The Latest Bulletin

Stress is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem in the modern workplace. In this practice manual, Neil Thompson uses his decades of experience of helping people tackle stress to provide a clear and helpful guide to the key issues and lays the foundations for a positive and constructive response to the challenges involved. This is an essential guide for anyone wanting to keep pressures within manageable limits. Available for purchase along with many other books by Neil here or from the Avenue Learning Centre here.

From time to time we find ourselves in situations where we are find it difficult to comprehend what has happened – times of loss, crisis or sudden change, for example. It is as if our head knows, but our heart hasn’t caught up, and so ‘it doesn’t seem real’ can be a thought that runs through our mind. This is a perfectly normal phenomenon and nothing to be concerned about in itself. However, we need to be wary of two potential problems. One is that, when we find ourselves in such a situation, we may make decisions that we later regret because we have been destabilized by the change that has occurred... Click here to read more

A million people in the UK are expected to be living with dementia by 2025. While there is no cure, there's growing evidence that music can help ameliorate symptoms such as depression and agitation, writes Kelly Oakes - and also bring these people and their families some much-needed moments of joy. When he was just 30 years old, Daniel received a diagnosis nobody was expecting. The former drummer and engineer had to give up work after developing problems with his speech, memory, and motor skills. Click here to read more

“At the end of the day, I’d rather be excluded for who I include than be included for who I exclude.”—Eston Williams, Reverend This month is LGBTQ Pride, a time to commemorate The Stonewall riots in June 1969. While much progress has been made since then, including the American Psychiatric Association removing homosexuality from its list of mental health illnesses in 1973, studies show that if you’re an LGBTQ employee, you share some of the same concerns of recrimination and stigmatization as those struggling with mental illness in the workplace: fear your boss would treat you differently, question your ability to function in your position, discriminate against you or pass you over for promotions and pay raises. Click here to…

Being a leader means being more than someone who manages people. Effective leaders play a critical role in the success of an organisation and become positive role models of behaviour. Acas is committed to helping organisations work better and has developed the Acas framework for effective leadership to support them. The best places to work have high levels of employee engagement and are built on good working relationships, effective organisational practices and by effective leaders who can communicate well and inspire others to want to make a real difference. Click here to read more

Please click on the relevant link below Facebook page Facebook Social Work Focus group LinkedIn Twitter YouTube channel Neil’s website The humansolutions website Information about Neil’s online learning community, the Avenue Professional Development Programme

Are you involved in student supervision or other ways of helping people learn? If so, Neil Thompson’s The Learning from Practice Manual is for you. Neil has been involved in supporting practice learning for over four decades. This hands-on manual of practice guidance encapsulates his experience and expertise in a way that readers will find very helpful. Available for purchase along with many other books by Neil here or from the Avenue Learning Centre here.

Communication goes awry quite regularly, which is not surprising when you think about how much of it we do in any given day. One common way in which communication breaks down is when what is said (or written) does not cover both topic and comment. The topic is what we are talking about and the comment is what we are saying about it. They can be articulated separately (‘You know that book on stress I lent you? I will need it back soon if that’s OK ’) or together (‘Can you please let me have that book on stress I lent you back soon?’). Either is fine when both are covered, but often, there is a topic identified, but it…

At JRF, we want to inspire action and change to solve UK poverty, but we know there’s a lot of work to do if more people are to understand it and call more loudly for solutions. To help with this challenge, we’re changing the story we tell about poverty, using framing recommendations from the FrameWorks Institute’s research into public attitudes to poverty in the UK, involving 20,000 people. Click here to read more

Paul Williams, who has a mild learning disability, was a champion runner in his youth. After many years in institutional care, however, he rarely mentioned his athletic past. But staff at the south Londoner’s sheltered housing scheme encouraged him to dig out his medals and handwritten race records. Williams opened up and his confidence grew. Just over a year ago, he gave a motivational talk at a community centre and displayed his medals. He is now working on his life story with a local journalist who volunteers to spend time with Williams. Williams, his care organisation and volunteer are part of the Time to Connect community inclusion project. This encourages stronger links between people using care services and their neighbourhoods, and…