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Values are at the heart of best practice. This important manual offers a successful blend of theoretical understanding with very helpful practice guidance to enable readers to make sense of the complex but vitally important issues. This is an ideal resource for anyone involved in types of work where success depends on effective engagement with people. Available from https://neilthompson.info/shop/ or Amazon

This is a mistake I made many times early in my career: making a suggestion or proposal, having no one object to it and then assuming that the lack of explicit objection constituted agreement to what I had put forward. I then had the unpleasant experience of watching my plans fall apart as people did not cooperate with them or play their part in moving things forward – or even, on some occasions, actively sabotaged what I was trying to do. It only slowly became apparent to me that they were never really ‘on board’ in terms of what I had proposed but, for whatever reason, had chosen not to voice their disagreement. So, there is a very important lesson…

Racism is often a matter of life and death. This was never more true than for Stephen Lawrence, a bright young man who dreamed of becoming an architect. Stephen was murdered by racist strangers as he made his way home with a friend in South East London, 30 years ago. The fight for justice that followed, led by Stephen’s grieving parents, has brought us all to know Stephen’s name, and carry forward his legacy. Stephen’s murder changed the country, and was core to progressing racial equality in the UK. This report, produced in partnership by the Runnymede Trust and Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, is intended as a small contribution to mark this difficult anniversary and assess just how far we…

Public services in the UK are not in great shape. According to the latest CIPFA/Institute for Government Performance Tracker, every single major public service is performing worse than before the pandemic. This is despite government manifesto commitments to recruit more ‘front-line’ workers such as doctors, nurses and police officers. Cost-cutting and problems with staff retention mean that the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data show that public service productivity is still slightly below its pre-pandemic level. Earlier this year, the UK Chancellor announced an initiative to improve public sector productivity. Without improvement, current spending plans mean performance will get even worse. According to the Institute for Government, one of the causes of these retention problems is declining staff morale.…

As part of our dementia awareness training, we offer an innovative and thought-provoking virtual reality dementia experience. Our state of the art VR headsets enable you to explore our virtual residential home and domestic kitchen environments to gain further empathy and understanding of the daily challenges people living with dementia can experience. The immersive experience includes a filter to replicate reduced vision which is a common symptom of dementia. We also highlight how more considered design choices can provide a better quality of life for those living with dementia. Working with our partner VR-EP, we have developed an exciting shared VR session where you will be in virtual environments at the same time as other colleagues Click here to read…

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