Annual Conference 2026: Workshops
With 20 workshops across two days, there's something for everyone. Hear from experts across the sector and take away tools and inspiration to carry you through the year.
Day One workshop sessions
Wednesday, 27 May 2026 | Workshops sessions One and Two
Pre-register for your workshops to guarantee a seat! Questions about workshop registration? Contact Us.
SHANARRI indicators
In line with this year’s theme focusing on 20 years of GIRFEC, we have chosen each workshop to reflect across the SHANARRI indicators: Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, Included. We have highlighted three key indicators that each workshop speaks to.
Session One
Wednesday, 27 May 2026 | Day One 10:30am – 12pm
Back to top | Day One, Session Two | Day Two
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Stamping out stereotypes: talking about poverty with children and young peopleCo-presented by children and young people
Talking about poverty, costs and money worries with young people can seem difficult, but it’s crucial that practitioners have the knowledge and skills to do this if we want to get it right for every child. In this workshop, young people will share insights into what practitioners need to know about poverty-awareness approaches in schools, their top tips for non-stigmatising practice, and how these actions help them feel more included and able to achieve at school.
Manifesto | Voice Network | CPAG -
HopeopolyCo-presented by children and young people
Hopeopoly is a poignant, powerful, deeply-realistic, and thought-provoking game that reflects the experiences of children and young people growing up in poverty, living in disadvantaged communities, and facing the stigma often associated with lone-parent households. Through game play, our guests will explore real-life challenges by navigating dilemma cards, community values and life chances, which highlight the complex decisions families often face.
Space is limited.
Website | Facebook | X | Instagram | LinkedIn -
Liminal: finding comfort in the in-betweenCo-presented by children and young people
Using the process of making as a way to facilitate understanding, this hands-on workshop will delve into Liminal – an exhibition and project delivered as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2025. Learn about the project’s impact, dig into how it was delivered, and explore how the model could be replicated.
ECH Charity: Facebook | X | Instagram
Mental Health Foundation: LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook -
Alcohol-free childhood: exploring the right to a childhood free from alcohol marketingCo-presented by children and young people
Despite recent restrictions on health-harming products such as single-use vapes and unhealthy foods – alcohol remains heavily visible in children and young people’s daily lives. This interactive workshop explores alcohol marketing restrictions and how they affect children and young people. We’ll also consider how Scotland’s regulations might be re-imagined to build safer, healthier, communities for young people, and how this might be applied to your work.
X | Instagram | BlueSky
Session Two
Wednesday, 27 May 2026 | Day One 1:30pm – 3pm
Back to top | Day One, Session One | Day Two
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What Matters to Me: digital storytelling with adopted young peopleCo-presented by children and young people
Storytelling can empower young people, inspire peers, and influence professional understanding. What Matters to Me is a digital storytelling project created with adopted young people to help them explore their identity, experiences, and hopes through creative storytelling. Explore how digital storytelling can be used as a therapeutic and participatory tool to amplify young voices, boost confidence, and foster belonging and peer connections. When young people share their stories safely, everyone learns.
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Shifting from co-production to production: insights on participationCo-presented by children and young people
This interactive workshop will explore what meaningful co-production really looks like in practice, using the work of the National Leadership Network (NLN) as an example of putting those with lived experience at the heart of decision making. Co-delivered with young people with lived experience of care, the session will share practical learning on how their voices can shape education, wellbeing and support systems across Scotland. Participants will hear how the NLN have ensured meaningful participation for its members and how their leadership reflects the core principles of GIRFEC.
This workshop was chosen by Changing our World: “We really appreciate how this workshop is youth-led and focuses on including everyone.”
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Youth Justice VoicesCo-presented by children and young people
The youth Justice voices project, which works across Scotland, seeks to amplify the voices of children and young people with care and justice experience. It also explores stigma and discrimination faced by them. This youth-led project engages those across the sector to create resources both to educate and provide practical tools to challenge stigma. Youth Justice voices has 3 steering groups in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Polmont. Participants will hear directly from young people with care and justice experience about how to create inclusive spaces and relationship-based approaches through youth-led participation.
X | Website -
Sponsor workshop TBA
Day Two workshop sessions
Thursday, 28 May 2026 | Workshops sessions Three, Four and Five
Pre-register for your workshops to guarantee a seat! Questions about workshop registration? Contact Us.
SHANARRI indicators
In line with this year’s theme focusing on 20 years of GIRFEC, we have chosen each workshop to reflect across the SHANARRI indicators: Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, Included. We have highlighted three key indicators that each workshop speaks to.
Session Three
Thursday, 28 May 2026 | Day Two 10:30am – 11:30am
Back to top | Day Two, Session Four | Day Two, Session Five | Day One
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Breaking barriers: gathering the views of children with complex needsStep into the shoes of children and young people with multiple, intersecting needs — experiencing the challenges they face when asked to share their views. Hands-on activities will highlight how unimodal approaches to participation can unintentionally exclude the very voices we aim to hear. Explore practical methodologies and participation frameworks to adapt communication approaches, create environments where children with multiple and intersecting needs can express themselves in ways that are comfortable, authentic, and meaningful.
Facebook | Website -
Learning together: building healthy, connected communitiesCo-presented by a young person
Fun with Food, created with Dietetics and Early Years partners, empowers families to explore healthy eating in playful, non-stigmatising ways. Practitioners increase their confidence in supporting positive diet behaviours, contributing to Scotland’s national aims for child health and family wellbeing. This intergenerational model benefits young people, families and communities — embodying Scotland’s Early Years vision of nurturing relationships at every stage.
People: Website | X | Instagram | LinkedIn | Linktree
Sanquhar Academy: Framework for Inclusion | Facebook | X
NHS Ayrshire & Arran: Facebook -
Unseen stories: creative expression through inclusive comicsDrawing on work with Sight Scotland and the Royal Blind School, Odd Citizen Comics explores how children and young people with disabilities and additional support needs can express their voices and lived experiences through co-created comics. Explore creative, accessible ways for visually impaired children and young people to tell their stories — from tactile materials to audio-visual adaptations. Participants will learn practical, inclusive approaches for enabling child-led storytelling that centres on lived experience, creativity, and confidence.
Royal Blind School: Website | Instagram | X | Facebook | LinkedIn
Odd Citizen Comics: Website | Instagram | Deviant Art | Facebook | LinkedIn -
It takes all kinds of minds: an interactive workshop exploring the neurodivergent experienceCo-presented by children and young people
Neuropoint, a participation group for young people across Scotland aged 16 to 25, delivers this workshop aimed to help participants gain insight into the experience of neurodivergent people, to reflect on some of the challenges and barriers they might face. It will explore simple strategies that can make a big difference and can help them to achieve their potential whilst feeling included and respected.
Attendees will be given a task to complete that will simulate neurodivergent conditions initially in a stressful environment. Some may find this an uncomfortable, but overall positive learning experience.
Website | Facebook | X | Instagram | YouTube
Session Four
Thursday, 28 May 2026 | Day Two 11:40am – 12:40pm
Back to top | Day Two, Session Three | Day Two, Session Five | Day One
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A play neighbourhood approach from Inspiring ScotlandPlay Neighbourhood explores the intersection of urban planning, community engagement and participation from children and young people — including babies and toddlers — to explore play opportunities and ways for children and young people to be physically active within their communities. Delving into the project’s learnings, what’s been done, and what comes next, the workshop will give a hands-on opportunity to explore the framework and see how prioritising play, benefits all.
Thrive Outdoors: Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Mailing List
Care and Learning Alliance: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook
Actify: Website | LinkedIn -
Challenging stigma: children’s rights in actionCo-presented by children and young people
Explore how stigma shows up in our work and how we can build stronger, stigma-free relationships with young people in this engaging workshop. Through creative collaboration with the Youth Music Initiative, Young People’s Organising and Campaigning Group (YPOC Group) has created a music video exploring what stigma feels like, and what young people need from those around them to feel supported. Using this project, the group will engage with attendees to explore practical ways to challenge stigma within their own communities.
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Home-grown solutions? Navigating out-of-the-ordinary transitions into secondary schoolCo-presented by children and young people
Entry to secondary school can make children and young people feel isolated. It is a big jump from being a key player in a small world to finding their feet in a larger secondary school. Children and young people applied their experiences as islanders who travel by ferry to secondary school to develop an interactive game to support primary pupils through two categories: managing the school journey and the challenges of small to large school transitions. The game design enables new additional cards and categories to be created so it can be customised to new contexts including migrant children or care experienced young people.
Workshop participants will have the opportunity to play the game and share their perspectives. -
Emotions and the Brain: teen takeover editionCo-presented by children and young people
Emotions and the Brain is a resource designed with and for young people, exploring emotional awareness, strengthening relationships and developing practical strategies for managing conflict. This interactive workshop is co-designed by SCCR and Scottish high school students who have participated in the four-part training and allows them to showcase the parts that truly matter to them and why. Participants will be able to explore this resource and how to use it to support the children and young people they work with.
BlueSky | Facebook | LinkedIn | X | Instagram | Website
Session Five
Thursday, 28 May 2026 | Day Two 3pm – 4pm
Back to top | Day Two, Session Three | Day Two, Session Four| Day One
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Pride and places: empowering LGBTQ+ young people to know their housing rightsCo-presented by children and young people
Explore the rights around housing and homelessness for LGBTQ+ youth. LGBT Youth Scotland, Rock Trust, and a group of LGBTQ+ young people (aged 16-25) have partnered together on an 18-month project to develop peer education sessions and resources to support young people facing homelessness. The young people have shaped each aspect of the partnership, from designing the consultation, answering the survey, co-developing the peer education sessions and crafting the final resource. Presenters will describe the project process and deliver a condensed version of a peer education session.
Rock Trust: Website | Instagram | TikTok | LinkedIn
LGBT Youth Scotland: Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn -
Gaming, blaming and shamingThe only way to promote anti-violence is by coming together. Minus Violence leads workshops in schools, colleges, and universities nationwide. This workshop empowers practitioners and young people to identify and challenge online hate speech and radicalisation. It also builds crucial resilience and critical thinking skills for digital citizenship by addressing this urgent need with the aim of safeguarding young people and communities from the complexities of the online world. This interactive workshop unmasks the potential risks of online gaming, streaming, and misinformation, where young people are increasingly vulnerable to online exploitation, including racism, radicalisation and extremism.
Website | TikTok | LinkedIn | X | Instagram -
Lullabies and anthems: using the everyday power of songs to nurture and empower childrenCo-presented by children and young people
Songs and singing have a fundamental but often-overlooked role in children’s development from birth onwards. Lullabies, nursery rhymes, school assembly anthems, music shared by families at home, and the songs that children choose for themselves as they move towards adolescence: all of these become deeply embedded into our memory and emotions, our sense of self, and perceptions of belonging to community and society. Explore the role of song in our lives, the ways in which singing supports children and young people’s learning, development, and happiness. Take away strategies for adults who would like to harness the power of song in their work with children.
This workshop was chosen by Changing our World: “We like how the workshop is interactive and gets participants involved in the music.”
Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | TikTok -
Feedback… Say it like a leaderGain skills that not only help your team thrive and excel, but also the children and young people you work with. Explore the similarities and differences in feedback in relation to children and young people and adults. Interactive activities will showcase how feedback to our children impacts the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators, and why adults also benefit from positive feedback.
Website | LinkedIn | Instagram
