Be Inspired! Shirley Ayres Consulting

“Social media is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. All the time online conversations are happening about you, your brand and your organisation. It’s not a choice whether you DO social media, the choice is how well you do it”  Erik Qualman author of socialnomics.

Erik’s video Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh) makes a powerful case for why organisations should have a social media strategy and be actively engaged with social networking. 

Social networking has the potential to put the “social” back into social work and social care. So it is interesting (and depressing) to note how few of our national care organisations are actually engaged and using social media to communicate important messages to an increasingly diverse group of stakeholders.

For me twitter really is the new information network because I am able to share and discover what is happening in the care sector right now. Twitter is a rich source of instantly updated information and it is how I stay updated on an incredibly wide variety of topics.

If you’re wondering what’s the point and how to make the most of twitter a helpful guide from Charles Arthur in the Guardian about the benefits of twitter.

 It is also worth watching The Beginners Guide To Twitter Videofrom Andy Headworth which explains ’What Twitter is’, ‘What Twitter looks like’ and ‘How exactly you get started with Twitter’.

Who is currently on twitter? 

@BASW_UK

@CareQualityComm

@ChildrensComm

@steve_scie

@skillsforcare

Who is not on twitter?

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services

Association of Directors of Adult Social Services

Children’s Workforce Development Council.   

General Social Care Council

National Skills Academy for Social Care

The National Children and Adult Services Conference 3rd – 5th November 2010

Live streaming of keynote presentations, panel discussions and comments tweeted from participants are an increasing feature of conferences. The National Children and Adult Services Conference takes place in Manchester next week. Following the comprehensive spending review this will be an significant event as Directors consider the implications of the budget cuts for front line delivery. This is an ideal opportunity to widen the debate using twitter to encourage comments and questions about the complexity of the care sector.  

I am aware of only one director using twitter and I will be following @stephenslossStrategic Director of Adult Social Care & Health at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council along with @lgaNCAS2010 and @CommunityCare for the latest news at the conference. If you know of any other Directors of Adults or Children’s Services using twitter do let me know!

To provide some encouragement to Social Services Directors you may wish to know about the increasing number of chief executives using  twitter (with thanks to @Council_Chiefs and the Tweetyhall blog Tweeting from the Top)

@johnbarradell  Chief Executive Brighton and Hove

@lwboland  Leo Boland Chief Executive Greater London Authority

@terryhuggins  Chief Executive of Breckland and South Holland Councils

@GibsonGav  Gavin Jones Chief Executive Swindon Borough Council

@ChairSolaceDerek Myers, Chief Executive of Kensington and Chelsea and the Chair of SOLACE

@andrewnorthcbc Chief Executive Cheltenham Borough Council

@martinrreevesof Chief Executive Coventry City Council

@tomriordan Chief Executive Leeds City Council

@DuncanSharkey  Managing Director at Worcester City Council

As a knowledge management and communications consultancy we are committed to empowering people through knowledge and developing skills through communication. About Shirley Ayres Consulting

Tags: ADASS, adcs, be inspired, NCAS2010, social care, social media, social work is complex and challenging, twitter

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The official launch of the College of Social Work took place today at Community Care Live. Moira Gibb welcomed the new College as “An opportunity for social work to gain the authoritative and influential professional voice it deserves”

Social workers and people who use social work services are today being encouraged to shape The College of Social Work by taking part in a UK-wide consultation. You can join the online consultation on the College website. Events are also being organised in several regions in England. A total of 22 consultation sessions will be held; twelve events for social work practitioners and managers and ten for users of social work services and carers.

The College of Social Work will start functioning in the coming months; at present the College Development Group is ensuring that those vital contributions are being captured and given to the Interim Board of the College once it is established. The Development Group is overseeing the consultation, which starts today and runs until October.

The College Development Group Chair, Allan Bowman, stated that

“We’ve been looking forward to today because it’s when The College’s work can really begin. We need the input of social workers, people who use social work services and their carers. Their views will shape the way the College is run. We encourage everyone with views to come forward, either at the large number of events organised so that people can discuss their views, or they can go online and help shape their College.”

Some of the issues that can be discussed in the consultation include:

• Membership
• Purpose,  functions and activities
• Working with employers, regulators, and unions
• Continuing professional development

Through these consultation activities it is hoped that a shared understanding of the purpose and key objectives of the College will be developed, built on the direct contribution of social workers and the people who use social work services. The consultation process will also ensure that the design and plans for the College will meet needs of the profession now and in the future.

Welcoming the College Moira Gibb, Chair of the Social Work Reform Board said:

“A College of Social Work is an opportunity for social work to gain the authoritative and influential professional voice it deserves. It is important that from the outset the College speaks for the breadth of the profession and represents the views of all social workers. This consultation is a major opportunity for the whole sector to set the direction and control the future of the College. I urge all social workers, and those engaged with social work, to take this chance to help shape the future of our profession.”

The College is clear that it wants to have the input of everyone involved from across the UK and that it will cover all aspects of social work.

The College of Social Work website

Tags: advanced social work practice, college of social work, Leadership and Management, professional practice, research, scie, Social Work, social work is complex and challenging

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The major anger management curricula in the U.S. all use emotional intelligence as its’ core content. In addition, most models of anger management include Pre and Post Tests as well as client workbooks, DVDs , posters and other ancillary training material. The assessments are designed to determine the clients’ level of competence in recognizing and managing anger, recognizing and managing stress, primary and secondary styles of communication as well of the degree of empathy/emotional intelligence. The fifth category of the assessment is Motivation to Change. Motivation is the key to change.

Since anger is not considered a pathological (DSM) condition, it should not be subjected to psychiatric interventions. Rather, the types of practical skill enhancement interventions that are common to the Social Work profession are more effective.

The four domains of emotional intelligence are: self-awareness, self-control, social awareness and relationship management. These are the topics which form the basis of the skills that are taught in anger management classes as well as coaching programs.

Programs using these Emotional Intelligence based curricula are being used in prisons, jails, schools, businesses as well as municipal governments. The latest trends are in the areas of civility training for attorneys who are mandated by state bar associations as well as “disruptive physicians” who are mandated by their hospital administrators. Finally, executive coaching/anger management programs are rapidly becoming the intervention of choice for skill enhancement in leadership.

An excellent summary of U.S. based anger management programs can be viewed in a BBC documentary entitled Losing It 2. The link to this documentary can be found at headroom . This two hour documentary was produced for the BBC by actor and comedian, Griff Rhys Jones.

About the author

George Anderson is a Harvard University trained Psychotherapist with a specialization in executive coaching/anger management. He is a graduate of Smith College School for Social Work and former Faculty of UCLA School of Social Work.

Anderson & Anderson is the largest provider of Certified Anger Management Facilitator training in the world. http://www.andersonservices.com

Tags: anger management, emotional intelligence, human relationships, mental health, motivation to change, Social Work, social work is complex and challenging

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The General Social Care Council has called for a system where all social workers receive a specialist post-qualifying award early in their career to ensure that the learning from their degree is consolidated in practice. Recommendations include:

• the development of national standards for post-qualifying training in safeguarding for adults and children;

• simplification of the funding arrangements to Higher Educational Institutions, and the linking of funding to quality standards;

• the development of a workforce model to ensure the right number of social workers are being trained in the right regions; and

• further research into the declining number of  men entering social work, and the poor progression rates amongst some black and minority ethnic students

• a new forensic social work award

Rosie Varley, Chair of the GSCC, said: “Tragedies such as the death of Baby P and other recent cases remind us how immensely challenging the role of a social worker is. We need to attract the best people into the profession, with a diverse workforce that reflects the society we live in.

As well as attracting the best people, our social workers need to have the very best training right throughout their careers. That is why we are reviewing whether we have the right powers to robustly inspect social work degree courses. We also believe there needs to be the creation of national standards for on the job safeguarding training and stronger requirements for employers to commit to good quality on-going training for social workers.”

There is a useful article which includes an interview with Mike Wardle Chief Executive GSCC  in Community Care

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/02/11/110686/gscc-to-link-post-qualifying-training-with-re-registration.html

Tags: compulsory training, gscc, more support for social workers, post qualifying awards, social work is complex and challenging

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