC series on Scottish gang culture,STREET GANGS, available now on BBC iPlayer. In 2023, he was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, a once-in-a-decade literary honour.

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Email: communications@kibble.org

Why Attend Kibble’s Conference in Glasgow?

Our inaugural conference is a chance for dedicated professionals to share, learn and develop. Hear from knowledgeable keynote speakers, participate in practical workshops, create valuable connections through networking and enjoy lunch and refreshments in the accessible city centre location.

Topics at our educational Glasgow conference will range from children’s social care, trauma-informed care, children and young people’s protection as well as child and youth justice while wholeheartedly considering young people and their families voices and viewpoints.

The statistics grow more alarming each year, now is the time for tangible transformation.

  • 33% (87.9K) of food parcels were for children between 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023. This is the most parcels that Scotland’s Trussell Trust network has ever distributed in a financial year, up by 57% compared to five years ago1
  • 24% of children were living in relative poverty between 2019-2022 (250,000 children each year) 2
  • Care experienced young people are 10 times higher to be hospitalised for mental and behavioural disorders due to substance abuse3

“You can be part of a wider conversation about how essential services can best care for children and young people in today’s world. Join us at our first official conference in Glasgow to discuss residential child care, children and families, mental health and wellbeing support, social work and child and youth justice as well as education. Conferences give us the opportunity to come together, reflect and share practical changes we can make within our practice.

“Kibble’s 160 years’ experience of providing child care paired with the wide-ranging list of integrated specialist services and close partnerships with fellow organisations put us in the position to hold an event that can bring various professionals and subject matters to the forefront.

“Across the sector, we are all determined to try and exceed expectations of the recommendations set out in The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and embed the Promise within our ways of working. For the first time, Kibble is hosting its own conference, welcoming private, public and third-sector professionals, encouraging everyone, including ourselves, to take the time and share innovative approaches that can ensure improvement continues to be made in the lives of young people and their families.”

CEO of Kibble, Jim Gillespie

1 Trussell Trust. (2023). Hunger in Scotland. [Online]. Trussell Trust. Last Updated: June. Available at: https://www.trusselltrust.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/2023-Hunger-in-Scotland-report-AW-w [Accessed 5 January 2024].

2 Scottish Government. (2023). Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22. [Online]. data.gov.scot. Last Updated: 23 March. Available at: https://data.gov.scot/poverty/ [Accessed 5 January 2024].

3 Children’s Health in Care in Scotland (CHiCS). (2022). Main findings from population-wide research. [Online]. University of Glasgow. Last Updated: October. Available at: https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_989673_smxx.pdf [Accessed 5 January 2024].4 Children and Young People’s Mental Health in Scotland. (2022). Trends in Child and Adolescent Mental Wellbeing. [Online]. The Scottish Parliament. Last Updated: 24 May. Available at: https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefings/Report/2022/5/24/aa290f5c-f12a-4077-81 [Accessed 5 January 2024].