Be the Change: Leaving No One Behind – FRSA 2018 National Conference

The Family and Relationship Services Australia (FRSA) 2018 National Conference will be held from 20 to 23 November 2018 at the Pullman Cairns International Hotel in Cairns, Queensland.

This year’s theme, “Be the change: Leaving no one behind”, is a call to action for all family and relationship service providers to continue creating better futures for the children, families and communities we serve in our delivery of evidence-informed, collaborative and innovative services.

The theme lends itself to a range of areas of exploration and discussion – from outcome measurement and reporting, to FRSA’s current investment into seeking how our sector can take a more coordinated prevention and early intervention approach in its service delivery.

The FRSA National Conference is one of the largest annual gatherings of practitioners, managers and CEOs, academics and policy makers working to support children, families and communities.

This “not to be missed” event will feature a number of highly acclaimed keynote presenters, as well as federal ministers and sector leaders, with a focus on delivering the most effective services to children, families and young people.

With a stellar line-up of international and local keynote speakers; including Dr Jackie Huggins, Dr Howard Bath, Dr Stephen Crossley, Judge Joe Harman, Professor Helen Rhoades and more. There are nearly 95 concurrent sessions offering an array of presenters and topics with many sessions showcasing the exemplary work of the FRSA network. Topics covered include:

• the first 1,000 days
• key transition points in the schooling years
• partnering and cohabitation
• relationship breakdown and re-partnering
• family violence
• ageing
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
• parenting
• technology
• workforce development.

For those who want to get in on the action before the start of the conference, there are a range of pre-conference workshops to attend on Tuesday 20 November 2018, including:

• Culturally-Informed Trauma Integrated Healing Practice: Practitioner focused workshop presented by Emeritus Professor Judy Atkinson (open to Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal people) (full day);
• Family Law Workshop (full day);
• What it Really Means to be Trauma-Informed presented by Dr Howard Bath (full day);
• Creating a Culture of Research and Evaluation: Evaluation planning and program logics presented by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (half day); and
• Creating a Culture of Research and Evaluation – Communication for impact: telling the story of your program presented by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (half day).

This year’s conference program is full to the brim and promises to be the biggest yet. You can view the full conference program online, including speaker profiles and session details. More information is available on the FRSA conference website.

This year’s conference Gala Dinner, a key networking event of the conference, will be held at Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park on Thursday 22 November 2018. Tjapukai has been sharing the authentic culture and traditions of the local Djabuggy people for the past 28 years, providing employment opportunities for their people and giving performers immense pride in demonstrating their culture.

FRSA is also holding a lucky draw with two full registration tickets to be refunded. All delegates registering and paying before the end of the early bird period (5pm on 30 September 2018) will be eligible to enter the draw. Only individual registrations will be eligible, with the winner notified on 1 October 2018. Don’t miss out! Register now.

The FRSA conference is an Australian Community Workers Association endorsed CPD event. Members can claim Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours for their participation.

For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the FRSA Office on (02) 6162 1811 or communications@frsa.org.au or events@frsa.org.au.

Join the conversation on Twitter! @FRSAust #FRSA2018