Maureen Smojkis

Department of Social Work and Social Care
Honorary Lecturer

Contact details

Telephone: +44(0)121 414 8169
Email: m.n.smojkis@bham.ac.uk

Address: Department of Social Work and Social Care
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Maureen is a, Honorary Lecturer in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work. Maureen is an Accredited Coach and Member of the University of Birmingham Coaching Academy

Qualifications

MPhil Out of the Shadows: Exploring the lives of the Birmingham Polish
MSc in Counselling and Psychotherapy
BSc(Hons) Education
Diploma in Professional Studies in Nursing

Professional registration Nursing & Midwifery Council

Registered Nurse Mental Health
Registered Nurse Adult
Lecturer Practitioner Educator

Biography

Maureen is a Lecturer in Mental Health; she is a Nurse and Integrative Counsellor by professional background. At the University of Birmingham Maureen has held posts as the programme lead for the Solution Focussed Brief Therapy Masters Programme and Associate Director at the Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental Health (CEIMH). Maureen is an accredited coach and member of the University of Birmingham Coaching Academy.

Maureen maintains strong links with practice and has a particular interest in the wellbeing and resilience of staff through reflective practice, supervision and Continuing Professional Development. Maureen is in her second term as Stakeholder Governor for the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust.

As a member of the Suresearch Inpatient Care Forum Maureen has worked with Service Users to develop a range of Digital Stories about their experiences of mental health services to be used in the education of health and social care practitioners.

Maureen's research has been connected to the Polish Community in Birmingham, her MPhil is an oral history titled 'Out of the Shadows: Exploring the lives of the Birmingham Polish'. She is a founding member and Chair of the Midlands Polish Community Association who completed a Heritage Lottery funded project in 2011 titled 'Collected Memories of the Birmingham Polish' www.mpca.eu about the first generation of post Second World War Polish migrants and is in the process of completing a second Heritage Lottery funded project titled 'Fitting in and Getting Along: Integration and Identity for Birmingham's British Poles' about the second generation of post-Second World War Polish migrants which was completed in 2015. The projects are now archived in the Birmingham Library.

Teaching

Solution Focussed Approaches
Module Lead: Social Identity, Citizenship and Social Work Practice
Module Lead: Research for Evidence Based Learning
Module Lead: Dissertation A & B
Module Lead: Reflective Practice, Wellbeing and Resilience for Managers in Health and Social Care

Research

Heritage Lottery funded project titled 'Fitting in and Getting Along: Integration and Identity for Birmingham's British Poles' (2014-2015)
MPhil an Oral History titled 'Out of the Shadows: Exploring the Lives of the Birmingham Polish (2014)
Heritage Lottery funded project titled 'Collected Memories of the Birmingham Polish' (2011)
Research supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate social work students

Publications

Chapters in books

Smojkis M, Nolan P (2004) Experiences in mental health nursing. Chapter in Getting Research into Practice by Clifford, C & Clarke J. Elsevier.

Tummey, R & Smojkis M (2004) Chapter: Primary Mental Health Care: in Planning Care in Mental Health Nursing. Palgrave.

Articles in journals

Spector, R, Smojkis, M, Chilton, L and members of Suresearch, (2011) Service-user involvement in a ward staff training project: Participants' experiences of making digital stories. Clinical Psychology Forum, No. 220.

Nolan, P Smojkis, M (2003) The mental health of nurses in the UK. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, vol.9 374-379.

Selected Conference contributions

Smojkis, M (2011) University of Birmingham Teaching and Learning Conference 2011. Developing transferrable skills: Reflective Practice groups in an Interdisciplinary Preceptorship Programme.

Smojkis, M and Byrne, F (2011), Networking for Education in Healthcare (NET) Conference in collaboration with Frances Byrne the Lead for Professional Development and Quality BSMHFT which will be held in Cambridge in September. Interdisciplinary Preceptorship: The importance of Partnership Working.

Smojkis, M and Clark, M (2010) Middlesex University; Centre for Learning and Quality Enhancement. Digital Stories: Creating Reusable Learning Objects to link theory and practice in health and social care education.

Chilton, E and Smojkis, M (2009) Vicarious learning through digital stories: listening to the authentic voice of mental health service users. Poster presentation (gaining first prize in conference poster competition) at the Fourth International Blended Learning Conference 'Engaging Students in the Curriculum'. University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield 17-18 June 2009.

Smojkis, M and Clark, M (2009) Royal College of Nursing Mental Health Conference. Delivering mental health care in the UK today, Edinburgh. March 2009. Embedding Service User and Carer Voices into the Education of Mental Health Practitioners.

Smojkis, M and Chilton, E (2009) 6th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference. The University of Birmingham. 4 March 2009. Digital Stories: Quality multimedia learning and teaching resources produced with minimal technical skills.