ACP member-only event
start date
end date
time
price
Full Conference Fees. |
|
| Early Bird - Qualified Member | £225.00 |
| Standard - Qualified Member | £260.00 |
| Trainee Fee | £145.00 |
Online Only Fees. |
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| Standard - Qualified Member | £95.00 |
| Trainee Fee | £45.00 |
| Presenter | £208.00 |
| Chairs Fee | £0.00 |
| COG & Staff Fee | £0.00 |
ACP Conference 2026
Dates:
17 June – Online Session 1
20 June – In person in Sheffield
24 June – Online Session 2
Times:
17 June – 6pm to 8pm
20 June – 8:30am to 5:00pm
24 June – 7pm to 9pm
The inner worlds of Looked After Children, Care Experienced Young People, and adopted children have long inspired the work of Child Psychotherapists. Their experiences - and those of their families, foster carers, and professional networks - are rich, complex, and often deeply traumatic. Yet, in recent years, fewer forums explore these children and families in depth. This conference provides a dedicated space to do just that.
Recent changes in the care system - shaped by the Munro Report, cuts to council funding, and evolving patterns of permanency, fostering, kinship, and Special Guardianship - have added new layers of complexity to the lives of these children and the adults who care for them. Despite shifts in the system, the challenges remain profound: enduring distress, intergenerational trauma, strained professional dynamics, and the testing of adult capacities to meet their mental and emotional needs.
These children often carry feelings of loneliness, confusion about identity, and a sense of being outsiders. In adolescence, they are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, and the effects of early trauma continue into adulthood, influencing mental health, education, employment, and social belonging. Their experiences also deeply affect foster, adoptive, and kinship families, residential homes, schools, and workplaces.
The growing presence of unaccompanied minors and asylum-seeking young people adds urgent new dimensions to this work. These children may have survived trafficking, war, torture, or abandonment, and they require extraordinary psychological support to process dislocation, grief, and loss - often in a social climate marked by hostility toward migrants.
This conference is a vital opportunity for ACP Child & Adolescent Psychotherapists to come together, reflect, and deepen their understanding of these vulnerable children, their families, and the networks that support them.
Conference Chairs and Programme
We’re delighted to announce that this year’s conference will be chaired by Katie Argent and Joanne Miley, feature presentations from more than ten inspiring ACP Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists from across our community and reflected on by our special guests Monica Lanyado and Margaret Rustin.
Conference Chairs: Katie Argent & Joanne Miley
Presenters:
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Simon Cregeen |
Another Place: Disorientation, Identity and the Uncanny |
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Becky Hall |
Starting Out in Life: Early Trauma, Fostering and the Parental State of Mind |
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Dr Joanne Dornan |
‘Bring Me Her Heart’: Exploring the Internal Couple Through the Phantasies of Care Experienced Young People Linked with the Fairytale of ‘Snow-white’. |
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Dr Kate Rothwell |
The L-AC Consultation As a Root System When the Bough Breaks |
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Alice Field & Marigemma Rocco |
‘From Bad Therapy to Real Therapy’ – the role of intensive case supervision and its impact on intensive psychotherapy with a 13-year-old girl in foster care. |
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Sheila Melzak
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Invisible Developmental Needs, Invisible Foreign Adolescents |
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Dr Isla Fitchie |
Living in a House of Cards: Addressing the Fragile Sense of Belonging in Care-Experienced Children and Young People |
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Nikki Eriksen, Helene Ross & Lynne Conway |
The Emotional Task of Being in Contact with Contact; Models of Intervention |
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Lorraine McLeod & Lauren Schneider |
It Takes a Community to Raise a Child |
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Jo Collinson |
Sibling Work and Loosening of Entrenched Dynamics |
ONLINE & IN-PERSON OPTIONS
A blended experience consisting of two online Conference sessions via Zoom and an in-person day event – in Sheffield City Centre.
Conference Dates
Part A – ONLINE Keynote Session With Conference Chairs and Keynote Speaker
Via Zoom
Wednesday 17 June 6pm – 8pm
Part B – IN-PERSON at Cutlers Hall Sheffield
Saturday 20 June 8:30am – 5:00pm
Part C – ONLINE Concluding Session with Conference Chairs, Presenters and Special Guests
Via Zoom
Wednesday 24 June 7pm – 9pm
Ticket Options:
| FULL CONFERENCE (Parts A, B & C) In-person day + online sessions |
Fee | ONLINE CONFERENCE (Parts A & C) Online sessions only |
Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trainee | £145 | Trainee | £45 | |
| Early Bird – Qualified Member | £225 | |||
| Standard – Qualified Member | £260 | Standard – Qualified Member | £95 | |
What this includes:
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OR | What this includes:
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BOOK NOW TO SECURE THE EARLY BIRD RATE!
* Early bird rate ends Sunday 3rd May 2026
* All ticket sales end at 11pm on Sunday 7th June 2026
Full Conference Programme – Coming Soon!
Conference Social Event To Be Announced
Check our events page for the optional conference social event to be held on Friday 19th June in Sheffield