Iriss.fm

Michael McEwan speaks to Ruth Gallagher (Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire), Lynn Wardle (Thrive) and Colette Walker (carer) about the Care Collective. The Care Collective is a project in East Renfrewshire to support carers and involve them in discussions and decisions about their needs. A number of organisations are working in partnership to make it happen.

Michael McEwan speaks to Joseph Delaney about growing up with a 'hidden disability'. Joseph is on the autistic spectrum and tells us about his life experiences, and his journey to getting his music degree at university.

Michael McEwan speaks to Ryan Fleming about growing up with a 'hidden disability'. Ryan is on the autistic spectrum and tells us about the challenging as well as positive experiences he has faced from childhood right through adulthood. He talks about how he sees the world, how he interacts in social situations, his support network and his hopes for the future.

The second of two episodes to celebrate the Festival of Residential Child Care 2017. Debbie Nolan, Centre for Youth & Criminal Justice (CYCJ) introduces Alison Gough, secure care national adviser, also of CYCJ. She asks her about the key messages emerging from the Secure Care National Project, which were published in the 2016 CYCJ report: Secure care in Scotland: looking ahead. Deborah, Lesley and Sharon, who all work in secure care, share their perspectives, experiences, hopes and priorities for the future for young people in and on the edges of secure care and the sector. Discussion points: · Public and professional perceptions of secure care and whether these chime with practice experience. · The implications for secure care practitioners helping young people who have been involved in seriously harming others, alongside those who have been exploited and are very vulnerable to further harm. · Priorities for the planned strategic board for secure care, next steps, and the involvement of practitioners.

The first of two episodes to celebrate the Festival of Residential Child Care 2017. In this episode, Debbie Nolan and Kristina Moodie(Centre for Youth & Criminal Justice) introduce the rationale behind, and findings of, their 2016 research 'Between a rock and a hard place': responses to offending in residential childcare. This enabled discussion with Sheila, Duncan, David and David - all of whom are residential childcare workers - on how far these findings aligned with their experiences of practice. Key themes discussed: • Complexity in responding to offending in residential child care • Supports to staff in doing so • The dilemmas and tensions faced • The recommendations made in the research to change practice.

Reports of hate crime in Scotland have increased and research indicates that the trauma experienced by victims of hate crime can be more enduring and harmful than non-hate related offending and that it has detrimental effects on communities as well as individuals. There is a clear role for criminal justice social work in this area in working with perpetrators. Rania Hamad, City of Edinburgh Council spoke to us about her research on the topic, which aims to define ‘hate crime’ and highlight the complexities around definitions; provide an understanding of the scope and nature of hate crime in Scotland and Edinburgh, with a brief outline of the harms of hate crime; explore the causes of hate crime, including individual and wider structural causation; outline the ‘characteristics’ of hate crime perpetrators including a discussion around risk assessment; explore what can be learned from hate crime interventions; explore ‘best practice’ for practitioners in this area of work; and to highlight gaps in current knowledge.

Sarah Mitchell Programme Director for the Active and Independent Living Improvement Programme and Susan Kelso AHP Lead for Early Intervention (Scottish Government) spoke to Iriss.fm about the programme and the Life Curve Survey. The Active and Independent Living Improvement Programme (AILIP) was officially launched on April 26th by Shona Robison MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport. The vision for Scotland as outlined in the Health and Social care Delivery Plan is to have a Scotland with high quality services that have a focus on prevention, early intervention and supported self management. The AILIP will be a key contributor to delivering that vision.

A roundtable discussion on the topic of parents with learning disabilities as part of Learning Disability Week 2017. It highlights how best we can support families where one or both parents have learning disabilities, raises awareness of the key issues and promotes debate and progress. The discussion involved Bianca Wood, People First Scotland; Gillian McIntyre, University of Strathclyde; Andy Miller, Policy and Implementation Officer at Scottish Commission for Learning Disability; Amanda Muir, Development Manager at Equal Say; and David Barr, Assistant Director at Aberlour. Bianca is chairperson of the People First (Scotland) Parents' Group, a self-advocacy group of parents with learning disabilities.

Michael McEwan speaks to Chris Creegan, Chief Executive of the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability(SCLD) about Learning Disability Week 2017. The theme for this year is: 'Looking back, thinking forward', which will celebrate achievements, ask searching questions about what needs to happen going forward, and engage the general public on the subject, in the hope of changing attitudes. Chris also gives us some information on SCLD - its ambitions, and current and future focus. What's on over Learning Disability Week: https://www.scld.org.uk/learning-disability-week-events/

Michael McEwan speaks to Loretta Galloway, Learning Disability Service Manager at Unity Enterprise, about the services and supports the organisation provides.

On 24 October 2016 at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Dr Robert French led an Iriss workshop exploring how to negotiate a way through the complexities of our managed world, in order to do some of the worthwhile things we feel passionate about. In this talk he includes examples from his own experience of the school education system in England, the poet John Keats and the text "Symposium" by the Classical Greek philosopher Plato."

Don Williamson (ISBA President) explains the background to the biennial ISBA conference that was held 13–15 September 2016 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The theme was "Unlocking the potential of short breaks". The International Short Break Association (ISBA) is a worldwide initiative made up of agencies and organisations providing health care and respite services for families concerned with disabilities. http://www.isba.me/

Donald Macleod, Conference Chair, welcomes visitors to the conference. ISBA 2016:The 10th International Short Break Association conference, 13–15 September 2016, Edinburgh, Scotland

Don Williamson (ISBA President and Chief Executive, Shared Care Scotland) details how the conference came to be hosted in Scotland in 2016 and the value previous conferences have contributed to the sector. He explains the intentions behind the theme "Unlocking the potential". Introduced by Donald Macleod, Conference Chair. ISBA 2016:The 10th International Short Break Association conference, 13–15 September 2016, Edinburgh, Scotland

Aileen Campbell, Minister for Public Health and Sport, Scottish Government. The minister talks about * how the Scottish Government hopes to support carers, paid and unpaid * new social security powers are being devolved to Scotland, how might these be best used? * integration of health and social care * self-directed support, http://www.selfdirectedsupportscotland.org.uk/ * the short breaks fund, http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Support-Social-Care/Unpaid-Carers/Respite * short breaks bureau, http://www.sharedcarescotland.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/SBBFINAL.pdf * young carers festival, young carers festival, https://twitter.com/ycfest * the respitality project, http://www.sharedcarescotland.org.uk/respitality/, https://twitter.com/respitality * local authority duties and short break services statements Introduced by Donald Macleod, Conference Chair. ISBA 2016:The 10th International Short Break Association conference, 13–15 September 2016, Edinburgh, Scotland