The People-led Policy Panel is a group of people who are working together to reform adult social care support in Scotland. The initiative is supported by Scottish Government.

Michelle from Iriss has a conversation with Deirdre Henderson, People-led Policy Officer at Inclusion Scotland about the set up, aims and ambitions of the panel.

She also spoke to Denis Shovlin, a member of the People-led Policy Panel about how he got involved and his experiences of the panel to date.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

On 8 February 2019, Michelle from Iriss had a conversation with Kate Samuels from Generations Working Together about the work it does to promote and support intergenerational practice.

She also chatted to Keith Mitchell and Natalie Stewart from Glasgow's Golden Generation; and Charlotte Craig from Impact Arts about their intergenerational work.

Generations Working Together is holding its annual conference on 6 March in Glasgow. You can book a place on their website.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

Has self-directed support been the transformational and radical policy that it was set out to be?

Dr Charlotte Pearson and Professor Nick Watson spoke to Stuart Muirhead from Iriss about their research on the policy - what the results reveal about the implementation of self-directed support in Scotland.

Charlotte was one of the authors of our 2012 Iriss Insight, Self-directed support: preparing for delivery.

We also produced a recent evidence summary titled, Self-directed support and workforce development, which explores how the social care workforce in Scotland can be further developed to deliver self-directed support.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

Social Security Scotland is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government that is tasked with managing a number of devolved benefits to improve the lives of Scottish people.

These benefits include pregnancy and baby payment, Carers' Allowance, disability benefit and housing and heating support.

Michael McEwan spoke to Rachael McKechnie about Social Security Scotland's work to date and its ambitions for the future.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

On 11 March, Stuart Muirhead from Iriss hosted a group discussion on the Duty of Candour with representatives from the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), the Coalition of Care and Support Providers (CCPS), the Care Inspectorate and Care Concern Group.

We hear more about the Duty of Candour provisions which set out what needs to happen when unexpected or unintended harm has occurred to a person, and the views of organisations that represent the health and social care workforce in Scotland.

In partnership, the SSSC has produced an e-learning module on the Duty of Candour to support implementation.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

Michael McEwan speaks to Linda Mitchell from the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability (SCLD) about IASSIDD - the World Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, which is being held in Glasgow on 6-9 August, 2019.

IASSIDD Congresses are the leading international research and practice meetings in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The Congress theme is Future4All.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

Irina McLean, Project Leader with NHS Research Scotland Management Team, is currently leading the development of a Research Governance Framework (RGF) which will meet the needs of Scotland’s Social Care Services employers, staff, and service users and their families.

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 sets the context for the integration of adult health and social care within Scotland. Underpinning the introduction of the Act was a commitment to ensure the consistent provision of quality, sustainable care services for the increasing numbers of people in Scotland who need joined-up support and care.

The Scottish Government recognises that for successful reform and effective integration of health and social care sectors collective ethical and accountable research practices are required.

The new RGF is currently being defined through a process of engagement.

In this episode, Irina tells us more about the work she is doing. If you would like to follow up with Irina about the RGF or speak to her about research you're involved in, you can contact her direct at: irina.mclean@nrs.org.uk.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

The newly qualified social worker conference titled, Shaping our future: relationships matter, was held on 31 May 2019 in at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. 

Iona Colvin, Chief Social Work Adviser at Scottish Government, spoke about the importance of relationships at strategic level, within and across government, and how the role of social work has changed to be located within organisational partnerships with the aim of delivering more seamless services for people.

She also talks about the unique contribution of social work as a holistic relationship-based profession, what they are doing with others to raise its profile, plan for the future and support newly qualified social workers.

Transcript of episode

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

Michelle Drumm interviews Calum Glasgow. Calum is currently studying social work at the University of Strathclyde and received an award for Student Social Worker of the Year at the SASW Social Work Awards 2019.

Calum's placement was with the British Red Cross, based in their psychosocial team, which provides holistic support for refugees and asylum seekers. The work ranged from completing initial assessments, providing emotional support, accompanying people to legal (and other) appointments and helping alleviate their levels of destitution. In his words, he describes the experience as 'a real eye-opener'.

Transcript of episode

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

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.

The newly qualified social worker conference titled, Shaping our future: relationships matter, was held on 31 May 2019 in at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

Jackie Irvine, Chief Social Work Officer at Edinburgh City Council and past President of social work Scotland, takes some time to reflect on how the practice environment in which social work operates has changed. She provides advice on making the most of relationships at work, as well as self-care strategies.

Transcript of episode

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

People First is an organisation run by and for people with learning disabilities.

Michael McEwan speaks to Rosie Smith, one of the members, who tells him about the work of the organisation. 

Transcript of episode

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

An interview with Peter Macleod, Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate and Chair of Iriss.

Peter graduated from Robert Gordon University with a degree in social sciences and a qualification in social work and began a career as a social worker in Glasgow in 1987.

In 1996 he joined Renfrewshire council as an area manager, responsible for adult, children’s and criminal justice social work, and in early 2007 was appointed head of children’s services and criminal justice for social work and the community health partnership.

In 2015, he was appointed Renfrewshire’s first director of a new children’s services directorate, bringing together children’s social work, education and criminal justice services.

He sits on the boards of MacMillan Cancer Support TCAT Programme and Scottish Government’s Re-aligning Children’s Services programme.

In his own words, he says, "I am ambitious for social care; I want people in Scotland to experience transformational, world-class care that makes a real and positive difference to their lives."

Transcript of episode

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

On 16 September 2019, Iriss attended the launch of the SSSC's Careers in Care website which was created to highlight the wide variety of career opportunities available in the sector.

The resource demonstrates how people can build a career working with children and young people, in social services and healthcare settings, or as a social worker.

We spoke to social services practitioners who shared their career stories for use on the website.

In this second episode of three, Sarah, Gillian and Deborah, who work in various adult care settings, tell us about their journeys into and experiences of the profession.

Transcript of episode

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

On 16 September 2019, Iriss attended the launch of the SSSC's Careers in Care website which was created to highlight the wide variety of career opportunities available in the sector.

The resource demonstrates how people can build a career working with children and young people, in social services and healthcare settings, or as a social worker.

We spoke to social services practitioners who shared their career stories for use on the website. 

In this final episode of three, we hear from Rowena McIntosh, a social worker; John McVeigh, an academic; and John Stewart, an inspector with the Care Inspectorate, who talk about their journeys into the profession and the skills required to be a social worker.

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.

Hannah Tweed from the ALLIANCE and Dianne Theakstone from Self-directed Support Scotland spoke to Iriss about the joint research they are undertaking on user experiences of self-directed support in Scotland.

This Scottish Government funded research intends to encourage and develop policy and best practice across the social care landscape.

Transcript of episode

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

Dorothy Neriah is a a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh who is conducting research on rethinking how we understand, evaluate and undertake foster carer recruitment.

Michelle from Iriss had a conversation with her about how she came to focus on this topic, current practice in foster carer recruitment, and the benefits of rethinking the approach.

Contact Dorothy about her research: dorothy.neriah@ed.ac.uk 

Transcript of episode

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

Get into Care is a recruitment campaign that supports less advantaged young people to work in the care sector. It is a partnership of Crossreach and the Prince's Trust Scotland.

Corrine Morrison-Gillies, Head of HR Operations and People Development at Crossreach spoke to Iriss about this award winning programme. Charlene, a young woman involved in the programme also shared the story of how she was supported into work by it.

Transcript of episode

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

Michael McEwan interviews Michael Byrne, the founder of LETS (Lived Experience Trauma Support) and author of Poems From A Mod: My Journey Through Trauma, Recovery And Survival. 

Michael was diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder based on many traumatic events in his life, including abuse as a child, the murder of his father and surviving the Clutha disaster. In April 2017 he had a devastating breakdown which was complete in late January 2018. Since then he has been in recovery.

Health warning: This episode describes scenes of traumatic events that listeners may find disturbing. 

Transcript of episode

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

An interview with Alistair Brown, National Director of the Scottish Association of Social Work (SASW). 

Alistair grew up in Falkirk and has been practising in Scotland in statutory roles and as a Mental Health Officer and independent social worker over the last 10 years. Prior to this he practised in and managed youth mental health services in New Zealand for nine years.

He has had many voluntary roles at SASW over recent years as a member/practitioner including chair of MHO Forum, Chair of SASW governance committee and SASW representative on the British Association of Social Work board of directors. He remains on shift duty occasionally as an emergency social worker and is a member of the Mental Health Tribunals for Scotland.

Transcript of episode

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

Humans of Scotland is a campaign that highlights the voices of those with long term conditions, disabilities and those who are unpaid carers.

Michael McEwan interviews Angela Millar, the campaign lead and two people who share their stories as part of the campaign, Raven Lane and Michael Byrne.

Read the Humans of Scotland book.

Transcript of episode

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

KOR Records is an independent record label that creates music projects for young people with additional support needs and releases their output.

Michael McEwan interviews Geraldine Heaney about the work of the record company. 

Transcript of episode

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

'There’s More to Care than Caring' is a Scottish Government-led adult social care recruitment campaign which was launched in January 2020. It aims to encourage people to take up a career in care.

Michelle from Iriss had a conversation with Lorraine Gray, Chief Executive of SSSC, about the purpose of the campaign, the importance of adult social care work and how people can get involved in promoting the campaign.

Campaign website: https://caretocare.scot/

Transcript of episode

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

Is use of language something you carefully consider as a social worker?

And is language important to social work practice?

Sara Hitchin, Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Stirling certainly thinks so and has written an article about it for the Scottish Organisation for Practice Teaching or Scopt.

Michelle from Iriss went along to University of Stirling to have a conversation with her about the importance of language and its relationship to social work values.

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.

Dr. Ossie Stuart is an academic researcher and an independent equalities consultant, who has written key works on race, disability and social care. He is a wheelchair user and firmly believes that we are all entitled to fully participate in society and have control over our own destinies. These two ideas have heavily influenced everything he has done, and will do, in his working life.

Ossie receives a direct payment and uses it to employ personal assistants. Michelle from Iriss had a conversation with him about how he’s managing in the current crisis.

He offers some helpful advice and has also created a blog, titled Social care: a user's voice to share his views.

Transcript of episode

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

Cumbernauld Action for Care of the Elderly or CACE is an organisation that supports improved wellbeing and quality of life for older people in Cumbernauld.

We spoke to Margaret Riley, Chief Executive of CACE about how the organisation is managing in the Coronavirus outbreak.

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 22 April 2020, Michelle from Iriss spoke to Jennifer Carruthers, Deputy manager at Rashielee Care Home in Erskine.

Jennifer tells us how both staff and residents are managing in the current circumstances and how they’ve had to change and adapt services to cope in the crisis.

Transcript of episode

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

Creative Commons has joined forces with other legal experts and leading scientists to offer a simple way for universities, companies, and other holders of intellectual property rights to support the development of medicines, test kits, vaccines, and other scientific discoveries related to COVID-19 for the duration of the pandemic. The Open COVID Pledge grants the … Read More "Open COVID Pledge: Removing Obstacles to Sharing IP in the Fight Against COVID-19"

The post Open COVID Pledge: Removing Obstacles to Sharing IP in the Fight Against COVID-19 appeared first on Creative Commons.

Creative Commons is changing its legal code correction policy for official translations of the Version 4.0 licenses and the CC0 public domain dedication. In order to maintain the integrity of our firm commitment to honor official translations as legal equivalents of the original English 4.0 version and the original English CC0 1.0, CC will correct … Read More "Update to CC’s Policy on Legal Code Corrections"

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You’ve heard the stories: engineers 3D printing face shields in their basements; do-it-yourself hobbyists sewing face masks; and fashion designers crafting personal protection gowns.  Globally, people are trying to help fill the medical supply gap caused by the COVID-19 pandemic through open-source medical hardware. It’s a heartwarming display of global ingenuity, innovation, and collaboration. In this … Read More "Open-Source Medical Hardware: What You Should Know and What You Can Do"

The post Open-Source Medical Hardware: What You Should Know and What You Can Do appeared first on Creative Commons.

New beginnings at WIPO  On March 4, Daren Tang was nominated director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations agency dealing with intellectual property matters. Tang is currently the chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and his six-year term as top WIPO official will start on October … Read More "Does WIPO’s New Leadership Have the Vision to Shake Up Global Copyright Policy-Making?"

The post Does WIPO’s New Leadership Have the Vision to Shake Up Global Copyright Policy-Making? appeared first on Creative Commons.

Momentum continues to swell in support of the Open COVID Pledge, with the announcement today by Amazon, Facebook, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Microsoft, and Sandia National Laboratories, that they are pledging their patents to the public to freely use in support of solving the COVID-19 pandemic. Following in the footsteps of Intel, Fabricatorz Foundation, and … Read More "Tech Giants Join the CC-Supported Open COVID Pledge"

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The benefits of open access (OA) are undeniable and increasingly evident across all academic disciplines and scientific research: making academic publications1 freely and openly accessible and reusable provides broad visibility for authors, a better return on investment for funders, and greater access to knowledge for other researchers and the general public. And yet, despite OA’s obvious … Read More "Why Sharing Academic Publications Under “No Derivatives” Licenses is Misguided"

The post Why Sharing Academic Publications Under “No Derivatives” Licenses is Misguided appeared first on Creative Commons.

Since the founding of Creative Commons (CC) in 2001, we’ve been supported by like-minded organizations and individuals who value open access, the open community, and the global commons as much as we do. As we near our 20th anniversary, we are reflecting on the past and planning for the future. What better way to do … Read More "Open Access in Practice: A Conversation with President Larry Kramer of The Hewlett Foundation"

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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.

The CC Certificate aims to increase our global community’s expertise in open licensing and awareness of our shared, digital commons.  Our first goal is to train at least one person interested in open licensing in every country and territory, around the world. So far, we have CC Certificate graduates from 44 countries and counting! One … Read More "Creative Commons Welcomes Our 2020 CC Certificate Scholarship Recipients!"

The post Creative Commons Welcomes Our 2020 CC Certificate Scholarship Recipients! appeared first on Creative Commons.

In November of 1993, a week after the death of celebrated Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, the New York Times published an article by Bruce Weber in which he made clear his impatience with the supposedly opaque, perplexing movies of directors like Fellini. One person who read the piece was Martin Scorsese–he responded by letter. (Source: New

In 1983, at the end of an amazing career during which she was nominated for a then-record breaking ten Academy Awards for acting, two of which she won, Hollywood actress Bette Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer. Surgery followed, as did a number of strokes which left her partially paralysed. Then, in 1985, her daughter,

In the early hours of July 21st, 1969, shortly after the Apollo Lunar Module landed on its surface, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step foot on the Moon. 28 years later, Buzz wrote a letter to Barry Goldman, a professor at the University of Maryland. Transcript follows. (Many thanks to

On October 31st, 1918, as the First World War neared its end, celebrated war poet and officer of the Second Manchesters Wilfred Owen wrote home to his mother. Sadly, this would be his last letter. Four days later–exactly a century ago–Owen was shot dead as he led his company across the Sambre–Oise Canal. His mother

On April 18th of 1961, it was announced that iconic Hollywood star Gary Cooper was dying of cancer after a glittering 36 year career that saw him amass countless fans, plaudits, and awards across the globe. Weeks after that news broke, and just days before he died, Cooper received the following fan letter from Kirk Douglas,

On September 29th, 1918, months before the end of World War I, a freshly assigned physician at Camp Devens military base in Massachusetts wrote the following letter to a friend and fellow doctor, and described a terrifying influenza epidemic that was now killing hundreds of his camp’s soldiers each day. The death toll in this

On September 12th of 2011, the New York Times published an article by Dr. Abigail Zuger in which she criticised certain supposedly unrealistic aspects of Contagion, Steven Soderbergh’s recently released and widely lauded thriller in which a deadly pandemic sweeps the globe. In response, a week later the following letter reached the newspaper, penned by the movie’s screenwriter, Scott Burns, and

Dear all, It gives me untold amounts of pleasure to announce that the Letters of Note website has been given its first facelift since I naively launched it in 2009 using a bog-standard Blogger template. I would like to thank, profusely but from a very safe distance, the patient team of wizards over at Automattic

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