The Latest Bulletin

A global campaign described as a "game-changer" has been launched to improve the lives of more than one billion disabled people by 2030. WeThe15 wants to improve inclusion, raise awareness and end discrimination of disabled people around the world. It brings together a coalition of organisations from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to Unesco. Using the event as a springboard, the IPC and International Disability Alliance has joined forces with arts, business and human rights organisations including UN Human Rights and The Valuable 500 to "raise awareness, change attitudes and create more opportunities" for disabled people. The campaign has been set-up to represent the 15% of the world's population that is disabled - about 1.2bn people, according to the World…

The easy argument to make is that the thing we have now is better than the new thing that’s on offer. All one has to do is take the thing we have now as a given (ignoring its real costs) and then challenge the defects and question the benefits of the new thing, while also maximizing the potential risk. “A hand-written letter is more thoughtful, more likely to be a keepsake, and a more permanent record than a simple email.” On the other hand, the technophile defending change simply has to list all the new features and ignore the benefits we’re used to. “An email is far faster, cheaper and easier to track than a letter. It is more likely…

A Hampshire MP has called for a change in the law that will stop employers from silencing victims of abuse. Ministers have been warned that non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) allow companies to 'cover up' sexual abuse of staff and other 'wrongdoing' they have faced. Basingstoke MP, Maria Miller, said NDAs were "driving the wrong culture in the British workplace", silencing staff who faced abuse at work and allowing bosses to "buy their silence". Presenting her Non-Disclosure Agreements Bill in the Commons, the Conservative MP called for a change in the law which would allow people to leave workplaces where they faced abuse and get compensation - without having to agree that they will not speak about the abuse they faced. Click…

Facebook page Facebook Social Work Focus group LinkedIn Twitter YouTube channel Neil’s Academy The humansolutions website

An essential resource for practice educators and study supervisors. Helping others to learn is a skilled job. This practical guide offers extensive advice and guidance on how to get the best results, whether in student supervision or any other process of helping colleagues to learn. Available from here or Amazon

Physical contact is a very powerful form of communication. It can be powerfully negative – for example, touch used in a threatening or aggressive way or as an invasion of privacy – or powerfully positive as a means of conveying support, concern, affirmation and validation. Provided that we have the sensitivity to know where the boundary is between supportive and intrusive touch, we can use touch to express empathy and concern, build trust and make an important contribution to helping people who are facing considerable challenges or who would benefit from human connection at a time of difficulty. Do you know of anyone who uses touch very sensitively and effectively? Watch them closely when you can and see what you…

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published the results of its Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change. The report, which was authored by hundreds of climate scientists and takes into account the results of thousands of peer reviewed articles on the physical basis of climate change, could hardly be more stark in its warning for humanity. In short, human activity is ‘unequivocally’ driving unprecedented changes in the planet’s climate (no small statement from the usually conservative IPCC). Anything but the most severe of emissions cuts will see the planet heat beyond 1.5C above pre industrial levels, possibly as soon as the 2030s, with the world likely to soar past 2C of warming by the end of the century. As…

From ball pits to free beers, fun job perks have received plenty of press attention over the last few years. For millennials, such benefits should surely be appealing — they are, after all, the generation these perks were ostensibly designed for. But according to a new study, young people themselves have a different priority in the workplace — respect. Writing in the International Journal of Business Communication, a team led by Danielle LaGree from Kansas State University finds that being valued and respected by managers was the key factor in employees’ ability to positively adapt to the workplace. And, in turn, this impacted how loyal workers were to their employers, how much they engaged in their work, and how happy…

I’m looking at the list of names on the office wall of all the women I support, who are all involved in selling sex on the streets. It’s our weekly team meeting and I brief my colleagues on how the Friday night outreach team met Marcia, a homeless woman in a violent relationship. She is sleeping with her abusive boyfriend because it’s safer than sleeping rough on her own. He forces her to share needles, and to sell sex. We talk about ways to support her, but without a phone or address it’s difficult. It’s hard to find places I can meet with women like Marcia – many cafes, where we build trust and rapport, are closed. I add her…

Facebook page Facebook Social Work Focus group LinkedIn Twitter YouTube channel Neil’s Academy The humansolutions website