The Latest Bulletin

The following message has recently been sent to all Social Worker’s Union (SWU) members: A personal message from Neil Thompson I am delighted to be working with SWU to offer membership of my online learning programme at half price. It’s not a course in the conventional sense. Rather, it’s an online learning community, a place where people support each other in their learning. It’s based on principles of self-directed learning (the most effective type of learning) where you decide – with guidance and support – what you need to learn and how to learn. The Programme has a wide range of helpful facilities to promote reflective practice, including an e-portfolio for professional registration purposes. It is a sort of online…

Many people adopt a very ‘rational’ approach to life and relegate feelings or anything to do with emotions to a secondary position, as if they are somehow less important. In reality, of course, feelings are generally much more powerful sources of motivation than reasoning or rationality, and emotions are so often a key factor in decision making, however hard people will work to make the basis of their decisions appear entirely objective and rational, uninfluenced by such subjective matters as human emotions. Consequently, if we pay no attention to emotions, we are leaving a major part of the equation out of the picture. However, this does not mean that we can let emotions rule the day or be given free…

Issues with the cultures of big companies, including Uber and Google, have recently been in the news, turning the spotlight onto the subject of toxic workplaces. But few are talking about the causes. What are the indicators that a company’s culture or workplace could quickly turn toxic? The roots of a company culture include rules, expectations, and policies. If these are subjective - left open to interpretation - the company invites differing opinions, which causes conflict, which results in toxicity. Subjective work processes and systems are the sources of most toxic company cultures. Click here to read more

Bullying and harassment means any unwanted behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated, degraded, humiliated or offended. It is not necessarily always obvious or apparent to others, and may happen in the workplace without an employer's awareness. Bullying or harassment can be between two individuals or it may involve groups of people. It might be obvious or it might be insidious. It may be persistent or an isolated incident. It can also occur in written communications, by phone or through email, not just face-to-face. Click here to read more

The sort of adjectives estate agents use to describe the tiniest of homes – compact, snug, bijou – do not really cover it. But young people who have endured homelessness are jostling to become the first occupant of a unique “micro home” inspired by the layouts of luxury yachts and airline first-class cabins. The iKozie, which measures 17.25 square metres, was craned into place in Worcester after being built off-site and has been carefully fitted out and furnished. Ahead of the keys being handed over to the first resident, the Guardian was given the chance to spend a night in the pod and meet some of those hoping to be selected to move in. Click here to read more

A forthcoming report of a government review into deaths in custody will do little to boost public confidence in the judicial system, according to human rights campaigners. In 2015, then-home secretary Theresa May, now Prime Minister, commissioned an independent review into police deaths in custody which was to include an investigation into racial disproportionality. The report was due to be published over a year ago. The delay in its publication led a coalition of race equality campaigners that included former Met chief superintendent Leroy Logan, Duwayne Brooks, Lord Herman Ouseley and Dr. Wanda Wyporska to demand the report be published. In a letter to The Guardian, they argued that the delay in publication suggested the Government was holding back on publishing…