When the Japanese Welfare Association visited our Salisbury Team

 

Towards the end of last year, we shared our specialist knowledge on children’s therapeutic services with a group of professional delegates from Japan, who were keen to learn about the UK’s social care system.

A group of 19 visitors including social workers, care home managers, psychotherapists and academics visited our Salisbury headquarters to meet our director of fostering, Nicci Willock and our organisation’s founder and CEO, Pam McConnell.

In Japan, a large proportion of welfare is funded by corporate social responsibility (CSR) with global cosmetic giant, Shiseido, funding a range of children’s services.

Pam McConnell said: “It was an absolute pleasure to welcome the delegates from Japan into our organisation. I am a firm believer in sharing best practice for the greater good.
“It’s fascinating for us to hear how other countries approach children’s services and really encouraging to see how interested the group were in our research studies and how we advocate integrated care for vulnerable children and young people. Therapeutic assessment and care should be integrated into the school day and be reflected in the young person’s environment whereas it appears in Japan this is not so readily available.”

The delegates also visited the NSPCC’s headquarters and Falcon Grove Family Assessment Centre in South West London during their 10-day visit to the UK. The group were also interested to learn about the UK’s mixed economy of care where different services are delivered by different providers and how the voluntary, not-for-profit, state and private sectors work together.