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The Avenue Professional Development Programme has been developed to allow busy practitioners and managers across the people professions to maximise their learning. There are two pathways within the Programme, Silver and Gold. The Silver pathway allows members access to a secure website where they can join in professional discussions under the tutorship of Dr Neil Thompson; have access to a constantly growing library of multimedia learning resources; develop an e-portfolio to record and demonstrate their learning and make use of an online reflective journal. It is not a course in the conventional sense, but, rather, an online learning community to support and facilitate continuous professional development and lifelong learning. The Gold pathway includes all the benefits of the Silver pathway…

It is quite common for people to be rated according to how secure they are, especially people who are perceived to be low on any such rating scale – that is, people who are viewed as ‘insecure’. But what does it mean to refer to someone as ‘insecure’? Or as ‘secure’, for that matter? The world is a very insecure place, in the sense that, as the old saying goes, the only certainties are death and taxes. No one knows what is going to happen next. Our lives could potentially be turned upside down at any moment, with horrendous consequences. Disaster could be just round the corner. But it probably isn’t ... Click here to read more

While recognizing stress as a major problem in the workplace, many people assume that there is no escape from such stress. The demands of most jobs are going to create stress — such is the nature of work. This assumption is wrong, however, and the core reason is the failure to distinguish between ‘pressure’ and ‘stress’. Pressure results from external events, such as, for example, a failed project or a looming deadline. Pressure is, indeed, inevitable, and there is little we can do about it. Stress, in contrast, emerges not from an event — past or future — but from our reaction to the event. University of York professor Derek Roger has been researching stress for 30 years — 15 of…

The UK is one of the most unequal societies in Europe. Even though decreasing unemployment and low inflation have reduced income inequality for now, unfair taxes, stagnant incomes and unaffordable housing risk enlarging the wealth gap. It is not only about raw data. Inequality is widely perceived as a growing problem in society. According to the 2016 British Social Survey, more than 76% of the people believe there is a wide divide between social classes. Abundant empirical research shows how bad inequality can be for general economic stability, criminality, individual self-esteem, mental health, sense of trust and civic participation. Many of these issues are closely connected to human rights. Click here to read more

I got to the gate just as they closed the door and the plane began to back away. It was thirty years ago, but I still remember how it felt. I think we’re hard-wired to fear these painful moments of missing out. Deadlines don’t cause death if missed, but sometimes we persuade ourselves that it’s almost as bad. As a result, marketers and others that want us to take action invent cliffs, slamming doors and loud buzzers. We put a rope at door, a timer on the clock and focus on scarcity and the fear of missing out. And as a result, consumers and students and co-workers wait for the signals, prioritizing their lives around the next urgency. When everything is…

Learning Disability Voices comprises charities, not-for-profit and independent sector companies who provide learning disability services in the UK, including the likes of Voyage Care, United Response, Lifeways, The Wilf Ward Family Trust, Hft and Mencap - together representing 20% of the total sector provision. The learning disability sector cares for the UK’s most vulnerable people, who often require 24-hour support delivered by one or more carers to ensure that their needs are met. For too long now our sector has had to cope with increasingly damaging local government cuts and has been forced to drive operational efficiencies to keep fees static. However, as we are paid for the hours of care we deliver, we cannot reduce frontline staffing to cut…