Andy is joined by Bekah Pierre and Alice Spencer to discuss the wonderful anthology—Free Loaves on Fridays. 

Free Loaves on Fridays is a collection of stories and essays, poems, reflections and open letters, detailing the lives of care experienced people. It is a special work—bursting with humanity. As diverse as the experiences of its contributors, the anthology viscerally details pain and trauma, while celebrating the life changing impacts of love and acceptance in foster and adoptive families, and the transformative potential of child-centred, relationship-based, trauma-informed social work.

Both Bekah and Alice have experience of living in care and contributed chapters to the book. Bekah also edited the anthology.

It is available now, published by Unbound. You can buy a copy here. 

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School social work is long established in the USA but in its infancy in Northern Ireland. This episode examines the nature of school social work with a view to learning from the discipline in the United States and exploring how this understanding can be applied to the emerging practice in Northern Ireland. 

Andy is joined by Robert Lucio, Associate Professor and Online Program Director at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Social Work, Chair of the NASW School Social Work Section Committee and a Board Member of the School Social Work Association of America, Orlaith McGibbon, Independent social worker and Chair of the British Association of Social Workers Northern Ireland, and school social worker Charlene Hill based at St Ronan's College in Lurgan.

During discussion about approaches to assessing the impact of school social work, reference is made to the Social Workers in Schools (SWIS) Trial conducted in England between September 2020 and July 2022. The project report and evaluation can be accessed here.

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Following our last episode exploring the BASW UK General Election Manifesto, we examine the issue of poverty and what needs to change to improve the circumstances of millions of people across the UK. 

Comprising two sections, first Andy is joined by friend of the podcast, social worker and anti-poverty campaigner, Dominic Watters, and Director of Policy, Research and Impact at the Trussell Trust, Helen Barnard. They discuss the scale of foodbank use across the UK and consider the specific challenges facing unpaid carers and care experienced people. 

In the second section, Andy speaks with BASW UK Chair, Julia Ross about why she has placed campaigning to challenge the impacts of poverty and the factors which cause poverty at the heart of her priorities as she leads the Association.

During the discussion Dominic refers to the Food Foundation report, Food insecurity among single parent families. You can access it here

BASW’s General Election Manifesto outlines the Association’s anti-poverty, housing and mental health asks mentioned by Julia.

You can access the Trussell’s Trust’s various briefing papers here (the papers are at the bottom of the page).

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A general election is coming. When it will be, no one is quite sure, but what we do know is what needs to change to improve situations for social workers and the people who use social work services. This is the focus of this episode of Let’s Talk Social Work as Andy McClenaghan and guests discuss the asks outlined in the British Association of Social Workers 2024 General Election Manifesto.

Joining Andy are Kerri Prince, BASW’s Public and Political Affairs Lead, and Martin Sexton, outgoing Chair of BASW’s Policy Ethics and Human Rights Committee.

The conversation centres around the five manifesto asks BASW is prioritising. They are:

• Scrap the two-child limit and benefit cap
• Repeal the 2023 Illegal Migration Act
• Increase the non-taxable mileage rate allowance to 60p a mile
• The need for a new mental health Act
• The reform of social work student bursaries

There are forty asks in total in the manifesto. You can read them all here.

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With independence comes opportunities as well as risks. Andy McClenaghan is joined by Independent social workers Michelle Strain, Jo Fox and Gareth McGibbon to explore the benefits as well as the costs of stepping out and practicing as an Independent social worker.

They discuss the variety of roles Independent social workers undertake, how to maintain a healthy work life balance when you are your own boss, the challenges of marketing yourself, how to ensure sufficient peer support, and keeping up to date with developments in practice and regulatory requirements.

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A first for Let’s Talk Social Work, Andy McClenaghan and guests discuss the benefits of coaching in social work. The conversation explores what coaching is and how engaging in coaching can be an opportunity to receive support and guidance, develop skills and navigate career paths, and how it is a helpful way to engage in self-reflection. 

As well as looking at what coaching is, the discussion examines what it isn’t, exploring how it differs from counselling or psychotherapy. The episode also explores who can benefit from coaching and how to get involved.

Joining Andy are professional coaches Tinu Ashaye, Keith Dyer and Kate Cuthbertson. Tinu, Keith and Kate are all social workers who between them have a wealth of practice experience. Kate also oversees BASW’s Social Work Professional Support Service, which is discussed in detail during the episode.

For more information on BASW’s Social Work Professional Support Service, please visit the BASW website.

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“If health has stopped improving it is a sign that society has stopped improving.”

These are the words of Professor Sir Michael Marmot in the report Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years on.

In this special episode of Let’s Talk Social Work, made to celebrate World Social Work Day 2024, Andy McClenaghan and guests, Sir Michael Marmot and Dr Ruth Allen, explore how poverty, inequality and social disadvantage impact health outcomes, life expectancy and quality of life. 

Sir Michael is a world-renowned expert on public health, Director of the Institute for Health Equity and author of The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world, and Status Syndrome: how your place on the social gradient directly affects your health.  

Ruth is the Chief Executive of the British Association of Social Workers. Ruth has had a long career in the field of mental health social work and prior to joining BASW was Director of Social Work at South West London & St Georges' Mental Health NHS Trust.

Although poverty is an issue that has been discussed a number of times on the podcast, as so many of the problems which social workers support people to address are rooted in or exacerbated by poverty, we haven’t previously looked at the social determinants of health and the extent to which inequality affects health outcomes. There are no guests better placed to discuss the social determinants of health and their relevance to social work policy and practice.

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Dignity, respect, empowerment: adult safeguarding explored with Dr Jeremy Dixon

Episode 75 of Let’s Talk Social Work explores adult safeguarding—the policies, procedures, and practices aimed at protecting adults who may be at risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation. 

This is work guided by principles of dignity, respect, and empowerment and social workers play a crucial role in identifying, assessing, and responding to concerns about the safety and well-being of adults who may be experiencing harm, or who are at risk of harm.  

For the conversation, Andy McClenaghan is joined by Dr Jeremy Dixon, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social & Policy Sciences at the University of Bath. 

They discuss the findings of Jeremy’s research which examined understandings of—and approaches to—adult safeguarding, as detailed in his recent book, Adult Safeguarding Observed. The book is available now, published by Policy Press.

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This episode explores social work and government policy in Wales. That’s not unusual for Let’s Talk Social Work, but what is a little different is that we will be considering these issues with the focus placed on an individual and the role they have played in shaping both.

Since 2018 the Welsh Government has been led by Mark Drakeford. A former social worker and social policy academic, Mr Drakeford held the posts of Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Minister for Health and Social Services before becoming First Minister. In December he announced he will stand down as leader of the Welsh Labour party and First Minister in March 2024.

Andy is joined by social workers Abyd Quin Aziz, Reader in Social Work at Cardiff University and BASW Cymru committee member, and Plaid Cymru member of Gwyned Council, Councillor Delyth Lloyd Griffiths. They explore how Mark Drakeford’s time in office has influenced the Welsh Government’s approach to social work, and the extent to which wider Government policy has been informed by social work values.

Image attribution—User: (WT-shared) Cardiff at  wts wikivoyage, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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This episode of the podcast features discussion of issues that may cause distress, including sexual harm and abuse by siblings, and listener discretion is advised. 

In this episode, Andy is joined by social worker Anna Glinski, Deputy Director for Knowledge & Practice Development at the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse. They discuss the challenging issue of sibling sexual behaviour and explore how social workers should respond to instances of inappropriate, problematic and abusive sexual behaviour between siblings.

Among the issues discussed, they consider the prevalence of sibling sexual abuse and the extent to which the issue is understood within the profession. They examine what causes children to become engaged in inappropriate, harmful or abusive sexual behaviour with their siblings, and how social workers can take a whole-family approach to supporting the children involved.

In 2023 the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse published guidance on responding to sibling sexual behaviour. The document can be accessed at https://www.csacentre.org.uk/app/uploads/2023/09/Sibling-sexual-behaviour-English.pdf

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