SWIRLS and CSWIR : The importance of lived experience in social work

Hosts and Panelists

HOSTS

Dr Carmela Bastian, Senior Lecturer, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, and member of the Social Work Innovation Research Living Space (SWIRLS), Flinders University, South Australia.

Dr Carmela Bastian is currently Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Flinders University and member of the Social Work Innovation Research Living Space (SWIRLS). She is committed to improving the lives of children. She has over twenty years’ experience in the field of child protection and human services as a social work practitioner and academic. Carmela's employment history exemplifies a wide range of experiences, including as a front line practitioner, policy and program manager, and involvement in service development. Her PhD research — called The moral status of children in child protection: the case for emerging from our moral ignorance — engaged in philosophical deliberation to assert that children are valuable members of the human community and illuminate the criticality of relationships, rights and obligations.

Dr Jeri L. Damman, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Work and Social Care and Co-Director of the Centre for Social Work Innovation and Research (CSWIR), University of Sussex

Dr Jeri L. Damman is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Work and Co-Director of the Centre for Social Work Innovation and Research (CSWIR). Jeri’s research addresses participatory and inclusive practices with birth parents in child welfare and how these contribute to system improvements to promote positive outcomes for children, parents, and families.  Jeri’s recent work, in both the US and England, explores the development, implementation and delivery of parent mentoring/advocacy programmes in child welfare, an innovative practice approach that involves birth parents with lived experience in service delivery roles. Jeri’s extensive social work practice experience in both England and the U.S. informs her cross-national interest in how child welfare systems seek to engage with and involve birth parents.

PANELISTS

Dr Alisa Willis, Head of Service Impact, Junction Australia

Alisa is a highly regarded leader with a 20-year career in social work, policy and senior management in Australia, the United Kingdom and the Philippines. Her appointment with Junction follows more than four years with the Department for Human Services SA where she was Director of the Early Intervention Research Directorate (EIRD). As the Director of EIRD, she has led the reforms of the Child and Family Support System, and the implementation of evidence-based services that make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children and their families. Alisa has a strong focus on early intervention, child protection, domestic and family violence, Aboriginal culture competency as well as service modelling, training, research and practice reform. She has also worked for Mission Australia, with impressive achievements in service growth and implementation.

Clare Muthuraiah, Lead Practitioner, Family Advisory Board (co-production) Solution Focused Practice, Living Proof, MARAC

Clare became a social work resource officer in 2005 for Brighton & Hove and then qualified with a Masters in Social Work in 2008, whilst continuing to work for the local Authority. She then became a parent and has two children aged 14 and 12. Clare has worked as a front line child protection social worker and has since gone on to work for a specialist team working with infants, along the way training in the Dr Patricia Crittenden’s Dynamic Maturational Model of attachment, trained to use the Adult Attachment Interview and the CARE-Index with infants. Clare has since changed roles and alongside doing Solution Focused Therapy with families and domestic abuse work and facilitating anti-racist discussion groups, she is responsible, with her colleagues Mary Crowther and Krystal Shirley, for developing co-production in children’s services. This is becoming the most rewarding part of her role, alongside the direct interventions that she is able to do with families.

Krystal Shirley, Expert by Experience, UK

Krystal Shirley, Founder of 4D Care Experience, is an EBE, trainer and consultancy advisor for all aspects of childrens social care, specialising in CPS, Domestic Violence, Trauma Awareness, Anti Racist and Relationship Based Practice.

Krystal set up 4D Care Experience in 2019 to share her personal experiences with other professionals and raise awareness of child protection services, poor practice, domestic abuse, mental health, lone parent famillies and lack of community support networks. Krystal has worked with many sectors across the UK and has a strong understanding of relationship based and anti oppressive practice. Krystal is a critical friend who sits on a variety of advisory boards, active member of a variety of stakeholder opportunities aswell as being involved in many other projects. Krystal is an active change maker who seeks out every opportunity to build bridges within communities and collaborating to provide safe spaces. 

Krystal is a survivor of all these adverse childhood experiences and more. Krystal brings a unique perspective in understanding how this impacts children, how professionals can make a difference and how the system needs to change to meet the ever-changing and increasing risks facing our children and famillies.

Krystal has gone on to form a collective group of parents and professionals called the Family Advisory Board, coupled with her role as a social care professional. 

Krystal is a compelling speaker and trainer having appeared on radio, at social work conferences among other events locally and internationally.

Peer Support Worker - To be advised, SA

Carolyn Curtis, CEO, The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TASCI)

Carolyn is CEO of The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI), one of Australia’s most respected social enterprises focussed on addressing challenging social issues. Carolyn leads TACSI’s purpose to bring people, communities and organisations together to collectively tackle societies toughest social challenges and build the futures we want

Carolyn is a visionary and hands-on leader of TACSI’s dynamic mutli-disciplinary teams based in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and working across Australia. Carolyn is also a leader of social innovation beyond TACSI, as a Director for the Social Innovation Exchange, the Fay Fuller Foundation and Junction Australia.