RRN Conference 2023

Programme for the RRN Conference 2023 now live!

The full programme for 'Positive Cultures and Relational Working' - the Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) 2023 annual conference is now live. A fantastic selection of speakers will be joining is in Bristol on 3-4 October, alongside a wide variety of workshops for attendees to choose from.

View the full programme and book your place now

Chairs

Tuesday 3 October:

Gavin Harding MBE - Senior Learning Disability and Autism advisor at NHS England Gavin’s work includes facilitating focus groups, training HOPE(S) Practitioners, Co-chairing the National HOPE(S) Oversight Group and advising on quality. In 2015 he was mayor of Selby, North Yorkshire and the first person to be mayor with a learning disability in United Kingdom.

Jennifer Kilcoyne - Director for National HOPE(S) NHSE Collaborative Jennifer is Director for National HOPE(S) NHSE Collaborative and co-author of HOPE(S) model which aims to reduce long term segregation by using a human rights-based approach and has been developed and implemented across health and justice settings.

Wednesday 4 October:

Dave O'Brien - nurse for people with a learning disability David is a registered nurse for people with a learning disability with over 30 years of clinical experience. Working across adult learning disability and mental health, David has delivered improvements across areas including integrated community services, crisis care and policing. More recently, David has worked as part of a Public Health Wales team delivering a learning disability improvement programme including support to reduce restrictive practices.

Dr Dawn Cavanagh - researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University Dawn is working on a project aiming to support people with learning disabilities to become more confident and effective agents in shared decision-making. Dawn has autism and is the mother of an adult son with a learning disability, autism, epilepsy and ADHD who is currently locked in a psychiatric intensive care unit.

Keynote Speakers

Alexis Quinn - Love in Therapeutic Relationships    Alexis Quinn is a former schoolteacher, professional athlete and author of two books: her ground-breaking memoir, Unbroken, and Autistic and Expecting, a guide for autistic parents to be. Alexis speaks on neurodivergence, mental wellbeing and building the right support. She works as Manager of the Restraint Reduction Network, is mother to two neurodivergent children and is finishing an MSc in Psychotherapy at University of Greenwich.

Sam Sly and Kieran Murphy - Blinding us with science or merely baffling us with bull***t? Language can make or break a person Sam is a Regulation, Health and Social Care consultant with 30 years’ experience as a support worker, social worker, commissioner, regulator and support provider. Sam was part of the Change Team seconded in to transform services in Cornwall post the Budock Hospital scandal and led on the closure of NHS campus provision in Bournemouth. She has an MSc in the regulation of health and social care.

Kieran Murphy has a neurological condition called dystonia. He has been involved in the disability movement for over thirty years, including time in the Disabled People's Direct-Action Network. He is currently a director and company secretary Together All Are Able. In May this year he was elected to Wirral Borough Council and, among other responsibilities, sits on the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee.

Liz Durrant - Relational working in the NHS and the work of RPOG Liz is Head of Quality Transformation working across the national Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism and Specialised Commissioning teams at NHS England. Liz is passionate about co-production and is a Non-Executive Director for We Co-Produce; a community interest company which helps local systems co-create change with their community.

Rebecca Bauer - Restrictive practice – A failure of person centred care planning? Rebecca is Interim Director for People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People at CQC. She is committed to tackling inequalities and improving the health and social care of autistic people and people with a learning disability.

Baroness Sheila Hollins - Solitary Confinement Baroness Hollins was Independent Chair of Long-term Segregation Oversight panel, 2019-2023. She is a retired Consultant child psychiatrist and psychiatrist in learning disability, and Professor of Psychiatry at St George's, University of London. She is also a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Baroness Hollins is the founder and chair of the visual literacy charity, Books Beyond Words.

Donna White - A Regulatory Approach to the Reduction of Restrictive Practices in Australia Donna has been working at the NDIS Commission since 2018 and became National Director in 2021. She has worked in the disability sector for over 30 years as a certified practicing speech pathologist and behaviour support practitioner. She has extensive experience supporting people with disability who have complex communication, behavioural, forensic, trauma and health-related support needs.

Kieran Wilson - Body Worn Cameras in Inpatient Mental Heath Wards  Keiran Wilson (he/him) is an interdisciplinary early career researcher. He works as a research assistant in mental health nursing at King’s College London and is also a first-year PhD researcher in Criminology at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Tallyn Gray - Psychological restraint and human rights Tallyn is the Human Rights Officer at Sheffield Health And Social Care NHS Foundation Trust. Tallyn holds a Doctorate in International Human Rights Law and has specialist expertise in international and domestic human rights law, the rights of persons with disabilities (in particular the rights of people under psychiatric detention) and refugee/asylum law.

Joe Powell - Wales RP framework  Joe Powell is the Chief Executive of All Wales People First, a national umbrella body of self-advocacy groups for people with learning disabilities in Wales. Joe was appointed to his current role in 2012 following a nationwide recruitment drive to appoint someone with lived experience of learning disability services to head the organisation. Prior to this Joe lived in autism care services for eleven years.

Amy Telford - Micro-trauma: how it accrues and it’s lasting impact Amy Telford is an autistic expert by experience who has spent more than a decade in inpatient provision. Since discharge, Amy campaigns and advocates for equal rights as well as coproduced support and care for autistic people and people with a learning disability. Amy is especially interested in ways to reduce restrictive practices, co-producing and delivering focus groups and sharing her insights at conferences.

Georgina Fletcher, Marie Grant and Andrew Browne - Talking Through The Taboo Georgina is a Primary School Headteacher and Senior Mental Health Lead responsible for developing effective strategies to improve mental health for both pupils and staff.   She is trained as Designated Safeguarding Lead with experience in both the primary and secondary sectors of education.

Marie Grant is Director of Survivor Training - Beyond Words; Taught in Primary Education for 33 years. She was a Deputy Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead. She retired from teaching but continues to work in primary schools facilitating ‘Feelings Groups’ which she founded. These groups provide a safe setting, allowing children to talk about how they feel about what is happening in their lives.

Andrew Browne is Company Director of Survivor Training Beyond Words; He is a Former Chaplain at Rampton High Security Psychiatric  Hospital and was a member of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission (NCSC) Survivor Advisory Panel and OLMC Safeguarding Commission until their cessation in 2020.   He is a Books Beyond Words Mentor and a Well-being Support Volunteer in Laithes Primary School.

Workshops

We have a range of workshops available, each aiming to explore different aspects of building positive cultures to reduce the use of restrictive practice, including:

• Talking Through The Taboo
• The role of Practice Leadership in applying the HOPE(s) Clinical Model of Care to end long-term segregation
• Autistic communication: the importance of getting it right and the impact of getting it wrong
• Creating an organisational culture of wellbeing – why employee health and happiness is everyone’s business

Further workshops will be announced over the coming weeks.

Find out more and book your place

The venue

The conference will be taking place at the Bristol Delta Marriott Hotel, centrally located in Bristol. With an on-site bar and a variety of restaurants nearby, the easiest way to enjoy the conference is to take advantage of the preferential booking rates available to attendees. Find out more here.