IRISS Round-Up
Partnerships for the Future: IRISS Strategy 2015-2018
The View from Here
We'd like to say a huge thank you to all of the participants who got involved in the first phase of
The View from Here project. This project asked practitioners over one week, to record their experiences of delivering care and support using qualitative, creative methods - we wanted to learn from their experience and perspective.
Overall, we were delighted that 74 people completed their packs over the week of 1–7 February. We are currently in the process of analysis and are overwhelmed by the quality and richness of the data received. To support the analysis, the Innovation and Improvement team held a 'sense-making' event a couple of weeks ago to encourage the respondents to engage with the data. Here are a few comments from those who participated:
'I am not alone in my views. Peer support is highly valuable!'
'Made me appreciate that I like my job and I have autonomy and a passion for it’
'You forget about yourself in this job, this project provided me with time to reflect about myself'
'Amazing, emotional, we CAN make a difference'
Phase two of the project will get underway at the end of April when a national workforce survey will be launched in partnership with The Guardian. This will provide a useful quantitative counterpart to the first phase, with the data being used to (a) support and promote public understanding of the sector (b) identify and share opportunities and ideas for improvement (c) create a baseline for understanding views and experiences in order to measure change over time.
Keep your eyes peeled and get involved!
Homelessness: pathways and prevention
On 18 March we hosted a workshop based on the learning from the
Homelessness: pathways and prevention project which was held in Glasgow. Attended by 65 people from across the social services and health sectors, speakers shared the learning about their work in homelessness prevention. Interactive sessions enabled people to discuss key topics and the implications of evidence and innovation in practice. The event also provided an opportunity to help shape the next phase of the project which will focus on peer- and volunteer-led interventions to homelessness.
Speakers included Willie Dunn and Lesley McAleenan who talked about the impact of a
furniture recycle project in Midlothian and the importance furniture has on sustainability of tenancies. Emma Dore from Shelter Scotland talked through the evidence from a forthcoming IRISS
Insight on
prison leavers and homelessness, focusing on ways to address the risks of this transition.
As part of the project we’ve produced two IRISS.FM episodes:
sustainability in homelessness; and
transitions in homelessness.
Katy Heatherington from NHS Health Scotland highlighted key points from research she’s been involved in around
health and homelessness.
Lesley Anderson from Cyrenians Edinburgh was joined by volunteers and people with experience of homelessness to share their views about the strengths and impact of the
Cyrenians approach.
Ellen Daly and Rikke Iversholt from IRISS shared initial findings from the
Pathways and Prevention project.
Please contact
Rikke or
Ellen if you have any questions or would like to get involved.
National Evaluation of Women's Community Justice Services
The light is at the end of the tunnel! Ruth and Colleen are now in the final draft stages of the report, incorporating feedback from Scottish Government on initial draft findings. The final report is due at the end of April, and in May they will be focusing on sharing learning with practitioners. So watch this space... Contact
Ruth or
Colleen if you would like further information.
IRISS.FM - listen when you're on the move!
Audio content on
IRISS.FM is growing and covers lots of policy and practice related topics. We hope you're listening and spreading the word about it. It's a great way to stay informed and learn new things, especially when on the move.
And note that all IRISS.FM content can be downloaded, so you don't have to listen online. As ever, we're keen to hear your ideas for programmes.
Get in touch if you have one.
Resources
Supporting positive relationships
Insight 28 -
Supporting positive relationships for children and young people who have experience of care - is the latest in the series. Written by Karen Winter (Queen's University Belfast), the review explores the growing emphasis being placed on the relationships of children and young people in care. It examines: the nature and type of these relationships; what indicators are used to define quality; why relationships are beneficial; what barriers there are to their formation; what initiatives have been designed to support relationships; and what evidence there is about their impact.
Read Insight 28.
Hospital to Home animation
Over the last year, the Hospital to Home project team has been working in Tayside with health and social care practitioners, older people, their families and informal carers to co-design improved care pathways from hospital to home that enable a more positive experience for all. This process generated three intervention strands which are explained in a
short animation.
On the same web page as the animation, you will find information on a tool called
My Life Book that aims to enable improved communication between older people and the people who matter to them and care for them.
Visit
Hospital to Home.
IRISS Webwatch - Storify
Webwatch is a monthly column that IRISS writes and publishes on new web initiatives in social services, and which gets published in Care Appointments magazine.
The topic for March was
Storify - a nifty way to create a ‘story’ of your event. It'll get you more excited about using social media!
You can read all
Webwatch columns on the IRISS website.
Events
We Chose to Climb
We were delighted to be a partner in the three-day We Chose to Climb event that was held over 16-18 March at the Arches in Glasgow. Organised by Social Care Ideas Factory, the event or creative 'climb' brought together those interested in discussing and celebrating the principles of self-directed support.
Read the Storify (all the Twitter action) of the event.
Listen to reflections on the event.
The Art of the Possible
Pilotlight is a partner in an event - Capacity Building: The Art of the Possible - organised by Providers and Personalisation to share learning around self-directed support. In 2012, the Scottish Government Self-directed Support team funded projects aimed at building provider capacity to deliver more personalised support. As this round of projects come to a close they are getting together to share what they have learned about what has worked (and what hasn’t.)
The event will involve workshops, live learning, films, presentations and failure forums. The team is seeking contributions to the event - workshops, presentations, film, discussions and is also taking bookings.
To make a suggestions for a contribution or book a place, please visit the Personalisation and Providers website. The hashtag for the event is #artofpossible.
2nd UK Knowledge Mobilisation Forum
The 2nd Annual UK Knowledge Mobilisation Forum is being held on 13-14 April 2015 at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. It will provide a space for knowledge producers, knowledge brokers and knowledge users to come together to learn from each other, sharing good (and bad) practice about improving what they do and help maximise the impact of all types of knowledge in practice.
Alison Petch will give a plenary talk about IRISS, exploring ways in which its approach has evolved and how this may or may not relate to theories of knowledge mobilisation; and Catherine-Rose Stocks Rankin (IRISS Associate) will speak about her contribution analysis work at IRISS.
For further information and booking, please visit the event website.
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