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Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living – Be clear about what you value

Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living – Be clear about what you value

People who suffer from depression often feel as though nothing matters any more. It is as if life has become so difficult or painful that they just want to be cut off from it. And yet, ironically, it is generally because something we value – something that is really important to us – has been offended, undermined or even destroyed that people become depressed. This raises important issues about what we value, about what really matters to us. Values are often seen as abstract, and therefore disconnected from real life to a certain extent. However, seeing values that way is a big mistake, a very big mistake ... Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
March 9, 2017
Social Work in 42 Objects (and more)

Social Work in 42 Objects (and more)

Can the story of social work be told through Objects? Might a collection of objects be more illuminating than a formal text book or a dry definition?  In this engaging, photographic book, Mark Doel curates a collection of 127 objects contributed by people from around the globe to evoke a sense of social work - past, present and future. Written as a Guide to an Exhibition of Social Work, this is the ideal book to introduce social work to newcomers, and to entertain those with long experience of the profession. The objects are presented by a diverse group of people with different perspectives on social work, but with a common imagination. The objects in this book are a gift to social…
Dr Neil Thompson
March 9, 2017
NHS tasks are creeping into social care without funding or legal clarity

NHS tasks are creeping into social care without funding or legal clarity

Discussions around what constitutes NHS healthcare and what constitutes social care can be traced back to the original post-war legislation that separated responsibilities for health (the NHS Act 1946) and (the National Assistance Act 1948). This statutory separation has been maintained ever since and in many ways it is artificial and not helpful to the person in need of care. Integration is regarded as the way forward. However, as we rush to align, co-locate or integrate, local authorities need to consider the issue of administration of medication by social care staff in the context of local authority-commissioned care for people in their own homes... Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
March 9, 2017
Inequality Is Not Inevitable: Our New Guide for Activists

Inequality Is Not Inevitable: Our New Guide for Activists

The Equality Trust: "We are proud to launch our new activist pack: Inequality Is Not Inevitable. This guide aims to help inequality activists target key decision-makers, and those who influence them, so that action is taken to reduce inequality. In addition to our compelling and growing evidence base in favour of more equal societies, we have always believed in the necessity of a large social movement demanding a fairer, better UK. This guide aims to help people join that movement and to then take concrete action to tackle inequality. Please do read and share the guide with all the people and organisations that you know and work with!" Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
March 9, 2017
Care homes can be lonely and cruel places. But they can also be inspiring too

Care homes can be lonely and cruel places. But they can also be inspiring too

My old man said follow the van, and don’t dilly-dally on the way.” We are seated in a circle, singing. The woman next to me is lusty, her voice clear and her hands tapping out the rhythm; the man opposite in his wheelchair looks slightly dazed but he mouths the words. People who might not be able to speak can often find language when it is set to music. Memory floods back. I am at a residential care home in Carterton, near Witney, Oxfordshire, run by the charity MHA, where two-thirds of the 68 people who live here have dementia. “I dillied, I dallied, I dallied and I dillied,” we sing, smiling, nodding, all joining in except the woman in…
Dr Neil Thompson
March 9, 2017
Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living – Celebrate getting older

Neil Thompson’s Lesson for Living – Celebrate getting older

We live in a society that seems to value youth (although not necessarily young people!). A fortune is spent on various ways of trying to make us look and feel younger. Whether or not that is money well spent is questionable, of course. Is it mainly another way of consumer capitalism getting us to spend our money? Well, it certainly fits with the idea that, if you want to make a lot of money, sell people things that they have to keep coming back for more of. Trying to hold back ageing is like Canute trying to hold back the tide. Wouldn’t it make far more sense to just accept that every day we create a new yesterday and therefore…
Dr Neil Thompson
February 23, 2017
Overcoming deprivation and disconnection in UK cities

Overcoming deprivation and disconnection in UK cities

The poorest areas of towns and cities do not always benefit from economic growth. They can remain disconnected from the prosperity experienced by residents of wealthier neighbourhoods in the same region. This research looks at these issues from the perspective of housing and labour markets in the 20 per cent most deprived neighbourhoods across the UK. It finds that there is a need to reconnect economic growth strategies with poverty alleviation initiatives. The research includes an interactive map which reveals how disconnected regions are spread across the UK, and also shows the areas affected by ‘double disconnection’, across both housing and labour markets. Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
February 23, 2017
Photographer combats gender stereotypes with the idea that ‘boys can, too’

Photographer combats gender stereotypes with the idea that ‘boys can, too’

It started when my son was only a few months old. I had taken him downtown with me, for my weekly therapy session with the social worker I was seeing for postpartum depression counseling. There was a chill in the air, and I worried that his little cotton pants would ride up and expose his legs while I wore him, so I decided to put on his sister’s old baby leg warmers. They were mostly white, but had small pink and purple hearts scattered across them, Who would care, though? He was a baby, after all. I stopped by a friend’s house before my appointment, and she immediately commented on it, laughingly telling me she would buy him boys’ leg…
Dr Neil Thompson
February 23, 2017