Building the future: shaping our social work identity newly qualified social worker conference was held on 31 May 2018 in Edinburgh. Delivered with the University of Edinburgh (in partnership with the Higher Education Heads of Social Work Group), Iriss, Scottish Social Services Council, the Scottish Association of Social Work, Social Work Scotland and the Scottish Government, it provided an opportunity for newly qualified social workers to come together to connect and reconnect.

In this episode, Martin Kettle of Glasgow Caledonian University gives an overview of research on newly qualified social worker perceptions of social work education and practice.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

A roundtable discussion on Talking Hope, a project exploring to what extent creating safe conversational spaces among diverse stakeholders helps cultivate hope in the context of young people considered to be at high risk.

The conversation involved Katherine Baxter, Research Associate on the project; Natalie Connell, Unit Manager at the Good Shepherd Centre; Eileen Bray, Mental Health Nurse at CAMHS (Ayrshire and Arran); and Liam Slaven, a care experienced young person and member of Star Board which aims to transform secure care in Scotland.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

Iriss attended the Social Pedagogy Professional Association's conference Growing up, growing old and staying well in Edinburgh on 28 September 2018.

We spoke to a number of academics and practitioners about social pedagogy and the value it brings to practice.

These included Mark Smith, Professor of Social Work at the University of Dundee; Lotte Harbo, Social Professor at VIA University College in Denmark; Gabriel Eichsteller from ThemPra Social Pedagogy; Gemma Campbell, a practitioner at Kibble Education and Care Centre; and Graham McPheat, Senior Teaching Fellow in Social Work at the University of Strathclyde.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

Iriss.fm is delighted to broadcast an episode on the work of Plumtree, an Australian not-for-profit organisation that provides support for young children from birth to 8 years old with a developmental delay or disability and their families.

Sylvana Mahmic (CEO) and Dr Melanie Heyworth (Peer Worker) tell the story of Now and Next, a project that has been successful at involving families as peer workers in early childhood intervention.

Three key messages:

Peer workers offer unique benefit to families of young children with disabilities that are not available through existing services, but which are complementary to them. Benefits include feelings of leadership, agency and community. Learning from mental health practice could be applied to the disability sector, so there was no need to spend time reinventing the wheel. It made it cost effective, quick and provided maximum benefit. Implementation of peer work into any existing organisation will face challenges and barriers, but these can be mitigated by pre-emptive organisational action.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

Michael McEwan interviews Kevin Ditcham, Project Manager for Year of Young People2018 and Cameron Smith, one of the Young Ambassadors involved in the year's activities.

Year of Young People 2018 is an opportunity for generations to come together and celebrate Scotland's young people. It is a platform for young people (8 to 26). It will give them a stronger voice on issues which affect their lives, showcase their ideas and talents, and ultimately, aim to challenge status quo and create a more positive perception of them in society.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

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

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.

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.

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.

Indepen-dance creates opportunities for disabled and non-disabled people to enjoy, express and fulfil their potential through dance.

Michael McEwan interviews one of the founding members, Karen Anderson, as well as Adam, a dancer involved in the project.

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.

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.

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.

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"

The post Tech Giants Join the CC-Supported Open COVID Pledge 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"

The post Open Access in Practice: A Conversation with President Larry Kramer of The Hewlett Foundation 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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John Sullivan, deputy chief of the Worcester Fire Department/vice chair of the IAFC health and safety section, discusses why it's so important for firefighters to get physical exams each year.  The average age of a first heart attack for the general

The short answer: everyone.     Hot work is one of the leading causes of industrial fire. According to the NFPA report Structure Fires Started by Hot Work - September 2016, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 4,440

For the second year in a row, the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta was marked by the tragic death of a person in a balloon. Now, Wells Fargo Bank is trying to help the families of those at the center of this year's accident.
Wells Fargo opened the account for the families of pilots Keith Sproul and Stephen Lachendro, who were in the "Wings Of Wind" balloon when it hit a power line last Friday morning.
The gondola caught fire and separated from the balloon envelope, crashing to the ground.

Thieves made off with radios, computers and other items.
Wells Fargo has already donated $1,000 into the account to help the families deal with expenses surrounding the funeral, medical care costs and the break-in .
Donors who want to give to the account can contact Wells Fargo and should ask about donating to the Debbie Sproul account.

Little is known about the effects of repeated imprisonment. Very few research studies have examined how those who are punished by the criminal justice system experience and interpret their sentences. Research that does exist, like my PhD, has largely focused on one single sentence. But people who have served many sentences (in other words, who have long punishment careers), are likely not to experience criminal punishments in isolation, but in the context of their wider lives and previous sentences. The aim of the Lives Sentenced project is to address this gap in the knowledge base by examining the life stories of 35 people with long punishment careers

Home supervision requirements are a type of legal supervision order at home which is unique to the Scottish system of child legislation. Despite being the most common type of disposal used by the Children’s Hearing little is known about how HSRs work in practice or about its impact on young people and families. Using a multi-method approach that included secondary analysis of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) dataset; documentary analysis of social work case files; and in-depth interviews; this research seeks to find out more about the nature, scope and outcomes of HSRs from the perspective of those who are affected the most by this type of compulsory intervention – young people, their parents and social workers.

The Personal Outcomes Collaboration is made up of several organisations working towards the development and implementation of a personal outcomes approach. This site has been developed to bring together a range of resources to support the development and implementation of a personal outcomes approach in health and social care, as well as other human services.

This report describes the rationale, process and learning from a project led by IRISS which explored the topic of supervision with a group of six partners from across the social services sector. The purpose of this report is to share the learning gathered through the project to provide some evidence, inspiration, and pointers for those interested in improving supervision. Key points from the report can be used to prompt reflection and discussion with teams, to review current supervision practice and to help plan improvements.

This evaluation report is based on feedback from people living with dementia and carers who received an Individual Award from the Life Changes Trust. The Individual Awards Pilot Scheme was run in Argyll & Bute and Edinburgh in 2014-15 and aimed to provide a small amount of additional financial empowerment to a number of individuals whose lives have been affected by dementia, to help improve their well-being and quality of life. A secondary aim of the pilot scheme was to find out what people would spend the Award on when given relatively broad choice, and what benefit that might bring in the short and medium terms.

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and IRISS that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by iain Houston from Alzeimer Scotland who participated in the PROP2 programme. What this research paper explores: An explorative case study investigating how completing a life story project affected a person with dementia.

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and Iriss that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by Geraldine Ditta from Alzheimer Scotland who participated in the PROP2 programme. People living with dementia are at risk of becoming socially isolated and disconnected from their local communities. Reactions from others on being told someone has dementia can have a significant impact on the person with dementia’s sense of self. This study sought to explore the perceptions of people with dementia in relation to attitudes within their communities and how they subsequently respond. Semi-structured interviews were carried out to examine how they feel about their lives with dementia.

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and Iriss that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by Sarah Duff from Alzheimer Scotland who participated in the PROP2 programme and is a research study exploring the experience of group yoga classes and music with those affected by dementia

ARCH, the National Respite Network and Resource Center in the United States of America identified that evidence-based research on respite care has, to large extent, been lacking. Across ages, needs and settings, respite is based upon the premise that providing caregivers periodic relief from daily, ongoing caregiving responsibilities will directly benefit them in terms of their physical health, immediate and long-term psychological health, and social-emotional relationships with family members. These benefits are assumed to result in secondary benefits for care receivers and even larger societal benefits in the form of cost benefits or improved employee productivity. Some research studies point to the merits of these assumptions. However, evidence-based research supporting this premise - or going beyond it to demonstrate how to best provide respite care that results in maximum benefits - has not been available. This report presents the findings of an expert panel composed of academics, researchers, service providers, advocates, policymakers and administrators representing a range of age groups, disabilities and professional disciplines. Over a period of 18 months the panel explored the current status of respite research, proposed strategies to overcome barriers to research, and developed a plan to encourage rigorous research in key areas.

This End of Project Report describes an innovative Transition to Work Programme for young people with autistic spectrum diagnoses and is the result of a pilot programme developed by Lothian Autistic Society (LAS) and Scottish Outdoor Education Centres (SOEC) and made possible through funding from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The pilot had the twin aims of developing employability skills and exploring the therapeutic value of the outdoors. 

The ‘Dementia: More Than Just Memory Loss’ report, was published in 2016, and set out some of the key issues affecting people with dementia in Wales, in particular: • A widespread lack of knowledge and understanding of dementia amongst professionals and the wider public. • A lack of flexibility to effectively meet the needs of people living with dementia and their carers. • A lack of co-operation between services creates unnecessary difficulties and barriers for people living with dementia and their carers. The authors of the report called for a range of actions to address this, and there has been some progress, however, despite a range of changes across society at a policy, practice and community level, there is still a long way to go to transform services and drive the cultural change needed to effectively meet the needs of people affected by dementia.  The author of this report has consistently focused on the importance of meaningful outcomes for people with dementia and their carers, to ensure that their lives have value, meaning and purpose. This is fundamental to ‘Rethinking Respite’ and to delivering the Welsh Government’s vision of ‘a dementia friendly nation that recognises the rights of people with dementia to feel valued and to live as independently as possible in their communities as outlined in the new Dementia Action Plan for Wales. 

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 kept it pretty low key on Twitter in recent days. That didn't stop him from penning a little St. Paddy's Day sentiment though. If only he'd spell checked before sending it off though. Then again, would we expect anything less than this from the guy with a wide-reaching, well-developed reputation already for spelling shit in his own language incorrectly?

Yeah, yeah, we know. Here are some Trump Memes to smooth it over.

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.

Mike Pence has been heavily meme'd and that level of memery is only growing. The most recent addition to the line of Pence memes has been this 'Fake History' take on Jonny Quest, which features Baron Trump and Pence in place of Jonny and his dad, in a fight against the gays and immigrants. 

These are basically an extension of Trump Memes, as Mike Pence is his Vice President and joke that poke fun at one is the same as poking fun at the other.

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

These people are not afraid to carry on hilarious protest signs and tell the world what they really think of Donald Trump's Presidency. Via: Sad and useless  

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. 

During a meeting to discuss Syria, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was photographed assertively pointing a finger at Donald Trump. Trump later tweeted the photo with the caption, "Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown!" the photo has inspired a whole host of memes from every political angle. 

Whether you're a Trump supporter or a Pelosi fan, we think you'll find these trending memes amusing. Or maybe you hate both of them equally! That's certainly an option too!

Poor Mayor Pete just can't seem to catch a break on the internet. The presidential candidate from South Bend, Indiana tweeted a photo of himself walking down a hallway on Saturday with the caption, "On my way back to Iowa. It's phase 4. Let's do this." The tweet has been catching a fair amount of flack for appearing to be staged. 

Here are some of Twitter's most amusing reaction memes and tweets!