2nd National Safe and Together Symposium Call for Presentations

Seattle Waterfront Marriott  Seattle, Washington  October 22-24, 2014

Overview

David Mandel & Associates/International Center for Innovation in Domestic Violence Practice is calling for workshop presentations from agencies, communities or individuals who received prior Safe and Together training and have implemented some aspect of the model.  The purpose of these workshops will be share with other Symposium participants lessons learned about Safe and Together model and its impact on policy, practice and outcomes for families.

Introduction

The Safe and Together™ Model Suite of Tools and Interventions is a field-tested, promising best practice approach designed to support professionals in child serving systems practice at the intersection of domestic violence and child maltreatment.  The perpetrator pattern-based, child-centered, survivor-strengths approach of the model helps agencies and communities move towards domestic violence informed child welfare proficiency.

The National Safe and Together Symposium is an opportunity for professionals from diverse disciplines and communities to come together to learn, share information and network to help families’ impact by domestic violence perpetrators’ behaviors.   Last year’s Symposium brought together almost 90 people from 22 states.  Approximately 1/3 of the participants already had received Safe and Together training while the other 2/3 were new to the new model.   The highlight of the Symposium was the introduction of the concept of domestic violence informed child welfare systems and the Continuum of Domestic Violence Practice (CODVP).

2^nd National Safe and Together Symposium

This year’s symposium is expanded from last year and will highlight:

• Advances in the model including Practice tools like Perpetrator Pattern Mapping and Pivoting
• Additional material related to the Continuum of Domestic Violence Practice (CODVP) and how to create a domestic violence informed child welfare agency
• A growing focus on evaluation
• Lessons learned from Safe and Together sites including presentations from Safe and Together model sites
• A pre-Symposium overview of the model
• Wrap around presentations from other national leaders in topics relevant to domestic violence and children

The Symposium Audience

The Symposium audience includes child welfare frontline workers, supervisors, managers/administrators; child welfare attorneys; domestic violence advocates, counselors, administrators; policy makers; researchers; Guardians ad Litem, CASAs; home visitors; mental health and substance abuse professionals; fatherhood program staff; and/or batterer intervention providers.

 Submitting a Presentation Proposal:

Before submitting a proposal, please consider the following:

Submission Criteria: Presenters must have had Safe and Together model training in the past and have implemented the Safe and Together model principles, critical components and/or practice into their personal/agency/community practice and/or policy. Collaborative presentations are welcome; please limit the number of presenters to three.

Submission Outline: The submission will be expected to cover the following key areas:

• A description of training and/or consultation received in the Safe and Together model
• A description of the application or implementation of the Safe and Together model principles, critical components and/or practices to policy, practice and/or community collaboration
• The lessons learned including formal evaluation data

Workshop length: Submissions will be considered for 1 hour and 15 minute presentations.

Selection Review Criteria: Proposals will be reviewed based on the following points:

• Clarity of understanding of the Safe and Together model
• Unique, creative and/or well established implementation of the Safe and Together model
• Sustainability strategies
• Implementation fidelity strategies
• Use of Safe and Together to improve cross system collaboration
• Inclusion of qualitative and/or quantitative data on implementation

Questions?  Please contact Kristen Selleck at kristenselleck@endingviolence.com

What to Expect?

Proposals are due February 27, 2014 at 5:00PM (EST)

The review committee will make a selection and send notification to each lead presenter listed on the proposal submission by April 5, 2014.

Presenter Agreement:

By submitting a proposal, proposed presenters understand and agree to the following:

• If selected to present, presenters must confirm their attendance and willingness to present by April 25, 2014.
• All presenters must register for the conference online prior to registration deadline.
• Presenters are responsible for conference fee, room, board, food airfare and other travel costs.
• Presenters are responsible for bringing any handouts or copied materials that they would like to handout to participants.
• Presenters will provide David Mandel & Associates, LLC with copies of presentation materials that presenters would like included on the website and/or to be available to participants electronically two weeks before the event.
• Presenters agree to allow David Mandel & Associates, LLC to put presenter biographies on the conference registration website
• Presenters agree to allow David Mandel & Associates, LLC to provide feedback or changes to any presentation proposal submission, including, but not limited to: change in timeframe of presentation, addition of or removal of materials that do not fit within the principles of the Safe and Together model, or change in schedule
• Presenters agree to their presentations being video and/or audio taped and waive all rights to the video and/or audiotape of their workshop.