In conversation with… Trina Robson

Trina Robson is the Programme Director for Love Barrow Together, based at the Women’s Centre in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. The idea behind Love Barrow Together is to forge relationships between people and services that are value-based and recognise that everyone should be listened to and be treated equally and with love.

Trina has been a registered social worker for over 30 years. She has worked in local authority social work, in the child and adolescent mental health service and also for the NSPCC. A qualified play therapist and trained in the Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment developed by Dr Patricia Crittenden, Trina is currently studying for a PhD that focuses on families’ stories and the implications they have for services.

From 2014 to 2018, Trina set up and ran Love Barrow Families, a co-produced, co-located service for families in Barrow-in-Furness that were involved with statutory mental health and social care services. It took a neighbourhood approach to child protection – setting it up involved listening to families and engaging the NHS and the local authority in reorganising their services to fit with what families wanted. It was evaluated independently and evidenced numerous intended and unintended positive outcomes.

During this conversation, Trina will share her views and experiences of her work with Love Barrow Families – an inspiring example of what can be achieved at a community level through co-production and design with families.

The Nuffield Family Justice Observatory aims to find and fill knowledge gaps, highlight areas where change will have the biggest impact and foster collaboration to make that change happen. Find out more here.

This new ‘In conversation with…’ series will bring you leading thinkers, experts, practitioners and those with lived experience for frank discussions on a variety of themes related to children and families in the family justice system. Questions from the audience are welcomed before and during the discussions and all the talks will be recorded and added to the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory’s YouTube channel shortly afterwards.