We are looking forward to welcoming a wide range of speakers, delegates and guests to our first multi-agency training day of 2026, the year we celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Links Group.
The Northern Ireland leg is the third of the second series of the UK-wide Links Veterinary Training Initiative, made possible through the generous support of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association. All are welcome to join us on Tuesday 17 February in The Dunadry Hotel & Gardens, Co. Antrim, BT41 2HA. Book your place now, free to BSAVA members, with a 10% discount for NIVA and AVSPNI members on the £50 incl. VAT for this day meeting, running from 9am (registration 8.30-am) and away by 5pm.
Speakers include the NSPCC, Women’s Aid, the PSNI, The Executive Office, the specialist domestic abuse animal fostering services, and Links Group speakers including Paula Boyden, veterinary forensic expert witness David Martin, strategic delivery lead Andrea Lynch, and associate professor of social work and co-director of education at the International Association of Veterinary Social Work Rebecca Stephens.
Delegates and guests include, from an All-Island perspective, vet team members; representatives of veterinary and animal welfare associations, organisations and charities; domestic abuse and children’s services and professionals; academics, and representatives from DAERA, the NI judiciary and more.
Bringing together a wide range of professionals is essential to demonstrate the wide-ranging issues and how they cut across all sectors of society and the work we all do. The in-person nature of these One Health, One Welfare events is invaluable, as we have much to learn from each other in terms of best practice; to understand the barriers to recognising and acting on abuse, and to recognise the importance the importance of safeguarding and how, by Asking About the Animals, we can all work more confidently and effectively together in Protecting Animals, Protecting People, regardless of whether we consider ourselves the “animal people” professionals or the “people people” professionals!
Our next stops are planned for Edinburgh on 24 March 2026, and in the Brighton region on 21 May 2026. Keep checking back on our training page for more dates and regions across the UK which will be added soon.
We’d like to take this opportunity again to say thank you to the Education and Marketing teams at BSAVA, and to the team at VetNI for their tremendous help in co-ordinating and delivering this event, and for the support of NIVA, BVA NI Branch and AVSPNI in this event and the wider work of The Links Group in NI – thank you all.
