Centre for Children and Young People's Wellbeing (CCW) Spring Seminar

Join us for the third seminar in the Centre for Children and Young People's Wellbeing (CCW) 2025 seminar series

Split into two parts, this seminar will hear from Lia Palios-Hayden from the charity Youth Support Service and Dr Victoria Cooper from The Open University (OU).

Register for this free event via Eventbrite

Part 1: Lia Palios-Hayden's lecture will explore the various ways in which the charity Youth Support Services (YSS) supports the wellbeing of the children and young people across our services. She will explore the meaning of wellbeing from the perspectives of young carers, children affected by familial imprisonment, and those committing driving offences, highlighting their day-to-day challenges. She will shine a light on the daily work of practitioners, focusing on their efforts to support wellbeing through creative activities that help children access and share their emotions. Lia will discuss the ways in which we effectively measure children's wellbeing using tools like Viewpoint and questionnaires, and how we utilise participation groups to put children at the heart of our service delivery enabling them to voice their needs and shape services. She will finish by emphasising the importance of academics and researchers developing research based on gaps identified by charities to better support vulnerable youth.

Part 2: Professor Victoria Cooper and Dr Stephanie Bennett will discuss the progress and findings of the Families First project in partnership with YSS. The Open University's Open Societal Challenges awarded a grant for Victoria and her team to collaborate with YSS to carry out research which aims to explore the psychological impact of online media exposure on children affected by familial crimes. This challenge will also involve a young person steering group, ensuring that the views of young participants are integral to the challenge’s progress.

The speakers

Lia Palios-Hayden initially completed a degree in Spanish and French and worked in Customer Service and Internal Sales for 10 years at an international manufacturing company. In 2012, she started a career change and completed a BSc in Psychology and MSc in Forensic Psychology. She originally joined the charity YSS in 2016, as a volunteer Appropriate Adult supporting young people in custody across Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire. In 2019, she joined YSS as a member of staff helping to recruit, train and manage volunteers on the Appropriate Adult project. One of her proudest achievements at YSS was in helping to set up and drive forward a pilot project called Families First back in November 2020. During this time, she worked as a practitioner on the project supporting children, young people and families affected by parental imprisonment across Worcestershire. She also worked alongside a team of researchers from the Children’s Research Centre at The Open University to conduct research measuring the impact of the project. In April 2023 she was promoted to Operations Manager responsible for Children, Young People and Families’ Services, Women’s services, Volunteering strategy, Business Development and Research. She is about to embark on a new research project with The Open University as part of the Societal Challenges competition exploring the psychological impact of online media exposure on children affected by familial crimes.

Professor Victoria Cooper is a Professor of Childhood Studies at The OU and a former Co-Director of the CRC. She has published articles and book chapters on a wide range of topics, with a specific focus on issues of identity, research methods and marginalised children’s experiences. She is currently PI on Families First a research project exploring the experiences of children, young people and families when a family member is in prison.

If you want to get in touch or have any further questions please email WELS Research Events.