Family and Group Conferencing for Adults

What is a Family and Group Conference like?

• Information aimed at adults and their family and friends, explaining what an FGC could mean for them.
• The experience of people who have had an FGC.
• The process of organising an FGC.

Developing services for adults

• Introduction to FGC and the practice model.
• Standards and guidance required for an FGC service to be effective.
• FGCs in social care and health settings.
• Expected benefits of FGC and building a business case.

Ingredients for effective practice

• Best practice principles for FGC.
• Standards and guidance required for an FGC service to be effective - and how to use these in developing practice.
• Training session plans for FGC coordinators and training facilitators.

Explore each area to view the full menu of resources covered and further information.

These learning materials are designed to be flexible and easy to navigate between sections. They can be used in a range of ways to support understanding of the key aspects of FGC, commission and develop services and develop bespoke in-house training. Each section has an introduction that explains what is covered, and what the learning outcomes are.

• Advocate - someone to support the central person, to ensure their views are heard.

• Central person - the person at the centre of the FGC, whose care and support is being discussed.

• Conference - planning meeting involving the central person, network members and invited professionals.

• Coordinator - the person who helps organise the meeting and helps everyone to prepare for it. They will not previously have been involved in the person’s care and support decisions.

• Network members - a family member, friend or trusted contact that the central person feels is part of their personal support network.

• Plan - a personalised information-sharing document can help a central person feel more prepared and in control.

• Private time - the part of the Conference when the coordinator and invited professionals leave the conversation to allow the central person and network members to decide what should go into their plan.

This resource is a collaboration between the University of Birmingham, Community Catalysts and Research in Practice.

Materials were produced as part of a research project: Family and Group Conferencing in adult social care and mental health: exploring how it works and what difference it can make in people’s lives.

This was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and took place between November 2022 and October 2025. It was led by Professor Jerry Tew at the University of Birmingham with colleagues from the universities of Birmingham, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Sheffield and the London School of Economics, researchers with lived experience of social care and health services, and colleagues from the field of practice. 

The project comprised:

• Scoping the field of practice in the UK and internationally in order to develop a preliminary understanding of how the practice model of Family and Group Conferencing (FGC) had evolved in adult social care and mental health settings. Based on the findings from this, a comprehensive characterisation of the practice model was presented (Mahesh et al, 2025) together with a preliminary Programme Theory which sets out the key components of how it is seen to work and what sorts of outcomes may be achieved (Tew et al, 2025).

• Fieldwork in three sites (two local authority and one NHS) tracking the experience of samples of individuals and their family or social network members from the point of referral to an FGC service through to follow-up nine months later. Questionnaire and service use data was obtained at baseline and follow-up, and participants were interviewed (usually by members of the research team with lived experience) around their experience of the process and what positive outcomes may or may not have been achieved. Questionnaire and service use data was also obtained for a comparator sample of people who accessed ‘care as usual’ services but did not have an FGC.

• A Delphi consultation with panels of experts, including experts with lived experience, which explored consensus in relation to statements that define what underpins good and effective practice, and the sorts of outcomes that could be expected from the process. Those statements that achieved agreement from at least 80% of panellists form the basis for a set of Standards and Guidance for FGC practice with adults.

• Community Catalysts host a Research and Practice Network for FGCs for adults, which provides a forum for developing practice through learning together and exchanging ideas, experiences and findings from research.

Research in Practice supports the use of evidence and research in adult social care. We do this by creating learning resources which are evidence-informed which means they draw on research evidence, people's lived experience and the wisdom of practitioners. Research in Practice worked in collaboration with the University of Birmingham and Community Catalysts to turn research findings, recordings and professional interviews into a comprehensive catalogue of learning resources for different audiences.

Related resources 

• Mahesh et al, 2025. What is Family and Group Conferencing for adults? Part 1: Characterising the model and methods of enquiry. NIHR Open Research.

• Tew et al, 2025. What is family and group conferencing for adults? part 2: Developing programme theory. NIHR Open Research.