Welcome to the BABICM Council Update for March 2021

BABICM Council met virtually on the 18th March 2021 to discuss the latest decisions, new ventures successes and sub-group reports.

Honorary Fellow and Fellows Membership Criteria

It was agreed by Council that an Honorary Fellow membership should be awarded for contributions to BABICM, this will include all past BABICM Chairs. The criteria for Fellows membership were debated by Council and are to be finalised.

Fellows’ membership will be awarded on merit by nomination and the final decision will be made by BABICM Council.

Volunteer agreement/ Code of Conduct

A Volunteer agreement/Code of Conduct is to be finalised. All members of BABICM Council and sub groups will be asked to agree to its terms when representing BABICM.

Membership report

We were able to report that BABICM have 911 members. This is an increase of 71 members since March 2020.

Training Events Group

The group have events planned up until Spring 2022 including a mix of webinars, face to face and recorded material.

Further to recent feedback from members, Council agreed that in order to represent all areas of the membership (Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) in our training, we will look to cover this in additional sessions or provide further material if this is not covered by our experts in the initial training session.

Professional Practice & Membership Group

Further guidance has been provided for candidates looking to submit a folder for their Advanced Membership Assessment when being assessed online.

To provide further guidance to those looking to become Advanced BABICM members, a date for a 2nd ‘Ask the Assessors’ Q&A webinar is to be scheduled for the Autumn. This will provide guidance on how to prepare for an Advanced Membership Assessment.

A ‘Checklist for Choosing a Brain Injury or Complex Conditions Case Manager’ to accompany the guidance for Deputies, Solicitors and Paralegals has been published on the BABICM website. (This can also be found on pages 3 & 4 of this magazine)

Research

Outcome Project: Work to finalise a paper on this study for submission for publication has continued. Dr Alyson Norman is in the process of collating this into a publishable document, which it is hoped will be completed by the end of March.

Covid-Study:Initial Zoom groups have now taken place, which have gone well and have produced a considerable amount of useful and interesting material. The next phase is for case managers to record an interview with a client and share this with the researchers. This is important data and an opportunity to include client voices in the research. If you have participated in the initial groups and are planning to make a video, please do this as soon as possible. It is planned that there will be a cut off date set for this in the near future.

Further projects are being developed around spinal injury and for the next Masters students in Plymouth for next year. Ideas are always gratefully received.

Workshops:We are hoping to launch the first in a series of workshops shortly which will be aimed at exploring an introduction to research and encouraging members to start writing. The Research Group is aiming to provide support and mentorship to those that take this plunge! Thanks are sent to Philippa Feltham-White for her efforts in pulling this together.

Website:Andrew Patterson has started the task of developing ideas to populate the Research Page of the website. There is discussion as to how this might grow interactively. The Sub-Group consider that there should be a running link to all work that case managers and particularly members have had published over time. There is also opportunity to add other items of interest and information. This will be a large piece of work and members will be updated as it goes live. Appeals may be made for specific information.

Andrew Worthington has sadly withdrawn from an active role in the group. He is keen to assist where he can into the future. We thank him for his support and continued interest which has been invaluable to date.

Registered Case Managers Strategy Group

The group met to decide the responsibilities of the new Project Manager who will be employed by the Institute of Registered Case Managers. This is currently advertised for tender applications and interviews will take place 24th-26th March. Janine Heritage will be resigning from her position in the Institute of Registered Case Managers Strategy Group in April. Vicki Gilman will join the group to represent BABICM.

Children and Young Persons Group

The group are developing a piece of work which will explain why working with children is different than working with adults. This is expected to be completed by the end of the month and will be published on the website.

CYPG are actively collaborating with the Training Events group on a Childrens webinar which BABICM are expecting to hold in the Autumn.

A representative from the Professional Practice and Membership group will actively be liasing between the PPMG and CYPG groups to collaborate on projects where children are involved.

Company Strategy Group

The group are finalising the Communications Strategy which will be used as part of the Company Strategy.

An external content writer has been commissioned to write advertorial and editoral content on behalf of BABICM. This will be produced in line with the Communications Strategy.

Angela Kerr has been asked to remain on the Company Strategy Group as a co-opted member for a further 12 months following her departure from BABICM Council in June.

BABICM Office

The ‘Find a Case Manager’ webpage is being revamped to include a new indexing system and to add Registered Practitioner members and Practitioner members to the exisiting list of Advanced Registered Practitioners. This is expected to go live early April 21. All Corporate members will continue to be listed on the BABICM homepage.

The BABICM brochure is now complete and will be distributed to all members to celebrate the 25th anniversary

The BABICM Council Strategy meeting is scheduled to take place as a face to face meeting on the 20th & 21st September 2021 at the Crowne Plaza in Birmingham.

Summer Conference

The AGM will take place on the 9th of June 2021. This will follow a short interactive workshop which will be open to BABICM members. (More details to follow)

Any Other Business

The next meeting of Council will be arranged by video conference on the 20th May 2021.