The Latest Bulletin

The sixth edition of the bestselling textbook Anti-Discriminatory Practice has now been published and the second edition of The Professional Social Worker  Anti-discriminatory Practice The Professional Social Worker Other titles by Neil Thompson are available from here Neil Thompson Amazon author page

When I undertook my management training many years ago we were taught the importance of a ‘strategic’ approach, which meant at all times being clear about what we were trying to achieve – that is, what our strategic goals are. Our strategy, then, is the plan for achieving these goals, hence the term ‘strategic’. At that point I had been a practising social worker for a number of years and, to me, having clarity about what we were trying to achieve was second nature. So, I was surprised when so many of the other students on the course seemed to think that this ideas of a ‘strategic’ approach was something new and exciting. Since then I have learned that I…

Two thirds of lesbian and bisexual women have experienced discrimination in the workplace, research has found. The study, conducted by the British LGBT Awards, interviewed 1,200 lesbian and bisexual women in the UK to analyse their experiences at work. 64 per cent said that they had experienced some kind of negative treatment including sexual discrimination, inappropriate language, lack of opportunity or bullying at work. Click here to read more

Sense, the national deafblind charity, has responded to new research which reveals that one in 10 businesses within the UK believe they are unable to employ disabled people. The survey, which was commissioned by Disability Rights UK, highlighted a range of negative attitudes preventing employers from offering jobs to people with disabilities, such as fearing possible discrimination claims (33%) and believing disabled people would need additional time off work (12%). Sense is concerned that despite the Government’s commitment to halving the disability employment gap, not enough action is being taken to break down the barriers preventing disabled people from finding employment. Click here to read more

A comprehensive online database featuring the latest scientific evidence on what works in dementia care and treatment has been developed by the researchers at the Personal Social Services Research Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science (PSSRU at LSE). Launched ... Wednesday 3 August, the toolkit devised by Adelina Comas-Herrera, David McDaid, Professor Martin Knapp and colleagues, is the first of its kind globally, and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The Dementia Evidence Toolkit brings together more than 3,000 journal articles and 700 reviews of research studies in one place. The aim is to make all this information publicly available in a form that is clear and easy to understand for dementia patients, their families…

Several kids had been targeting Beth for weeks. Beth was sweet, absent-minded, easygoing and resigned to being mistreated. Some of her fellow eighth-grade students were using social media to call her fat and stupid, and they would drop dirty tissues on her head as they passed her desk. As her school counselor, I wanted to help, but Beth would never call out the bullies. She worried she would make the situation worse, and she insisted she was fine. Beth’s classmate Jenna, however, was so disturbed by the mean behavior that she brought me a handwritten list of the perpetrators and pleaded with me to make them stop. Jenna — a confident, popular student — barely knew Beth, but she couldn’t…