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Children of prisoners – Fixing a broken system

Children of prisoners – Fixing a broken system

When the criminal justice system and the courts put a parent in prison, it generates problems for the child(ren), family members, schools and children’s services. But the two arms of the state don’t speak to each other. There is no system to facilitate communication between the courts which sentence people and bodies with responsibilities for children. It is not beyond the wit of public services to join the dots, and the impact on the welfare of children would be profound were they to do so. Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
January 12, 2022
Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Negotiate your workload

Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Negotiate your workload

My Time and Workload Management e-learning course emphasizes that too much work is too much work – that is, everyone has a limit to how much they can get done in a given timeframe. However, some people get themselves into difficulties by taking on everything that comes their way. They feel obliged to say yes to everything even if this means they may become overloaded to the point that they risk becoming stressed and possibly practising dangerously because of that. A key skill, then, is being able to successfully negotiate our workload. If we take on more than we can reasonably cope with then we are likely to achieve far less than if we had kept our workload within manageable…
Dr Neil Thompson
December 13, 2021
Researchers want to create safe, inclusive virtual reality hangouts for teens

Researchers want to create safe, inclusive virtual reality hangouts for teens

The advent of the internet shifted how we socialise. Chat rooms, forums, and eventually social media platforms opened up new ways to both communicate and express ourselves. Online anonymity, for example, allowed us to be whoever we pleased to anyone with a connection — for better or worse. Psychological research followed this shift, and decades later there are troves of papers on almost every aspect of online interaction you could hope to explore. As technology continues to march onwards, it’s brought with it increasingly accessible options for socialising in virtual reality (VR). Though VR is by definition virtual, the experiences users have in it are very much real. Since VR’s accessibility is so recent, we currently don’t have good understanding…
Dr Neil Thompson
December 13, 2021
Lived experience influencing policy – How we did it

Lived experience influencing policy – How we did it

A group of people with lived experience of poverty have enjoyed success in their campaign for their voices and experiences to be included in policy discussions, debates and solutions. Group member Tracey Herrington tells their story. The Poverty2Solutions journey began over three years ago. Three grassroots organisations led by people with lived experience of poverty (ATD Fourth World, Dole Animators and Thrive Teesside) teamed up with Dr Ruth Patrick from the University of York and graphic designer Dan Farley to share and merge their expertise. Our aspiration is to ensure that the voice of lived experience is taken seriously and can inform decisions that have an impact on the lives of people in low-income communities. Click here to read more
Dr Neil Thompson
December 13, 2021
5 checks to see if you’ve been greenwashed by a ‘sustainable’ product

5 checks to see if you’ve been greenwashed by a ‘sustainable’ product

When you’re trying to buy products that don’t contribute towards climate change, words like “sustainable” or “eco-friendly” on packaging can suck you in. You might also be drawn towards big businesses who’ve made headline-grabbing, green pledges. But unfortunately, not all is as it seems. While some products and brands are making environmentally-friendly changes, others are simply capitalising on the moment, without actually making a meaningful difference. This marketing ploy is known as greenwashing – when companies make spurious environmental claims about their products or services. And as journalist Sophia Smith Galer pointed out, even some of the sponsors of the COP26 climate conference are guilty of it. Greenwashing is not a new trend and brands have been in trouble in…
Dr Neil Thompson
December 13, 2021
Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – There’s no point rushing

Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – There’s no point rushing

‘More haste less speed’ is a well-known saying and it has more than a grain of truth to it. So many people tend to respond to pressure by rushing, and this is a dangerously counterproductive strategy. When we rush our error rate goes up significantly and our sense of control goes down significantly – and, of course, losing our sense of control is a major step in the direction of stress. What is also significant is that, when we start rushing, we start giving people the message that they are not important, that we have more pressing things to do than to listen to them and take in an interest in them. Working slightly faster than usual is one thing,…
Dr Neil Thompson
November 30, 2021