Breakout Sessions
Session Types:
Case Study Session: During this session, a practice, service model, project, new idea (already implemented with some form of evaluation) that the audience can learn from and stimulate discussion will be presented. The session will include Q&As and interactive discussion.
Workshop Session: This will take the form of an interactive meeting or educational session designed to create a specialised result, for example a guidance or learning that participants can use afterwards. It will include some form of training and/or group work.
Thematic Panel Discussion: During these sessions, 3-4 organisations present a project on a similar topic related to the conference theme during a moderated panel discussion. Delegates are invited to ask questions at the end of the session.
Breakout sessions - 23 June, 14:15 - 15:15
Social services play a crucial role in supporting people with intellectual disabilities or autism by providing essential resources, advocacy, and support to enhance their quality of life. At this session, participants will learn about three different approaches to the provision of support for persons with disabilities across Europe.
Despite the recognised societal value provided by the care system, it is important to assess how prepared it is to adapt to future needs. Against this backdrop, EY’s workshop intends to delve into what it considers one of the most pressing challenges ahead, the potential of integrating technology in the Long-Term Care sphere.
The Learning and Innovation Network (LINK) aims to deliver more integrated and person-centred health and social care services to different populations, including older people, families with young children facing multiple challenges, and young people with mental health conditions.
Reflective Practice involves critically assessing one’s own actions, performance, experiences and decisions. This training session aims to modernise reflective practice in social care through empowering practitioners to develop models based on practice wisdom.
Vincles and Auzosare are programmes that aim to address loneliness among older people by combining technological innovation with community care plans. By using data science, information from various dispersed and unconnected sources is automatically processed to detect and classify older people at risk of unwanted loneliness.
The Caseload Converter is a user-friendly Excel-based tool that addresses the challenge of determining staffing needs in social welfare services across Switzerland. The tool supports social service directors in justifying staff requirements to political authorities, ensuring adequate resources for effective service delivery.
Breakout sessions - 23 June, 16:15 - 17:15
The use of data in social services development is crucial for creating more effective, efficient, and responsive social services support systems. By analysing data, service providers can identify trends, assess community and neighbourhood needs, and tailor interventions to better serve vulnerable populations. Data-driven decision-making enhances resource allocation, improves service delivery, and helps measure the impact of programmes. Additionally, predictive analytics can anticipate challenges, enabling proactive solutions.
Aarhus Municipality is transforming its approach to supporting children and families by shifting from a system-centred model to one that prioritises relationships and early preventive interventions. This transformation aims to empower families to play an active role in shaping their support plans, focusing on their strengths and aspirations. By fostering a culture of collaboration, professionals across sectors, including social services, education, and healthcare, work closely together to offer personalised, coordinated support.
Key to building responsive compassionate care systems, is the integration of lived experience into service design and care policy. In this thematic panel discussion, delegates will hear from individuals that have had a transformational influence on shaping public policy and care reform in the United Kingdom by sharing their experiences with the care system. The panellists embody an innovative approach by demonstrating the transformative potential of meaningful, integrity-driven participation.
The project focuses on integrating care technologies into care for older people through a distinctive approach involving a dedicated care technologist and a technology library to bridge the gap between people in care and technological innovations. At this session, delegates will learn how by using a relational approach, the care technologist works directly with older people and their professional and informal caregivers, acting as a bridge between technology and care users, and providing customised solutions tailored to individual needs and care environments.
Loneliness is a significant issue among older adults, impacting their mental and physical health. Social isolation can lead to depression, cognitive decline, and reduced quality of life. Technology offers powerful solutions to combat loneliness by enabling virtual connections with family and friends through video calls, social media, and messaging apps. Online communities, virtual reality experiences, and digital learning platforms provide opportunities for engagement and social interaction.
The long-term care sector faces significant workforce shortages and skills gaps, particularly in digital competence and person-centred care. With an ageing population and increasing demand for quality services, care workers across Europe must be equipped with the necessary skills to provide effective, modern support. To address these challenges, the Partnership for Skills in Long Term Care was created in 2023.
Breakout sessions - 24 June, 09:45-10:45
Active participation of older adults in their care is essential for improving the quality of services. When older individuals are involved in decision-making, daily activities, and feedback processes, care becomes more person-centred, responsive, and tailored to their needs. Their insights and preferences help shape practice that enhances dignity, autonomy, and overall well-being. By valuing their voices, providers create more inclusive, respectful, and high-quality care environments.
Individuals and communities represent the core of the design and delivery of social services. Transposing this aspiration into practice appears, however, rather more complicated. The fragmentation of data systems is one obstacle in the path towards social services that comprehensively addresses the needs of the people who use them. KPMG will be collaborating with RAND to run this case study session and introduce how digital platforms for data management can be ethically integrated within social services systems.
Welfare technology offers significant potential to transform social care services by enhancing the quality of life for citizens and improving staff efficiency. Aarhus Municipality and the Social Services of the Central Region of Denmark are leading the way in using technologies such as virtual visits and diaper sensors to improve care.
Citizen participation is vital for improving local services, ensuring they are responsive, inclusive, and aligned with community needs. When residents actively engage in decision-making, provide feedback, and collaborate with service providers, policies and programs become more effective and impactful. Participation fosters a sense of ownership, strengthens trust between communities and local authorities, and leads to innovative, grassroots-driven solutions.
This initiative establishes Small Support Organisations that provide person-centred, specialist support, enabling older persons and persons with disabilities to live independently in their own homes. These organisations integrate social workers, health professionals, and lived experience groups, ensuring a flexible and holistic approach to care.
Breakout sessions - 24 june, 13:30 - 14:30
The Barnahus strategy aims to address all forms of sexual violence against children through an integrated approach, where children and adolescents who report such violence receive multisectoral support in one place. Throughout the process, children’s voices are heard and respected. In this session, participants will learn about the Barnahus centres opened across the region.
Complex and time-consuming documentation can divert attention from direct engagement with young people in care, making it harder to build meaningful relationships and provide timely interventions. By streamlining recording processes through user-friendly digital tools, automation, and standardised frameworks, social workers can spend more time supporting young people.
Mijn Sociaal Dossier is a digital platform designed to enhance access to social services for vulnerable citizens in Antwerp, Belgium. Many service users face challenges due to language barriers, limited digital skills, and complex administrative processes. The platform provides secure, direct access to personal case information, empowering individuals to manage their own support while reducing the workload for social workers.
The Association of Danish Welfare Executives (ADWE) is Denmark’s social services directors’ association that brings together directors with the responsibilities decentralised to local authorities in the country in relation to social, community healthcare, employment, and older people services to enhance policy development and service delivery.
Under the umbrella theme of Local Care Ecosystems (LCEs), Gipuzkoa County Council in Northern Spain’s Basque Country has developed this programme to improve care by coordinating health, social, and community services within municipalities in the area. This is done through personalised care itineraries, a digital platform for the interoperability of data from health and social services, and a governance model that encourages empowerment and participation of professionals and citizens.
Breakout sessions - 25 june, 10:30 - 11:45
The shift from reactive to preventative child and family services is progressively becoming a reality. The emergence of new tools and methods allows to combine and strengthen family support and child protection.
As social workers navigate the evolution of these systems, they face the challenge of adapting to new practice. This is why Deloitte’s session will leverage a global panel of practitioners to discuss the reality of incorporating these realities into their everyday work.
Citizens sometimes complain that social protection systems are often burdened by excessive bureaucracy, hindering their efficiency and preventing citizens from fully accessing their lawful entitlements. This leads to frustration and a perception of systemic weakness.
To tackle this challenge, this session will help participants explore how Chile improved the efficiency of its social protection system through the implementation of centralised databases and single-access portals for citizens.
As a fundamental aspect of human rights, nutrition policies are key to ensuring proper care. Addressing the root causes of malnutrition is vital for creating effective care policies.
The care sector is evolving technologically, and food provision practices are modernising through tools like apps, e-vouchers, and QR codes. These innovations improve both the efficiency of support and the management of funding and donations.
Generative AI has the potential to revolutionise the way social workers operate and improve service delivery, but its use remains largely untapped. Social workers often face barriers such as scattered data, language challenges, and time-consuming tasks like transcribing and summarising notes from meetings. Meanwhile, people who need to use services may become lost in the complexity of care systems.
In this session, Microsoft will demonstrate attendees how generative AI can be seamlessly integrated into existing systems, offering significant time and performance gains.