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Michael McEwan speaks to three carers: Alex Davis, a full-time carer for her son; Frank McGowan who cares for his older brother; and Liz Carson, who cares for her son.  Each person tells us about their experiences of caring in lockdown.  Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.  

How are those with disabilities coping in lockdown?  Michael McEwan speaks to Chris Baird, a national campaigner; Danielle Farrel, founder of Your Options Understood; Wesley Grierson, a campaigner; and Lindsay Kinloch. They give their views on information and support in place, how they are coping and some of the challenges of the pandemic. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Jenna Henderson, an Early Years Educator at Dunblane Nature Kindergarten tells us about the impact of lockdown on their services and how they’re maintaining relationships with children and families at this time. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Organisations that support people with disabilities and long-term conditions will have their own set of particular challenges during the Covid-19 crisis.  Michael McEwan speaks to three organisations – Scottish Personal Employers Network (SPAEN), Partners for Inclusion Group and Unity – about the services they provide, the challenges of the current situation and how they're supporting people.  Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

On 22 April 2020, Michelle from Iriss spoke to Jennifer Carruthers, Deputy manager at Rashielee Care Home in Erskine. Jennifer tells us how both staff and residents are managing in the current circumstances and how they’ve had to change and adapt services to cope in the crisis. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Improving justice in child contact is a project exploring child contact decisions in families affected by domestic abuse. It is funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). Child contact is understood to be the systems and court processes which decide whether and how a child sees a parent that they are not living with. It is a partnership project across Bulgaria, Cyprus, Portugal, Romania and Scotland. Professor Kay Tisdall from the Childhood and Youth Studies Research Group at the University of Edinburgh, and Dr Marsha Scott, CEO of Women’s Aid kindly gave me their time to talk about the project. Note: This episode was recorded before the implementation of social distancing requirements due to COVID-19. However, we are aware that those requirements create particular concerns around child contact and domestic abuse and that this content is therefore relevant to COVID-19 responses. Read: Supporting women and children affected by domestic abuse throughout COVID-19. Tr

Cumbernauld Action for Care of the Elderly or CACE is an organisation that supports improved wellbeing and quality of life for older people in Cumbernauld. We spoke to Margaret Riley, Chief Executive of CACE about how the organisation is managing in the Coronavirus outbreak. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Dr. Ossie Stuart is an academic researcher and an independent equalities consultant, who has written key works on race, disability and social care. He is a wheelchair user and firmly believes that we are all entitled to fully participate in society and have control over our own destinies. These two ideas have heavily influenced everything he has done, and will do, in his working life. Ossie receives a direct payment and uses it to employ personal assistants. Michelle from Iriss had a conversation with him about how he’s managing in the current crisis. He offers some helpful advice and has also created a blog, titled Social care: a user's voice to share his views. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

On 27 March 2020 Iriss spoke to Eona Craig, Chief Executive of Articulate Cultural Trust about its work to support care experienced young people, and how the organisation has managed to continue to deliver services in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. Articulate works with often socially isolated care experienced young people in Scotland, challenging loneliness, supporting connectivity and promoting physical and mental well-being. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Is use of language something you carefully consider as a social worker? And is language important to social work practice? Sara Hitchin, Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Stirling certainly thinks so and has written an article about it for the Scottish Organisation for Practice Teaching or Scopt. Michelle from Iriss went along to University of Stirling to have a conversation with her about the importance of language and its relationship to social work values. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

'There’s More to Care than Caring' is a Scottish Government-led adult social care recruitment campaign which was launched in January 2020. It aims to encourage people to take up a career in care. Michelle from Iriss had a conversation with Lorraine Gray, Chief Executive of SSSC, about the purpose of the campaign, the importance of adult social care work and how people can get involved in promoting the campaign. Campaign website: https://caretocare.scot/ Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Indepen-dance creates opportunities for disabled and non-disabled people to enjoy, express and fulfil their potential through dance. Michael McEwan interviews one of the founding members, Karen Anderson, as well as Adam, a dancer involved in the project. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

KOR Records is an independent record label that creates music projects for young people with additional support needs and releases their output. Michael McEwan interviews Geraldine Heaney about the work of the record company.  Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Humans of Scotland is a campaign that highlights the voices of those with long term conditions, disabilities and those who are unpaid carers. Michael McEwan interviews Angela Millar, the campaign lead and two people who share their stories as part of the campaign, Raven Lane and Michael Byrne. Read the Humans of Scotland book. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

An interview with Alistair Brown, National Director of the Scottish Association of Social Work (SASW).  Alistair grew up in Falkirk and has been practising in Scotland in statutory roles and as a Mental Health Officer and independent social worker over the last 10 years. Prior to this he practised in and managed youth mental health services in New Zealand for nine years. He has had many voluntary roles at SASW over recent years as a member/practitioner including chair of MHO Forum, Chair of SASW governance committee and SASW representative on the British Association of Social Work board of directors. He remains on shift duty occasionally as an emergency social worker and is a member of the Mental Health Tribunals for Scotland. 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.

Get into Care is a recruitment campaign that supports less advantaged young people to work in the care sector. It is a partnership of Crossreach and the Prince's Trust Scotland. Corrine Morrison-Gillies, Head of HR Operations and People Development at Crossreach spoke to Iriss about this award winning programme. Charlene, a young woman involved in the programme also shared the story of how she was supported into work by it. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Include Me 2 Club aims to change the face of social care in East Renfrewshire, by taking a person-centred, community asset-based approach. Michael McEwan interviews Paul McIlvaney, the Chair of the project. Transcript of episode Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Dorothy Neriah is a a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh who is conducting research on rethinking how we understand, evaluate and undertake foster carer recruitment. Michelle from Iriss had a conversation with her about how she came to focus on this topic, current practice in foster carer recruitment, and the benefits of rethinking the approach. Contact Dorothy about her research: dorothy.neriah@ed.ac.uk  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.