Leadership and Management

3rd Leadership Conference through the National Centre for Cross-Disciplinary Social Work

Tilia Lenz
Private: Dr Matthew Simpson
Dr Rachel Arnold
Professor Mel Hughes
Dr Lyle Skains
Dr Orlanda Harvey
Julia Armstrong
Dr Colin Macpherson
Sarah Green
Ithiel Korkor Zotorvie
Professor David Croisdale-Appleby
Paul Walshe
21st February 2024

On the 15th December 2023 we held the 3rd Leadership Conference through the National Centre for Cross-Disciplinary Social Work.

We met online on a cold and crisp Friday morning and were joined by practitioners, leaders and academics from across the UK. A total of 95 delegates had signed up to share and learn together to bridge the gap between academia and practice on the themes of:

Our Keynote speaker was Dr Colin Mac Pherson, who took us on a historical journey in his talk ‘Times of Change’Leadership discussion for Health and Social Care

  • ‘The culture of change vs changing cultures’ by challenging our understanding what it means to belong or fit into an organisation or profession.
  • How can we be activists and catalysts for change as leaders in practice and education and take our staff ‘with us’, whilst not being afraid to take risks on the way.
  • How we embrace the growing change towards ‘greener practice’ and our awareness of environmental impact of events that are beyond our control- from climate change to global pandemics.
  • An exploration of what we need to be calm in the ‘eye of the storm of change’, what gives us resilience and strength to keep going on our personal and professional journeys.

Our speakers came from a wide range of backgrounds to not just look at theoretical approaches to leadership but to weave the lived experience, the challenges and joys of practice into the discussion


Prof Mel Hughes started us of and talked to us about ‘Leadership and the art of collaboration’.


Tilia Lenz, Dr Lyle Skains and Dr Rejoice Chipuriro discussed their research findings on ‘Reclaiming resilience, voices from the frontline’ and shared the experiences of managers in health and social care.


 ‘Cultural change and integration of international health care staff’ was the topic that Ithiel Zotorvie presented as the Practice Educator for international nurses. Her talk resonanted greatly with the audience and facilitated deep reflection.


Dr Orlanda Harvey and Sarah Green presentation on  ‘Leading Change – Bringing our people with us’ was a hands-on approach that offered tools for participants to take away.


Dr Rachel Arnold and Dr Matt Simpson spoke about their experiences of Appreciative Inquiry. It is here that I need to acknowledge the very sad passing of our colleague Matt Simpson on the 10.01.24 and the huge gap he has left in the world of Approved Mental Health Practice (AMHP), academia and most importantly with his family and friends.

You can read further about Matt’s work here: https://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2024/01/23/appreciative-inquiry-special-interest-group/


The Panel discussion to review all the themes of the conference from different perspectives was let by Tilia Lenz.

Julia Armstrong, Dr Colin MacPherson , Ithiel Zotorvie, Prof David Croisdale-Appleby and Paul Walshe shared their views on leadership and the challenges of organisational, personal and global changes. They considered:

  • What it means to belong or fit into an organisation or profession.
  • How can we be activists and catalysts for change as leaders in practice and education and take our staff ‘with us’
  • How we embrace the growing change towards ‘greener practice’ and our awareness of environmental impact of events that are beyond our control
  • What gives us resilience and strength to keep going on our personal and professional journeys.

Watch the full playlist:

The conference concluded with the sharing of kindness and encouragement from the delegates and we would like to thank all of those who joined us for the day for their contributions and reflections.

Meet the author(s)

Tilia Lenz

Senior Lecturer Social Work and CPD Framework Social Sciences. (She/her)
Tilia is a Senior Lecturer for Social Work and the CPD Framework lead for Social Sciences. She is a qualified Social Pedagogue and registered Social Worker and spent 15 years in front line Children’s Services as a practitioner and manager. She undertook her MA studies in Managing and Developing Services in Health and Social Care at BU with the focus on Organisational Cultures and Staff Performance. She is now undertaking research for her PhD on ‘Relationship Performance Management in Child Protection’. She has a particular interest in practitioner wellbeing and resilience.
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Private: Dr Matthew Simpson

Senior Lecturer
Matthew is the Programme Lead for the Post-Graduate Diploma in Advanced Mental Health Practice, a programme to prepare suitably qualified and experienced practitioners to undertake the role of the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) under the Mental Health Act 1983. He is an active researcher in the field of AMHP practice. His PhD concerned AMHP decision-making at the point of referral for a Mental Health Act assessment, and this research was conducted collaboratively under the strengths-based methodology of Appreciative Inquiry. This research culminated in changes to one AMHP service to enhance best practice, attracting interest from a range of other Local Authorities.
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Dr Rachel Arnold

Presenter
Rachel Arnold is a Visiting Fellow in the Centre for Midwifery and Women’s Health (BU). She is a former nurse/midwife with over 30 years experience working in UK health services, and in international crisis situations including South Sudan, Rwanda and Afghanistan. Her PhD explored barriers and facilitators to quality care for women in an Afghan maternity hospital - particularly from the perspectives of the midwives, doctors, care assistants. Rachel’s particular interest is health care providers – and the complex institutional, cultural, personal and interpersonal factors that affect their wellbeing and ability to provide high quality care. Her recent research explored staff wellbeing in an NHS maternity service using Appreciative Inquiry.
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Professor Mel Hughes

Director of the National Centre for Cross-Disciplinary Social Work
Dr Mel Hughes is Associate Professor in Social Work at Bournemouth University (BU). Mel champions lived experience expertise through her roles as Academic Lead for the PIER (Public Involvement in Education and Research) partnership and Deputy Director of the Research Centre for Seldom Heard Voices. Mel is committed to ensuring that those who are most affected by social, economic and health inequalities have a voice in shaping and informing research, education and practice.
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Dr Lyle Skains

Presenter
Lyle (she/her) is an award-winning researcher and creative practitioner in Creative Digital Writing and Science Communication. She conducts practice-based research into writing, reading/playing, publishing digital and transmedia narratives, and how these can be used for health and science communication.
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Dr Orlanda Harvey

Senior lecturer in Social Work
Orlanda is a senior lecturer in the Social Work Team, specialising in Developing Professional Relationships and Leadership. She completed her doctoral research in 2020 exploring men's recreational use of Androgenic Anabolic Steroid Use. Her research interests include: Image and Performance Enhancing Substance Use, Domestic Violence and Abuse, leadership, and reflective practice.
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Julia Armstrong

Lecturer | Social Worker
I qualified as a social worker in 2011 having graduated from Bournemouth University and went onto work in adult statutory services until 2022. During this time I spent 10 years working in drug and alcohol services and then the latter years as a Best Interests Assessor for the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Team. I now work as an Independent Social Worker under the name Your Nature. This includes independent DoLS assessments, independent Practice Educator roles and working part time at Bournemouth University as a lecturer in social work.
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Dr Colin Macpherson

Panel members
Colin is a retired Royal Air Force officer with a diverse portfolio of command and leadership experience both as a practitioner and in organisational leadership strategy, policy and doctrine development. Colin has just completed a Doctorate in Business Administration (viva pending) from Edinburgh Napier University and has an MSc in Operations Management from UMIST. His primary research interest is in helping organisations understand how their organisational culture influences their talent management philosophies and shapes their training & education strategy.
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Sarah Green

Presenter
Sarah has a background working in resource management and scheduling in HEIs for over 15 years, working in both Faculty and Professional Services. Prior experience in customer service and start-up companies gave Sarah a wider appreciation of the challenges often faced outside the educational sector. Gaining an MBA in 2001 allowed her to develop her professional skills, which have been deployed successfully implementing a number of organisational and process changes and adapting to the continually changing HEI environment.
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Ithiel Korkor Zotorvie

Presenter
Ithiel is a Registered Mental Health Nurse (RMN) currently a Practice Educator for International Nurses at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. She qualified with a Diploma in Mental Health Nursing from Ankaful Nurses’ Training College in Ghana in 2007. Ithiel also has a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) in Health Sciences (Psychiatry option) from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana and an MSc in Global Mental Health from the University of Glasgow.
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Professor David Croisdale-Appleby

Panel members
David has extensive involvement in health and social care policy and holds a number of ministerial appointments in government departments. David has chaired many organisations in the public and charity sectors, including NHS trusts, the Science Council and the sector skills council Skills for Care and the National Skills Academy.
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Paul Walshe

Panel members
Paul is a curious and psychologically minded Organisational Development practitioner and coach committed to understanding human behaviour in the workplace and creating conditions for people and organisations to achieve their best performance. He has strong consultancy skills with extensive experience of building relationships at all levels and developing talent. Paul is an accomplished facilitator highly skilled in designing and evaluating leadership development programmes and educating senior leaders in effective performance management practices.
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