Neil was asked to choose five books about social justice and this is what he came up with. For more about social justice books, visit https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/social-justice.
The Online Safety Bill has passed its final Parliamentary debate and is now ready to become law. This major milestone means the government is within touching distance of delivering the most powerful child protection laws in a generation, while ensuring adults are better empowered to take control of their online lives, while protecting our mental health.
The bill takes a zero-tolerance approach to protecting children and makes sure social media platforms are held responsible for the content they host. If they do not act rapidly to prevent and remove illegal content and stop children seeing material that is harmful to them, such as bullying, they will face significant fines that could reach billions of pounds. In some cases, their bosses may even face prison.
The devastating impact of ageist attitudes on people, jobs, health, the economy and social cohesion has been revealed in our new report, Ageism: What’s the harm?. The compilation of research in the report looks at the three main types of ageism: institutional, interpersonal and self-directed, and outlines the damaging impact of ageism.
Coping with a significant loss is one of the most demanding experiences each of us will ever have. Supporting people who are in the throes of grief can also be a highly challenging experience. This manual, with its exemplary blend of theory and practice provides a solid foundation of understanding alongside helpful practice guidance that will be of immense value to members of the caring professions, managers and supervisors and, indeed, anyone called upon to support people on their grief journey.
Available from https://neilthompson.info/shop/ or Amazon
Yes, it’s a cliché, but the fact remains that, in working with people and their problems, we are likely to get better results if we smile. Smiling gives a clear message to the effect of ‘I am pleased to be in your company’ while not smiling can give the message that we are not pleased to be in that person’s company. Of course, we don’t want to go overboard and come across as insincere, but smiling really can make a big difference. Sounds obvious? Not worth saying? Just watch people around you and see how often people interact with one another without smiling. You’ll see that lots of opportunities to make a positive connection are being missed.
“You’re bloody lovely ain’t you,” said Frances Barrett, as the robotic cat she was stroking flicked its ears and whiskers one lunchtime this week at the Oak Manor care home in Bedfordshire.
The resident was one of several who live with dementia playing with the home’s small menagerie of animatronic animals that were originally designed to entertain American girls aged four to eight but have found a growing market in British care homes. At the other end of the table, Majorie Stephenson tickled her “cat” under its chin, laughed as she scooped it up in her arms and announced: “I’m going to take him home with me and take him for a walk every day.”
The National Academy for Social Prescribing is a national charity, founded in October 2019.
Our goal is to ensure social prescribing thrives across the whole country. We envision a vibrant, innovative, and ambitious movement. One that connects communities and mobilises hundreds of thousands of people. Each with a shared commitment to transforming lives.
As we continue to mature as an organisation, we want to champion the people who make social prescribing thrive. And to make a lasting difference to communities and individuals across the country.
Many problems at work can be resolved informally, for example through an informal chat. An employee could raise a problem informally by telling their line manager or someone else at work, for example, another manager or someone in HR. It does not have to be in writing at this stage.
Take the problem seriously – if an employee raises a problem informally, you should still take it seriously. If you do not, the problem might be raised as a formal grievance later. A formal grievance might lead to the employee making a claim to an employment tribunal if it’s not resolved.
