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Three‑Day Professional Development Programme

This interdisciplinary course has been funded by the National HSCP Office, HSE and is a joint CPD opportunity for social workers and social care. The 15 places available through this event page are for social workers in the publicly funded healthcare service only.

The course will take place over three days on the 8th, 9th and 23rd October. 

To secure a place on the course costs €160, €100 of which is a deposit refundable on attendance at two of the three days.

Co‑facilitated by Michelle Carter and Aoife Bairéad

Programme Brief

Trauma Informed Lifespan Practice in Intellectual Disability: Rights and Ageing is an intensive three‑day professional development programme co‑facilitated by Michelle Carter and Aoife Bairéad, combining their complementary expertise in rights‑based practice, trauma‑informed support, adult safeguarding, ageing, and frontline support. This programme is designed for both social work and social care practitioners supporting adults with intellectual disability across residential, day, community and multidisciplinary settings.

Adults with intellectual disability are living longer, often with complex health, communication and sensory needs. Many have experienced trauma across the lifespan, including developmental, relational, institutional and age‑related trauma. This programme explores how trauma and ageing intersect with rights, autonomy and participation, and how practitioners can create environments and relationships that uphold dignity, reduce harm, promote wellbeing and strengthen safeguarding through responsive, rights‑led practice across the lifespan.

Across three days, participants will engage in evidence‑informed teaching, reflective practice, case studies, group discussion and practical tools that can be applied immediately in frontline and leadership roles. The programme emphasises relational practice, communication, supported decision‑making and the creation of rights‑led cultures that support people to age positively.

This training is suitable for social care workers, social workers, team leaders, PICs, managers and allied health professionals working in intellectual disability services.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this three‑day programme, participants will be able to:

Trauma‑Informed Practice

• Explain the impact of trauma across the lifespan, including developmental, relational, institutional and age‑related trauma.
• Recognise trauma responses in adults with intellectual disability and adapt practice to support
• Integrate trauma‑informed principles into everyday support, communication and organisational culture.

Rights‑Based Practice

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of rights‑based practice and its application across adulthood and ageing.
• Apply rights‑based reasoning to complex situations involving autonomy, risk, protection adult safeguarding and participation.
• Strengthen skills in supported decision‑making, consent and capacity‑aligned practice in line with the Assisted Decision‑Making (Capacity) Act.

Ageing in Intellectual Disability

• Describe key ageing patterns, health inequalities and support needs for adults ageing with intellectual disability.
• Develop person‑centred strategies that promote positive ageing, inclusion and quality of life.

Reflective & Collaborative Practice

• Critically reflect on personal and organisational practice, identifying strengths and areas for development.
• Work collaboratively across disciplines to create safe, rights‑led and trauma‑aware environments.
• Develop an action plan to embed learning into everyday practice and organisational policy.

Facilitator Biographies

Aoife Bairéad has been working with children and families for over twenty years including residential and child protection services.  Aoife’s focus is on building, repairing and supporting family relationships so that every family member has a sense of meaning and belonging. In 2018 Aoife set up Minds in Mind, a service dedicated to supporting children and their families. Aoife uses evidence informed assessment and interventions to empower families to find ways to improve children and their family's day to day lives. This is done holistically with those caring for the children providing an individualised and family focused plan that caters to their needs and focuses on agreed goals and outcomes. Her primary degree is in social work and her post graduate training is in attachment and trauma informed assessments and interventions for children and adults. Aoife is trained in therapeutic approaches including Theraplay, EMDR, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and Mentalisation Based Treatment.  

Aoife is a guest lecturer on the Masters in Social Work in University College Dublin and provides training to organisations such as the Irish Association of Social Workers, the HSE and Tusla Child and Family Agency as well as bespoke training for specialist groups, fostering agencies, youth and community programmes and services working with children with mental health, disability and complex needs.

Aoife is a member of the Special Interest Group for Children and Families with the Irish Association of Social Workers.  She is also the Chair of the Canal Communities Drug and Alcohol Task Force, and Chair of the Local Drug and Alcohol Chairperson’s Network

Michelle Carter is a CORU‑registered Social Care Worker with 26 years experience across intellectual disability services, including extensive practice as a Person in Charge. She holds an MSc in Ageing, Health & Wellbeing in Intellectual Disability and is the Founder of Michelle Carter Consultancy, specialising in intellectual disability consultancy and training with a strong focus on rights‑based practice, safeguarding, ageing, and high‑quality service review.

Michelle contributes to national regulation through her work with CORU, participating in programme reviews, assessment panels, and fitness‑to‑practise processes. She also serves as a Decision‑Making Representative with the Decision Support Service, supporting individuals to make decisions that reflect their will and preference—expertise that strengthens her consultancy’s commitment to dignity, autonomy, and high‑quality supports.

She is recognised for creating safe, reflective learning environments and for translating complex concepts in trauma, ageing, and intellectual disability into practical, rights‑based practice.