This is one of seven stories, showcasing what service user and carer (SUAC) involvement in social work education looks like, what makes it work and what benefits it brings. It has a significant role to play in shaping the next generation of practitioners.

SUAC involvement in social work education has been mandatory for 15 years now, so there is a lot of learning to share with others who can learn from this - transferrable to educators and practitioners working across public services, and relevant to policy-makers committed to mainstreaming person-centred – or person-led – approaches based on real partnership working between those who use and those who deliver services.

Summary
This story is based around role play sessions that are held between social work students at the University of Strathclyde and members of the service user and carer group. The role play is part of an exercise called Fitness to Practise, so students have to take part in a role play before they go out on placement (this is done with second year undergraduate students on the BA course as well as first year students on the Masters course). Previously these sessions were carried out solely between students, but that didn't seem to be working, with it being much harder for students to imagine each other as service users and to use that experience to inform their future work.

The Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice (CYCJ) annual conference was held on 19 and 20 June 2019 in Stirling, with the theme 'Youth Justice Through the Ages'.

Michelle from Iriss spoke to some of speakers on the first day of the conference. These included Fiona Dyer, Interim Director at CYCJ; Bruce Adamson, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People; the Right Hon. Lady Dorrian, Lord Justice Clerk; Dr Tim Bateman, University of Bedfordshire; Rosie Moore, Independent Care Review and Co-chair of conference; and James Frame, Co-Chair of the conference. 

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Ensemble is a Loretto Care project that supports young people out of homelessness through song writing and music.

On 19 September, Michelle from Iriss travelled to Stirling to speak with Michael Timmons, Community Engagement Lead for the project, and Andrew Sinclair a participant and volunteer. Ensemble received ‘A 'different approach’ award at the Scottish Social Services Awards 2019.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

On 27 March 2020 Iriss spoke to Eona Craig, Chief Executive of Articulate Cultural Trust about its work to support care experienced young people, and how the organisation has managed to continue to deliver services in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Articulate works with often socially isolated care experienced young people in Scotland, challenging loneliness, supporting connectivity and promoting physical and mental well-being.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Improving justice in child contact is a project exploring child contact decisions in families affected by domestic abuse. It is funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). Child contact is understood to be the systems and court processes which decide whether and how a child sees a parent that they are not living with.

It is a partnership project across Bulgaria, Cyprus, Portugal, Romania and Scotland.

Professor Kay Tisdall from the Childhood and Youth Studies Research Group at the University of Edinburgh, and Dr Marsha Scott, CEO of Women’s Aid kindly gave me their time to talk about the project.

Note: This episode was recorded before the implementation of social distancing requirements due to COVID-19. However, we are aware that those requirements create particular concerns around child contact and domestic abuse and that this content is therefore relevant to COVID-19 responses. Read: Supporting women and children affected by domestic abuse throughout COVID-19.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

On the occasion of both Earth Day and World Intellectual Property Day, which this year centers on the theme of Innovation for a Green Future, we’d like to underline the importance of cultural heritage preservation as a response to the threats posed by climate change. In this post, we’ll also share some insights on how … Read More "Using CC Licenses and Tools to Share and Preserve Cultural Heritage in the Face of Climate Change"

The post Using CC Licenses and Tools to Share and Preserve Cultural Heritage in the Face of Climate Change appeared first on Creative Commons.

Thousands of strangers working together, almost entirely online, to effectively solve an urgent, global challenge is remarkable—and it’s happening, right now. Recently, we published a post titled, “Open-Source Medical Hardware: What You Should Know and What You Can Do” examining the collaborative efforts by volunteer groups, universities, and research centers to solve the medical supply … Read More "Just One Giant Lab Co-Founder Leo Blondel on the Power of Community and Open Source During COVID-19"

The post Just One Giant Lab Co-Founder Leo Blondel on the Power of Community and Open Source During COVID-19 appeared first on Creative Commons.

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VIENNA, Austria (AP) - A gust of wind slammed a hot-air balloon into the ground as it was preparing to land near Austria's border with Germany on Saturday. Police said five people were injured, one seriously.
The accident happened around 11 a.m. (1000 GMT) about five kilometers (3 miles) outside the Bavarian town of Koessen as the balloon was about to touch down.
Authorities said the wind drove the basket into the ground and caused it to overturn.
One occupant suffered serious injuries, and four others were less severely hurt, Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported.
Koessen hosts a popular annual series of balloon races.

Home not Housing was one of five Scottish Universities Insight Institute programmes on Wellbeing. A set of ideas workshops explored the concept of ‘home’ from the perspectives of various academic disciplines – housing, planning, social work, healthcare – in order to develop a common vocabulary that will better inform policies relating to house-building, home-working, home-care and general place liveability. This blog records the discussions and findings of the workshops.

In 2013-15, the Scottish Government funded 16 projects proposed by criminal justice partners across Scotland to develop community services for women who offend. Developments were based on existing service provision and to ensure changes could be sustained locally at the end of the funding. Funding varied in amount and timeframes. Most of the projects were undertaken by local authority criminal justice social work1 (CJSW) departments with partner providers, including public and third sector agencies. The national evaluation examined how the 16 women’s community justice services (WCJSs) were implemented and to what extent they contributed towards positive outcomes for women. A further aim was to build local capacity for self-evaluation in WCJSs. Findings were drawn from two phases of interviews with practitioners and women, secondary documents, and quantitative data for 1,778 women who were in the WCJSs between April and December 2014. This included outcomes data for 406 women.

The core purpose of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) is to carry out high quality, internationally recognised research in relation to crime and criminal justice.

This research compares the different approaches to supporting carers of people with dementia across the UK, US and beyond.  Carried out by the University of Birmingham, this work explores the role and experience of carers in different national contexts, highlighting good practice examples and making policy and practice recommendations.  Unsurprisingly perhaps, the report highlights just how much we have in common with other countries in trying to make available effective, personalised supports against a backdrop of increased demand and diminishing resource.  Interestingly, the report explores the language of ‘respite’ which it suggests has ‘negative overtones’ and proposes a more creative approache to service provision is needed.

Meredith McIver is the speech writer who took responsibility for Melania Trump's plagiarism (you may have heard about it?). But people aren't convinced that Meredith is even real, leading to the internet's new favorite conspiracy theory. Is Meredith McIver a fake persona created by Trump? Let's examine the evidence.

And if you'd like some appetizer Trump memes before you get started, now would be the time.

Donald Trump's amazingly awkward water swig is apparently the gift that keeps on giving. The Photoshop Battle subreddit tackled a funny snapshot of the moment, incorporating everything from panpipes to Harry Potter. We've included our favorites, but there are loads more on the official thread.

Lots to unpack here, so maybe ease into it by first starting off with some light Trump Memes, and then progressing to this list of "good stuff".

Say what you will about the President, but there's no denying that his Twitter habits have given us hours of entertainment. His latest Twitter escapade was regarding Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year' issue. On Saturday  President Trump tweeted "Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named "Man (Person) of the Year," like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!" Parodies from comedians such as Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Billy Eichner began pouring in, along with riffs on New Yorker cartoons. Here are some of our favorites. 

And on a side note, here are some of our favorite tremendous Trump memes that are nearly unbelievable.

Some of these are even more tremendous than Donald Trump Memes. What a time to be alive. Big times up ahead...

This illustrator, John Holcroft, is genius! check out his website for more.

Just when we thought we'd never get anything better than Donald Trump grasping that orb, we get this dark-humored, delightfully awkward pic that just oozes cringe. Naturally, people were ready to flood Twitter with some entertaining captions. 

Last night the 2020 Iowa Democratic Caucus stirred up quite the controversy when it was announced that the results would be delayed due to "inconsistencies" in a new app meant to speed up the reporting results of the caucus. Ironic, to say the least. 

But hang tight, because they're set to be released at 5 pm Eastern Time.

Ahead of the results being released, Pete Buttigieg gave what appeared to be a victory speech last night to the confusion of many. The bizarre move has lead many to believe that the system may have been rigged in Mayor Pete's favor.

As always, we have to give the disclaimer that we're not picking sides; we're merely reporting on what the internet has been saying, so scroll down to see some of our favorite reaction memes and tweets while we all wait impatiently for the results.

Meet the Shadow team in charge of developing an app meant to help tally the votes from the Iowa caucus on Monday night. The purpose of the app was to help the process run more smoothly, but in the end it proved to be a complete and utter disaster, as precinct chairs supposedly couldn't get the app to actually work, in turn causing a delay in reporting.

The delay was blamed on "inconsistencies" in reporting, but honestly, who really knows what the truth is.

The team is reportedly run by people who worked on Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016. Additionally, 2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg's campaign paid the tech firm over $40,000 in 2019 leading many to suspect foul play.

But this is America, and we can't possibly have problems with corruption, right?

As of right now, we still don't have all the results from the caucus, so while you continue to anxiously refresh the New York Times page, have some hot Twitter takes on the people (rats) behind Shadow, Inc.

The PotterCast 213th episode of PotterCast, our Harry Potter podcast, is now online for your audible (and now visual) enjoyment.  This week, the PotterCasters are excited to bring you a new feature: Video of the LiveStream recording of PotterCast.

Episode 213 — Look At Us Now

Find the latest episode and explore PotterCast interviews, discussions and more at PotterCast.com

Visit the-leaky-cauldron.org for the latest and greatest from Harry Potter's Wizard World.

PotterCast, our Harry Potter podcast, is here today to bring you its 216th episode of Harry Potter news, discussion, and fun.  First, the PotterCasters sort through the latest news, which include stories about Jo Rowling becoming a special edition Barbie doll, Deathly Hallows, filming news from Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), and more.

Episode 216 — Do House Elves Lay Eggs?

Find the latest episode and explore PotterCast interviews, discussions and more at PotterCast.com

Visit the-leaky-cauldron.org for the latest and greatest from Harry Potter's Wizard World.

PotterCast, our Harry Potter podcast, returns this week with another dual audio/video edition of our 217th episode.  In the news this week, we have for you information about the video game BAFTA nomination for the Harry Potter video game, more rumors about the split for the "Deathly Hallows" film.

Episode 217 — Show Us Your Face

Find the latest episode and explore PotterCast interviews, discussions and more at PotterCast.com

Visit the-leaky-cauldron.org for the latest and greatest from Harry Potter's Wizard World.

Hey PotterCast fans! We're back with an all new episode, as well as an all new website! What do you think?? This episode features some of the latest in Harry Potter news, a run down of all the new features of PotterCast.com, as well as some teasers for some new Leaky features coming in the next couple of weeks!

Episode 224 — From Infinitus and Beyond!

Find the latest episode and explore PotterCast interviews, discussions and more at PotterCast.com

Visit the-leaky-cauldron.org for the latest and greatest from Harry Potter's Wizard World.

PotterCast is back with a smattering of Canon Conclumdrums and more with guest host, Andrew Slack of the Harry Potter Alliance, and performances from The Remus Lupins and The Whomping Willows!

Episode 233 — What's the deal with Remus?

Find the latest episode and explore PotterCast interviews, discussions and more at PotterCast.com

Visit the-leaky-cauldron.org for the latest and greatest from Harry Potter's Wizard World.

We've all seen Fantastic Beasts 2: Crimes of Grindelwald, and we are here to discuss and discuss and discuss and discuss. We barely scratch the surface over this 90 minutes, but we get into the big reactions, the big reveals, and the McGonagall of it all.

Welcome to a very special episode of PotterCast!

This week, J.K. Rowling angered and saddened many fans when she came out in support of a woman whose company had not renewed her employment contract because she refused to recognize the legally protected rights of trans people. In coming back from a months-long Twitter hiatus, J.K. Rowling mischaracterized the facts of the case in support of a dangerous and unscientific movement that invalidates the trans experience, and in doing so flies in the face of medical consensus worldwide.

Her comments also confused a lot of fans who are not fully familiar with the issues at stake, or cannot understand how someone whose book series is so vehemently about tolerance can express support for a woman whose views invalidate so many people's existences. That's why in this episode, we are going over it all.

Jackson Bird, longtime friend of the podcast and of Leaky, as well as author, trans activist and educator, and expert Waffler, joins us to explain and process what this means for Harry Potter fans. We discuss:

• What actually happened
• What J.K. Rowling said versus what happened to the woman in question, Maya Forstater
• Why many fans saw this coming
• What to do now that the creator of the series we love so dearly has taken this stance
• How to support trans and non-binary communities
• How we as fans are feeling about all of this
• What to do now, especially since we still love this community

We hope you'll listen and share. Here are some helpful resources, including things we mention in the show:

• Jack's book! SORTED: Growing up, coming out, and finding my place
• A list of information from medical communities around the world validating that trans and non-binary people exist
• GLAAD's transgender media program has great resources, FAQs, ways to take action, and ways to learn
• Transstudent.org has more Information regarding sex and gender
• GONADS, the great series by RadioLab

News articles regarding this incident:

• The Cut
• Vox (on British culture and the "gender critical" movement)
• The Mary Sue

News articles regarding past incidents that have also upset the community:

• The Mary Sue on Johnny Depp and the Crimes of Grindelwald
• Past indicators that J.K. Rowling was following trans-exclusionary ideologies
• The Guardian on J.K. Rowling's writings on Native American cultulre
• "The Harry Potter Series Makes a Mess of Its Commentary on Racism" — The Mary Sue
• "Is Fantastic Beasts 2 Racist? Not Quite" — The Washington Post

PotterCast and Leaky stand with our trans and non-binary friends and colleagues. 

This episode is in the process of being transcribed. For more, see pottercast.com.

The overused understatement of the decade is, “This is an unprecedented time.” While the coronavirus outbreak has turned our lives into something none of us likely ever imagined, one fundamental life safety truth remains: THERE IS NO

Carers should spend at least 30 minutes on home visits to older people as part of a new gold standard for services, according to new guidance.

https://t.co/tjwD5HQWM4 Valuing retirement #housing: explores economic effects of specialist housing 4 #olderpeople Strategic Society Centre

By Leo Babauta All day long, we’re only giving anything a fraction of our attention. We’re distracted, multitasking, opening multiple browser tabs, checking phone messages and social media. I’m a part of this like anyone else. I’m not immune, and I don’t judge. This fractured, scattered, partial attention has many deleterious effects on our lives: […]