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Kris Fernandes and Sarah Wilkins presented some theories and current thinking around strength-based child protection models of practice. Kris discussed how a particular model is used within a community health trust and Sarah talked about her recent work with foster carers locally using the Resilience Therapy framework.

The In-Patient High Dependency Unit at Ticehurst Hospital works with young adolescents who have been through other psychiatric services but still remain with substantial problems. They usually attract a number of diagnoses and their difficulties have proved largely resistant to conventional treatment methods.

We know that having a view to the future, the ability to reflect on your life situation and negotiate services and support at times of trouble, helps to build resilience. Mentoring is frequently considered an effective route to launching these capabilities with children and young people. Can it be that simple?

Is panic a useful description of human behaviour during mass emergencies, or should we instead focus on the remarkable resilience that people and communities can show in the face of threat and adversity?

WARM is a new tool to help communities understand their underlying needs and capacities. It brings together a wide range of indicators to measure wellbeing (how people feel about themselves and their communities) and resilience (the capacity of people and communities to bounce back after shock or in the face of adversity).

How we might use resilience and strengths-based research for learning and teaching about health and social inequalities and how we might develop this together, between the University and Community?

An overview of the concept of resilience as incorporated into a framework for practice in child welfare and protection. Ways in which practitioners are already applying the concept in practice will be explored, drawing on research into the operationalisation of resilience.

Does resilience change the way we think about inequalities and the struggle for social justice? Or should inequalities change the way we think about resilience? What does it mean to work in a way that recognises the strength of the evidence on the wider determinants of mental wellbeing?

Jamie introduced some core models of hoping, and argued that certain types of hope may obscure our sense of agency in meeting life’s challenges. The aim of this was to promote discussion of personal experiences of hoping.