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 implementation tips.

Our most recent event was attended by an energetic blend of over 100 professionals and young people! Thank you to everyone who attended. More about VoxCon 2019, or take a listen to our VoxCon podcast special on the right hand side of the page.

Check out our 2018 conference to see how much it’s grown!

VoxCon 2019 Speakers

We’re very grateful for our keynote speakers, who bring an external perspective to the importance of children’s voices.

help children and young people express themselves and communicate

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, with overall responsibility for the delivery of services across the UK. Carol represents Action for Children and establishes good relationships with other statutory, voluntary, and private sector organisations.

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.

Previous Speakers

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

Dez 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 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.

Workshops

The Mind Of My Own community loves nothing more than the chance to swap notes on ways to promote and implement the apps. Our interactive workshops cover the range of themes that excite and inspire participants to share experiences and learn from each other.

The VoxCon 2019 workshops

Implementation Change Management Masterclass

Account manager Beatrice’s workshop was not to be missed by those new to Mind Of My Own, covering a comprehensive and systematic approach to implementing our apps successfully in any type of organisation.

Improving participation in foster care reviews

Claire Betteridge, Natasha Werdmuller-Von Eigg and Hullal Miah from Cambridgeshire Council shared how their use if Mind Of My Own apps have significantly improved the way they capture the voice of the child in foster care reviews.

Supporting Inspections

Ex Ofsted inspector Natalie Trentham, alongside fellow Mind Of My Own trainer Nicola Higham, gave a fantastic workshop demonstrating how Mind Of My Own apps support organisations to deliver high-quality services that truly evidence the voice of the child.

Mind your language

How changing language can change perspective – You can read all about this terrific workshop delivered by the Children in Care Council of Birmingham Children’s Trust in this blog post.

Evaluating Mind Of My Own

Ben Sanderson of Northumberland Council presented this excellent presentation on how Mind Of My Own data can be used and evaluated to inform strategic service-delivery decisions and inspections.