One thing you should know about me is that I am from New York and I am half Italian. That means when I like something,…

The launch of PAssport to Independent Living (PDF), a published collection of stories written by Personal Assistants (PA) about their experiences of what it's like to work as a Personal Assistant in Scotland took place on 31 October 2017 in Glasgow.

The project was supported by Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living (GCIL), the Workers Education Association (WEA) and Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).

Before hearing from the Personal Assistants, Mandy, Lizzie and Susan, we spoke to Lilian Smith, SDS Development Coordinator at Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living; and Sharon Ledger, Education Co-ordinator at Worker's Educational Association, who give us some background on the project, information about the PA Network Scotland and the intentions of the publication.

The SSSC offered support through Open Badges. We heard from Yvonne and Alison who told us about the work of the SSSC, and what Open Badges are and how they can be acquired.

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Music Credit: Something Elated by Broke For Free

Michael McEwan has a conversation with Greg Campbell, a support worker who works with vulnerable adults.

Greg speaks about his motivations for pursuing a career in care, the transition from education to practice and the positive and challenging experiences.

It's an inspiring message for others, and particularly men, who may be considering a career in care.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Something Elated by Broke For Free

Michael McEwan speaks to Evan Rae about his experiences as a support worker with Sense Scotland.

Evan talks about what motivated him to get into care, the challenging and rewarding parts of working in care, some of the issues that need to be addressed, and the importance of self-directed support.

He provides encouragement and information to those who might be interested or considering a career in care.

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Music Credit: Something Elated by Broke For Free

Has self-directed support been the transformational and radical policy that it was set out to be?

Dr Charlotte Pearson and Professor Nick Watson spoke to Stuart Muirhead from Iriss about their research on the policy - what the results reveal about the implementation of self-directed support in Scotland.

Charlotte was one of the authors of our 2012 Iriss Insight, Self-directed support: preparing for delivery.

We also produced a recent evidence summary titled, Self-directed support and workforce development, which explores how the social care workforce in Scotland can be further developed to deliver self-directed support.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

Hannah Tweed from the ALLIANCE and Dianne Theakstone from Self-directed Support Scotland spoke to Iriss about the joint research they are undertaking on user experiences of self-directed support in Scotland.

This Scottish Government funded research intends to encourage and develop policy and best practice across the social care landscape.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Michael McEwan interviews Michael Byrne, the founder of LETS (Lived Experience Trauma Support) and author of Poems From A Mod: My Journey Through Trauma, Recovery And Survival. 

Michael was diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder based on many traumatic events in his life, including abuse as a child, the murder of his father and surviving the Clutha disaster. In April 2017 he had a devastating breakdown which was complete in late January 2018. Since then he has been in recovery.

Health warning: This episode describes scenes of traumatic events that listeners may find disturbing. 

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Momentum continues to swell in support of the Open COVID Pledge, with the announcement today by Amazon, Facebook, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Microsoft, and Sandia National Laboratories, that they are pledging their patents to the public to freely use in support of solving the COVID-19 pandemic. Following in the footsteps of Intel, Fabricatorz Foundation, and … Read More "Tech Giants Join the CC-Supported Open COVID Pledge"

The post Tech Giants Join the CC-Supported Open COVID Pledge appeared first on Creative Commons.

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This evaluation report is based on feedback from people living with dementia and carers who received an Individual Award from the Life Changes Trust. The Individual Awards Pilot Scheme was run in Argyll & Bute and Edinburgh in 2014-15 and aimed to provide a small amount of additional financial empowerment to a number of individuals whose lives have been affected by dementia, to help improve their well-being and quality of life. A secondary aim of the pilot scheme was to find out what people would spend the Award on when given relatively broad choice, and what benefit that might bring in the short and medium terms.

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and Iriss that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by Alan Gilmour from Glasgow City Community Health Partnership who participated in the PROP2 programme. This research aimed to gain an understanding of how training and information support contributes to positive outcomes for carers. It provided a range of information to answer specific questions such as: • Do carers feel that their needs are identified appropriately at different stages of their journey? • Does training contribute to the carer’s outcomes? • What are the barriers to carers engaging in training?

Report 68 published by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in November 2014. This report will help readers to understand the Learning Together methodology.

Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) Report 71 from SCIE Roundtable held on 12 February 2015. The aim of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) roundtable discussion was to identify, celebrate, support and learn from community-led activity.

Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) Report 73 from SCIE roundtable discussion held on 26 March 2015. This report considers the potential of technology to transform how health and social care services are delivered.

CCPS is the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland. Their mission is to identify, represent, promote and safeguard the interests of third sector and not-for-profit social care and support providers in Scotland, so that they can maximise the impact they have on meeting social need.

Evaluation report for the inter-authority learning exchange between Shetland Islands, Falkirk and Glasgow Councils throughcare and aftercare teams. In February 2014 a member of the Throughcare and Aftercare team from Shetland, spent two weeks in each host authority as a means of developing and sharing practice, experience and learning. The report describes the planning process, in-situ experience, and post-exchange learning of participants, it also report highlights the positive learning outcomes and benefits achieved for all participating local authorities. The report identifies ideas for future applications of such a learning and practice exchange model to improve practice for looked after young people and care leavers.

In 2006 Mencap produced a comprehensive review of short break provision. Now, 10 years on, they are revisiting the support available for family carers to see whether recent policy initiatives and investment have delivered the much-needed change. A total of 264 family carers responded to their survey on short breaks provision and experiences of caring. They also sent Freedom of Information requests to all 152 local authorities in England that provide social care services. This report looks at short breaks provision in a climate of cuts to central and local government budgets. It examines the extent to which these cuts have impacted on the lives of people with a learning disability and their family carers. It also looks at the state of affairs for family carers of children and young people across the full spectrum of learning disability; from people with mild and moderate learning disabilities, to people with severe and profound disabilities.

The 10th international short break conference took place in Edinburgh from 13 to 15 September 2016. This conference report explores the barriers experienced in accessing short breaks and how these have been overcome.

This End of Project Report describes an innovative Transition to Work Programme for young people with autistic spectrum diagnoses and is the result of a pilot programme developed by Lothian Autistic Society (LAS) and Scottish Outdoor Education Centres (SOEC) and made possible through funding from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The pilot had the twin aims of developing employability skills and exploring the therapeutic value of the outdoors. 

Has Trump seen people holding signs on the internet before? It never turns out well.

We've been seeing these Bernie Sanders memes practically everywhere on the internet lately, and they don't appear to be stopping any time soon! Here's our last gallery in case you missed 'em. 

We sincerely hope you're not sick of political memes yet, because we've still got far to go before the 2020 presidential elections, so buckle up!

Last week, my teenage son came to me and said, “Yo, Mom. Can we get some baby ducks?” No joke. He really said “Yo, Mom.” (Cue the eye roll.) And he really asked for ducks. (Cue the eyebrow lift.) I quickly brushed off this request

Today, May 4th, is International Firefighters’ Day. Each year on this day, firefighters are celebrated – and rightly so.   Most people have an image of firefighters clad in heavy coats, over-sized boots and sturdy helmets, rushing into

If you live in the Fife area we have news of an event which will showcase career opportunitie

The number of vulnerable adults reported to protection agencies in Dundee by police doubled to more than 2,300 in just two years.

Many parents of autistic children face long battles to get their child the right education and support, despite the government introducing a new system two years ago that was meant to make things easier and less adversarial, according to a report.

Today, May 4th, is International Firefighters’ Day. Each year on this day, firefighters are celebrated – and rightly so.   Most people have an image of firefighters clad in heavy coats, over-sized boots and sturdy helmets, rushing into

By Leo Babauta These are times of heightened change, disruption, uncertainty, fear, anxiety. It can feel pretty crazy for most of us. So how do we cope? What can we do in the middle of chaos and crisis? This is when meditation becomes of critical importance. Without meditation, we have no way of dealing with […]

For $20, fans of German soccer club Borussia can have a cut-out of themselves placed in the stands at BORUSSIA-PARK. According to the club, over 12,000 cut-outs have been ordered and 4,500 have already been put in place. Here is the tweet and photo. And some sports bettors are betting on simulated sporting events.  (Again, […]

The post Coronavirus sports markets in everything, multiple simulations edition appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

When: Mon Apr 4, 2016 to Wed Apr 6, 2016 

Where: Europa Hotel, Great Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7AP, United Kingdom
Event Status: confirmed
Event Description: An international conference of interest to anyone involved with the professional development of students in any field of health or social care. Supporting students in practice settings is an integral part of the preparation of health and social care professionals. Practice and Field Educators enable students to acquire, develop, apply and transfer educational knowledge, skills and attributes to support their learning within the workplace learning environment. This conference will focus on evaluating learning and assessment of performance. For further information, please visit the event website

Citing the need to have an arm’s-length view on policy issues that impact fire, life and electrical safety, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has announced the launch of the NFPA Fire and Life Safety Policy Institute. The Policy Institute will study a range of issues and provide guidance and information to policymakers on the best approaches governments can take to improve safety for the citizens they serve.

Putting together a strong resume that stands out from the pack and lands you an interview can feel a bit like solving a jigsaw puzzle, especially when it comes to the skills section. In this day and age, when a computer algorithm is perhaps more likely to comb through your resume before it ever lands [...]Read More...

Mental health matters. Taking care of our mental health aids in our resilience and recovery from anything that happens. Anyone can have a bad day, but it doesn’t mean that it’s a bad life. How we respond to it and take care of our mental health are what’s important. Mental health is important at every [...]Read More...

The post Queer Clicks: May 09 | Why the Porn Industry has a lot to Teach us About Safety in the Covid-19 era, Tom of Finland at 100, and Other Clicks appeared first on QueerClick.

Donald Trump issued an executive order late Thursday that environmentalists warned will accelerate the corporate exploitation of oceans by relaxing regulations on and streamlining the construction of industrial offshore aquaculture facilities, which critics deride as "floating factory farms" that pump pollution and diseases into public waters.

The Don't Cage Our Ocean Coalition, which was formed to oppose ocean industrial fish farming, said in a statement that Trump's Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth "mandates federal agencies to craft a program for rapid authorization of industrial offshore aquaculture facilities, which use giant floating cages to cultivate finfish, allowing toxic pollution to flow into open waters."

"The federal government should strengthen local food security during this health crisis by supporting sustainable seafood, rather than allowing corporations to pollute the ecosystems we depend on."
—Marianne Cufone, environmental attorney

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These challenging times require fierce, broad, and intersectional activism – which is just what Civil Liberties and Public Policy (CLPP) has been doing for the past four decades. This now-independent nonprofit, which used to be affiliated with Hampshire College, continues its unique movement-building work preparing younger activists to work on the front lines of today’s struggle for reproductive justice. Please consider supporting CLPP today with a generous donation. 

As we know, the Covid-19 pandemic is disproportionately harming those in our communities who were already facing ... More

The post Please Support Civil Liberties and Public Policy During the Covid-19 Crisis: An Appeal from Judy Norsigian appeared first on Our Bodies Ourselves.

Today, May 4th, is International Firefighters’ Day. Each year on this day, firefighters are celebrated – and rightly so.   Most people have an image of firefighters clad in heavy coats, over-sized boots and sturdy helmets, rushing into

In Northwest Portland, two former industrial structures have been given a new lease on life as Redfox Commons, a light-filled campus for creative, tech and retail workspaces. Local design practice LEVER Architecture led the adaptive reuse project that spans 60,000 square feet and is split between a west wing and a larger east wing across two floors. The architects reclaimed over 6,500 linear feet of timber and combined the salvaged material with new industrial-inspired elements — such as weathering steel cladding and ribbon windows — to pay homage to the building’s history. [...]

Architecture firms Jurek Brüggen and KOSA architekten teamed up to design Haus am See — German for “House by the Lake” — a minimalist home crafted for seasonal living. Located on the highest point of Werder Island near the border of Germany and Poland, the contemporary residence has been deliberately stripped down to a restrained palette of exposed concrete and wood in striking contrast to its more ornate neighbors.[...]

Pacific Northwest architecture firm Mahlum has made history with the certification of its new architecture studio as Portland's first Living Building Challenge (LBC) project. As an LBC-certified workspace, Mahlum's new studio meets rigorous sustainability targets including net-zero embodied carbon emissions and the diversion of almost all construction waste from the landfill. The project is the 48th LBC-certified project in the United States and 57th in the world. [...]

Since the past few weeks, software giant Citrix has privately been rolling out a critical software update to its enterprise customers that patches multiple security vulnerabilities affecting Citrix ShareFile content collaboration platform. The security advisory—about which The Hacker News learned from Dimitri van de Giessen, an ethical hacker and system engineer—is scheduled to be available

This is the Call for Nominations for the 2019 Theszie Awards (the rec.sport.pro-wrestling Awards). To nominate candidates for all categories, you may use this form. Nominations are due by January 5, 2019. Finally, to see previous years’ results, click here for 2018, click here for 2017, here for 2016, here for 2015, here for 2014, […]

The series, a prequel to Rogue One, will star Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk reprising their film roles

Our air fryer pork stuffing meatballs are the perfect holiday main course or appetizer. Juicy ground pork and stuffing seasonings come together to create these absolutely scrumptious air fryer meatballs! I’d like to thank The Ohio Pork Council for sponsoring this recipe. Air Fryer Pork Stuffing Meatballs Recipe Friends, do I have a holiday-blockbuster recipe […]

The post Air Fryer Pork Stuffing Meatballs appeared first on Dear Crissy.