Hodge Podge of Media, Events & Information

Life is getting busier, so sometimes I will just post a hodge podge of random things that come across my inbox etc.

Here at Home: In search of the real cost of homelessness

The National Film Board of Canada partnered up with the Mental Health Commission to create an interactive web documentary about the At Home /Chez Soi Project.

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Art Studio's Winter Sale and Silent Auction

 

When: Thursday, Nov 22, 12-8pm

Where: Heritage Hall

3102 Main Street @ 15th Avenue, Vancouver, BC

Admission by donation. Door prizes.

- Original paintings, pottery, prints, cards, jewelry and textiles for sale.

The Art Studios is a Vancouver Coastal Health program that offers art classes to people with mental health conditions. The proceeds from the auction go toward art supplies and workshops.

For more information: 604-871-9788

www.vch.ca/artstudios

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 From the UK:
  
Social workers deserve recognition, rather than this endless criticism 
Social work has its problems, but most are systemic and organisational, not a result of lack of individual integrity or skills
Harry Ferguson, The Guardian, November 13, 2012.

Of course, there are ways that social work, like all professions, can improve. The problem is that contempt and blame are routinely projected into social work, as it is used as the receptacle for all the pain and guilt society feels when children are not kept safe. If social work were a child, it would have to be taken into care for its own safety.


The gravest maltreatment surrounds the systematic expulsion from public discourse of attention to all the good that social workers do, day in, day out, in often bewilderingly complex cases. In my research, I have been observing social workers as they go about their work with children and parents. What I see is practitioners who are inspirational. This is evident in their drive and passion to work all hours, their skills at helping children reveal the harm they are experiencing, and their compassionate and authoritative approach to vulnerable, fearful and angry parents. We have quite simply failed to recognise the enormous physical and moral courage it takes to be an effective social worker.

It is time, as a society, that we looked closely enough to appreciate what social work actually does, and provided the care, respect and resources social workers need to allow them to get on with meeting the needs of the vulnerable people they work so hard to help.

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How clients want social work to improve

People with experience of adult, children's and mental health social work give their verdict on how services should be improved.

Alex Turner, November 13, 2012, Community Care. 

Community Care asked people who have used services in adult, children’s and mental health social care to share their experiences of what works and what they feel needs to be improved. Here’s what they had to say…