Throughout the year, we’ll deliver three thematic mini-series, each designed to connect professionals, share expertise, and create space for learning and collaboration. These sessions will be free to attend and open to professionals from a wide range of backgrounds across health and social care, including clinicians, managers, social workers, commissioners and education partners.

Whether you’re looking to deepen your knowledge, connect with peers, or explore new ideas, these webinars are an opportunity to learn, share, and collaborate. We hope you’ll be able to join us!

Read on for more information on Series 1.

Series 1: Trauma-Informed Complexity

This three‑part Lunch & Learn series is designed for professionals working with young people whose needs challenge traditional service boundaries. These sessions combine practical insight with reflective discussion, helping practitioners navigate the realities of trauma, neurodivergence, risk, identity, and system pressures in complex care.

Across the series, we’ll move beyond theory to explore what trauma-informed practice really looks like in everyday clinical and social care environments equipping you with frameworks, language, and perspectives you can apply immediately in your work.

Episode 1: Therapeutic Risk Management and Trauma-Informed Practice | Wed 18th March 2026 | 12pm – 1pm | Josef Comyn-Doyle, Clinical Pathways Manager & Lindsay Irwin, Clinical Placements Manager

This session explores the essential relationship between therapeutic risk management and trauma-informed care. We’ll examine the benefits, barriers, and scrutiny that come with managing risk therapeutically, and ask the critical question: Can care truly be trauma-informed if it’s focus is on avoiding danger and harm? Drawing on young people’s perspectives and real-world practice, this session invites reflection on how risk can be held safely, ethically, and meaningfully in complex care settings.Episode 2: Beyond the Label: Diagnostic Overlaps in Complex Care | Wed 25th March 2026 | 12pm – 1pm | Dr David Kingsley, Consultant Psychiatrist

This session explores the diagnostic complexity often seen in young people with overlapping presentations of trauma, neurodivergence, personality disorder, and developmental factors. Through a person-centred lens, we’ll consider how to move beyond labels to understand the individual to improve their experiences of care across services.Episode 3: Intersectionality in Complex Care | Wed 1st April 2026 | 12pm – 1pm | Sharon Sandhu, Highly Specialised Clinical Psychologist

This session explores how overlapping social identities such as race, gender, neurodivergence, and socioeconomic status interact with complex mental health needs to shape young people’s experiences of care. We’ll examine how these compounding vulnerabilities can lead to exclusion, misdiagnosis, or systemic disadvantage, and discuss how professionals can respond with greater awareness, equity, and sensitivity.

Using case studies and lived experience, the session will invite reflection on how multi-agency systems can better recognise and address intersectionality in complex care environments.

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BIGSPD was formed in 1999 as a forum for networking in the field of personality disorder. This began as a small annual conference, predominantly for clinicians but has evolved significantly over the past 25 years. BIGSPD is an organisation which values lived experience equally to those who are traditionally trained.

Speaking at the event this year are Mick McKeown, Maxine Dennis, Peter Fonagy, Michaela Swales and Jenifer Dylan & Brin Grenyer.

If you’re at the conference in Liverpool over the next few days, visit our stand to meet Amy Rendle and Josef Comyn-Doyle to say hello and learn more about our specialist services.

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The Charter outlines seven core characteristics of good employment:

1. Secure work

2. Flexible working

3. Real Living Wage

4. Employee engagement and voice

5. Excellent recruitment practices

6. Health and wellbeing support

7. Equality, diversity and inclusion

These aren’t just principles—they reflect what we already aim to embed in our culture. From wellbeing initiatives like mProve, to flexible work options and learning opportunities, we are committed to creating a workplace where people genuinely want to stay and grow.

Julie Burton, Director of People Services at Care in Mind, said:

“The Greater Manchester Employment Charter fits perfectly with our ethos. We’re a people-first organisation, and it’s important for us to be part of a regional movement that’s focused on raising standards and creating positive, sustainable workplaces. We’re proud to be held to account on how we treat our staff—and we welcome that.”

Supporting the Charter also allows us to collaborate with like-minded organisations and continue to improve how we engage, empower, and care for our employees.

This is not just about a badge—it’s about accountability, aspiration, and action. And we’re excited for what lies ahead.

Find out more about the Greater Manchester Employment Charter

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With women making up nearly half of the UK workforce, it’s essential that workplaces adapt to meet the needs of staff experiencing the effects of menopause and perimenopause.

By signing this pledge, we commit to taking positive action to make sure our staff feel understood, supported, and empowered. This includes opening up safe spaces for dialogue, adapting working environments where needed, and fostering a culture of awareness and respect. Menopause affects everyone differently, and we want to ensure that all staff feel seen and heard.

Some of the practical steps we’re taking include increasing awareness through staff training, adding menopause-related information to our wellbeing resources, and reviewing our internal policies with inclusive practices in mind.

Julie Burton, Director of People Services at Care in Mind, commented:

“We’re committed to fostering a culture of openness and care, where everyone feels safe and supported. Signing the Menopause Workplace Pledge is just one step we’re taking to demonstrate that our staff’s health and wellbeing matters. We’ll continue to listen, learn and grow as an organisation.”

We encourage other organisations to take a stand and join us in creating menopause-positive workplaces. For more information, visit: https://www.wellbeingofwomen.org.uk/menopause-workplace-pledge/

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Sleep is essential to humans, just like air, water and food. When necessary, people can cope without sleep for periods of time, but the longer we are awake the stronger the urge to sleep becomes. Sleep serves a restorative purpose, both psychologically and physiologically.  Sleep is important for general physical health, restoring energy, repairing injuries or illness, growth, psychological well-being and mood, concentration, and memory.  People vary in terms of how much sleep they need – but the average sleep duration for adults is 6-8 hours per night and a ‘good sleeper’ takes around 30 mins to fall asleep and will awake once or twice.

Stages of sleep

Effects of lack of sleep

Lack of sleep can lead to:

• Poor concentration and memory
• Impaired judgement and reaction time
• Irritability and other mood disturbances
• Poor physical coordination

There are many more consequences of sleep deprivation, and the seriousness of the effects depends on the severity of the sleep deprivation.

What is sleep hygiene?

Sleep is vital to a healthy, balanced life, and ‘Sleep Hygiene’ is used to describe good sleep habits. Here are some things to consider before creating your own sleep hygiene rituals. At Care in Mind, we encourage the young people within our services to develop a sleep hygiene plan, for the hour before bedtime. This might include things such as:

• avoiding electronic devices
• listening to chilled music or a sleep story
• use of a gratitude journal to reflect on the day
• meditation
• Lighting a scented candle or smelling lavender
• Use an eye mask
• Do some bed yoga or relaxing stretches
• Drink a glass of milk or a calming tea

Completing a sleep diary can help identify patterns and what works or doesn’t work to aid you in getting a good night’s sleep. As part of this it can be helpful to think about your mood, fatigue and activity levels throughout the day, what you’ve consumed prior to going to be including stimulants, and time of going to bed. First thing in the morning, think about how long it took to fall asleep, how many times you woke through the night, how long you slept and how you felt on waking.

More information and advice on sleep issues, as well as top tips and resources can be found on the NHS website and on Get Self Help.

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The programme has played a vital part in keeping young people engaged and connected during the pandemic, with different remote-friendly events planned throughout the year. During February 2021, the homes all engaged in a month of activities and education sessions to celebrate LGBT+ History Month.

Why is this an important month to recognise within the homes?

Within our homes, there are many young people that are proud to identify as LGBTQIA+, so this is naturally something that they feel passionately about and are motivated to get involved in. Additionally, as an organisation, we feel it’s important that all of our young people feel supported and comfortable in their identity. Part of this is celebrating alongside them when it comes to special events in the year, such as LGBT+ History Month. Furthermore, our residential teams often take the opportunity of awareness events to not only celebrate, but also educate.

How did the homes get involved?

One of our Yorkshire homes, Woodside, played a particularly important role in organising activities during one special week to promote LGBT+ History Month. The young people of Woodside each took turns in hosting ‘Staying Connected’ activities for all of the homes to enjoy, varying from an ‘LGBT song lyrics quiz’ to a ‘Pride Pizza competition’. Willowhurst even held a paint bomb competition, where everyone had lots of fun getting ‘paint bombed’ in the garden!

To finish off the week, Woodside hosted a special Pride party, including dressing up in drag, over Zoom for all young people to enjoy. The young people all played a huge part in making the celebrations as successful as they were; baking rainbow cakes, creating party playlists, and getting dressed up.

To ensure all the homes could get involved, Woodside sent out packs to all the homes with invitations, ideas of how to decorate their home and tips for throwing the best Pride party. An itinerary of the week’s activities and posters for the competitions were also sent around in advance, and the homes engaged in group education discussions about homophobic, biphobic and transphobic (HBT) bullying.

Whilst much of the celebrations were made possible by the young people, it was also a Support Worker at Woodside, Claire Wilde, who played a significant part in organising the week’s events. Talking about why she felt it was important for the homes to celebrate together, she said “I think it’s important that the YP’s stay in touch doing fun things like this and it proved you don’t have to come to Woodside to enjoy a party with us!”

Thank you to all the young people and staff who got involved in celebrating this important month.

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