As she was observing the consequences of the millennium drought on her rural community, Margaret Alston realised that there was hardly any discussion of the social consequences of the drought and almost nothing that examined the experiences of rural women.  For Margaret, a focus on social justice means that you can see what is in other people’s blindspots, and this points the way to a new area of social work practice.

SHOW NOTES

Margaret’s career summary is on the University of Newcastle website: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/margaret-alston#career

Publications:

Rural Women and Leadership, Breaking through the Grass Ceiling, Harwood Publishers, UK, 2000.

Innovative Human Services Practice: Changing Landscapes, Pan Macmillan, 2009.

Social Work: Fields of Practice, Oxford University Press, (3rd edition) 2018 and

 Research for Social Workers, Allen & Unwin (4th edition) 2018.

Research, Action and Policy: Addressing the Gendered Impacts of Climate, Springer Books, 2012

Women and Climate Change in Bangladesh Routledge  2015

Women, political struggles and gender equality in South Asia , Pan Macmillan, 2016

Ecological Social Work: Towards Sustainability , Pan Macmillan 2016

Social Science Research Ethics for a Globalizing World: Interdisciplinary and Cross-Cultural Perspectives Routledge Advances in Research Methods, 2016

Social Work in Post-Disaster Sites, to be published by Routledge in 2018

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

The AASW respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and on-going custodians of the land on which we meet.  We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, and to Elders of other communities who may be present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although she has two Ph D's, Dr Lorraine Muller considers herself only one among many knowledge holders.  Her book proposes a process for decolonising our work in the human services and contains many messages for social workers.  In this conversation,  she describes why and how we can all commence this journey with hope and respect.

SHOW NOTES

Muller, L. A Theory for Indigenous Health and Human Service work: Connecting Indigenous Knowledge and Practice, Routledge (2014

AASW : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Actions

AASW: Acknowledgement Statement Aboriginal and Torres Islander People

AASW Preparing for Culturally Responsive and Inclusive Social Work Practice in Australia: Working with Aboriginal and Torres Islander People

AASW Reconciliation week 2020 interview with Linda Ford 

Archie Roach: Took the children away

Archie Roach’s’ Took the Children Away’: How one song galvanized a nation. The Guardian, November 12 2020

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

The AASW respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and on-going custodians of the land on which we meet.  We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, and to Elders of other communities who may be present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Like many people we at the AASW watched the January 2020 bushfires with horror. In late January 2020, host Angela Scarfe contacted a member, Jo, who was living and working in one of the areas that was badly burnt, and they talked about what Jo thought her community needed. They have kept in touch throughout the year, and it is fair to say that they didn’t anticipate some of the events that 2020 had delivered.  This episode was recorded at the end of 2020, as the weather was warming and the Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements had released its report including a section on Mental Health. It was a good time to check in with Jo about what she had noticed since they first spoke.

More information

• Social Work Focus Autumn / Winter 2020
• Phoenix Australia’s Guide for Treating PTSD; Chapter 9 deals with stress caused by Natural Disasters (NB the guidelines include material that relates to the needs of people who volunteered.)
• Report of the Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements. Mental Health is discussed in chapter 15
• Solastalgia: Social Work’s Role in Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrvJ2jouKoM&feature=youtu.be

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When members of the public complain about homeless people in their local park to Kate Incerti she thanks them.  It’s her way of demonstrating what it means to take a human rights approach to homelessness.  In this episode she tells us what human rights mean for homelessness, how it connects with our colonial history and what COVID-19 has shown us about providing more housing. Leonard Cohen helps us make sense of it all.

RESOURCES FOR THIS EPISODE

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• Victorian Charter of Rights and Responsibilities
• AASW policy position on Housing and Homelessness
• The Scope of Social Work Practice: Social Work in Homelessness
• Social Work Focus Winter Spring 2018 containing several articles on social workers in housing and homelessness
• Council to Homeless persons
• Everybody’s home campaign
• The Right to Housing in Australia
• Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
• Leonard Cohen: There is a Crack in Everything, That’s How the Light Gets In

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AASW – Social Work People explores the diverse world of social work and connects listeners to the people driving change and providing advocacy on the issues that impact upon the quality of life of all Australians.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.