From the Top with Feeling: Resilience, relationships and reflective practice

“I will argue that both resilience and relationship-based practice must be understood not as an individualised or practice-level matter but as a system-level endeavour in which leadership and role-modelling are key.” 

This session will explore key research messages around promoting professional resilience, the role of reflective supervision in enabling emotional resilience and the connection with relationship-based practice.

Dez Holmes is the Director of Research in Practice and Research in Practice for Adults, having previously been the Assistant Director of Research in Practice.  She leads these organisations in championing evidence-informed practice, supporting those working to improve outcomes for children, young people, adults and their families and carers. Prior to this, Dez was the Programme Manager at C4EO responsible for Capacity Building. She previously worked in local government establishing and managing integrated early intervention services to families and previously managed multi-agency prevention and early intervention programmes (YISPs).

Dez has several years’ experience of training and workforce development. Dez’s practice experience is largely within youth offending services. Her research experience is focussed on Participative Action Research with vulnerable groups. She is particularly interested in adolescence, risk and participatory practice; Dez has spearheaded RiP’s work on Transitional Safeguarding and is the Programme Director for the Tackling Child Exploitation Programme and Chairs the Contextual Safeguarding Advisory Group.

Dez sits on the Board of The Staff College, which develops leadership capacity across local authority children’s services; and is a trustee of the UK Implementation Society, which builds capacity and expertise for more effective, evidence-informed implementation in services for people and communities. Dez sits on a number of Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) policy committees and on several research advisory boards, and she is a member of the NICE Implementation Strategy Group. She is also a trustee of Family Action, a large charity providing practical, emotional and financial support to families who are experiencing poverty, disadvantage and social isolation.