Date: 13th January 2027
Time: 12noon - 1.30pm
We are pleased to invite you to an upcoming lunchtime seminar hosted by Dr James Todd, Practice Researcher and Deputy Head of Service for Social Work Learning and Development at the Southern Health and Social Care Trust (SHSCT).
Dr James Todd will be drawing on doctoral research into professional perceptions of social work with adult vulnerable witnesses. This seminar offers a detailed and practice-focused exploration of how decisions are made across the stages of a joint investigation under the Adult Safeguarding Protocol — the framework governing collaborative working between the PSNI and Health & Social Care Trusts. Dr Todd will guide participants step-by-step through the joint protocol, examining how professional judgement is applied at each key stage, from initial referral and threshold decisions, through strategy discussions, to investigation and outcome.
A particular focus will be placed on how practitioners’ experience, values, and prior knowledge shape decision-making in complex and often uncertain situations. The seminar will explore how risk, credibility, and evidence are interpreted in practice, and how interagency dynamics between PSNI and Trust practitioners influence the decisions that are ultimately made.
The seminar aims to strengthen reflective and defensible decision-making for all those working within interagency adult safeguarding practice.
