Training and Consultation

Viv has been providing training and consultation to a number of Local Authorities over the past 4 years. She has worked in Coventry, Nottinghamshire, Brighton, Oxford, Barnsley, Solihull, Newcastle, Reading, Hackney, North Yorkshire and Leeds. Having a permanent full-time job means that Viv can only offer a limited amount of training each year otherwise this list would be much longer.

As well as training in the UK, Viv has delivered training in Zeeland (Netherlands) in 2006 and 2007. She has also presented to international audiences in the UK and in Amsterdam. 2006 saw Viv along with a couple of her team working with Andrew Turnell in Japan where they presented to an audience of 200 Japanese child protection practitioners.

Training

Viv provides training in the Signs of Safety approach both for practitioners and supervisors. Training for supervisors is often extended to include Appreciative Inquiry and Case Consultation. The Signs of Safety training is most commonly delivered as part of a two-day package with the first day introducing people to Solution Focused tools and the second day providing an introduction to the Signs of Safety. The Solution Focused training is usually delivered by a specialist trainer and I generally work with my colleague John Wheeler http://www.johnwheeler.co.uk Longer courses can be arranged to suit the needs of the agency and participants.

Consultation/Implementation

We all have experience of attending training, being inspired and then forgetting about it after a few weeks. It is for this reason that we are keen to work with agencies and Local Authorities who are interested in implementing the Signs of Safety approach, rather than just providing staff training. Viv is involved in providing consultation and training to a number of implementations most notably in Coventry, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Solihull. All of these are done in partnership with Andrew Turnell www.signsofsafety.net who provides consultancy to Viv. Implementation requires a strategic approach from the agency, and a commitment over a number of years.

Ongoing Projects

• September 13 – 17, 2010 will see the second 5 day intensive course run jointly by Andrew Turnell and Viv Hogg. Unfortunately this course is now fully booked but if you would like go on to the reserve list, please contact Mark Cassidy at markcassidy@gateshead.gov.uk.
• Viv and John Wheeler are writing a chapter entitled Signs of Safety and the Child Protection movement, for an international collaboration to summarize the current state of solution focused brief therapy research.