VoxCon
What is VoxCon?
Mind Of My Own is all about the voice of the child and since ‘vox’ means voice, it was an obvious choice for our community events. VoxCons are days full of fun and useful insights. They’re a great opportunity for the Mind Of My Own community to network and share stories and best practice.
VoxCon 2021 was contributed to by an energetic blend of over 300 professionals and young people – thank you to everyone who participated! Check out our article to find out what makes VoxCon so special.
2021 Seminars
The Mind Of My Own community loves nothing more than creating opportunities to share best practice and explore how to ensure children’s voices are heard and accounted for. Our interactive workshops cover a range of themes that excite and inspire participants to share experiences and learn from each other.
Unlock the voices of children with additional needs:
We shared our findings from many months of co-production with a range of experts working with children with additional needs and disabilities. We can support workers to make sure nobody is overlooked. We feel strongly that all children are able to have a voice.
Voices outside the classroom
We were privileged and grateful to have speakers join us to share their insights and experiences of using participation to support student voice, wellbeing and safeguarding.
Much more than an acronym
An interactive Q&A session with young people from Aberdeen, Birmingham and Gloucestershire where they shared their thoughts, experiences on why language is important in recording. They gave us insights into campaigns they worked on to change language within their organisations. They said there should be no more talk of LAC, CHIC, LAAC, respite or contact and a move towards respectful use of language that is individualised based upon the child’s preference.
You’ve got to be in it to win it
Being in it refers to participation and one of the wins of participation is improved mental health and wellbeing. Yvonne and Hannah told the story of a national project they led for NHS England, which sponsored children’s and young people’s participation in mental health services.
Identity, diversity and recording; how it links together
This workshop explored the topic of identity formation and the complexities of recording so that we feed a child’s sense of identity and contribute to a long-term, positive sense of self.
Is tech for good?
In this session we looked at how tech is being used to enhance practice in children’s services now and how technology and social care might look in the future. Our showcase demonstrated some of the other digital tools being used in children’s services that we love.
2021 Award Winners
Every year we present awards for exceptional performance amongst our community. Here are the current reigning champions across our categories:
Most improved
The City of York
Greatest Use
Lea Valley Primary School
Most Creative Mind Of My Own Comms
Durham County Council
Swiftest implementation
Denbighshire County Council
Built to Last
London Borough of Havering
Lifetime Achievement
Hayley Mills – Bedford Borough Council
Young Person Champions
Hannah Blair and Ben Timothy – Kibble
Previous Speakers
Carol Iddon
Carol has worked over many years in a range of social care services for children, young people and families including child protection, looked after children and children in need. Joining Action for Children in 2003, she was appointed in 2016 to the role of Managing Director for Children’s Services.
Andy Williamson
Andrew joined Quarriers as Head of Adult Services in 2013, and became Deputy Chief Executive Officer in 2014. He has extensive experience within the retail and care sectors and specialises in managing large scale operations and projects. Prior to working with Quarriers, Andrew was Regional Director at Care UK Scotland. He was also a Regional Director for East of Scotland with Southern Cross before moving to Care UK.
Ewan King
Ewan joined the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in 2014 and is currently the chief operating officer as well as Engagement Lead for the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care. Ewan leads SCIE’s work on the integration of health and social care, personalised care, asset-based approaches, innovation and children’s social care.
Lemn Sissay
Playwright, author, poet and broadcaster, Lemn is also care experienced and continues today to support children and young people in care. The many running themes of his keynote, relating to the reality of being a young person in care today, captivated the audience from start to finish.
Dez Holmes
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 across the children’s and adults social care sector in order to improve outcomes for children, young people, adults requiring support and their families and carers.
Kevin Browne-MacLeod
Kevin is the Director for care-experienced membership with Who Cares? Scotland, and is care-experienced himself. He has overseen the delivery of programmes which place care-experienced people at the forefront of campaigns and change in legislation, policy and practice. Kevin previously worked for the office of Scotland’s Commissioner for Children & Young People on a number of national children’s rights based projects.
