On this page you will find news and information on forthcoming events, reports on past events, resources for you to use and copies of the Newsletter. Should you know of any upcoming events which you feel would be relevant please contact info@scottishsocialnetworks.org

NEWS

EVENTS

SCSH National Homelessness Conference

 

SHASC

 

News

 We are Big Lottery funded

The Rock Trust Research Project

The Rock Trust has been awarded a grant of £317,323 by the BIG Lottery Fund’s Research Programme in order to undertake a 4 year research project, with the support of Glasgow School of Social Work at Strathclyde University. 

 

This research looks at the role of housing support services in enabling individuals who have experienced or are at risk of homelessness to build positive social networks, with a view to help optimise the quality of support each service is able to provide

 

A three phase approach will be taken to the research.

1) A survey of Scottish local authorities and housing support services.

2) In depth investigation of 4 pilot areas based round tracking a sample of service users and using service user interviewers.

3) Development of models of support, resources and a conference to disseminate results across Scotland. 

 

The Rock Trust will manage the research partnered by Strathclyde University and supported by a Steering Group involving representatives of all groups who will be involved in and benefit from the research.  A full time research fellow will undertake the research with academic support from the Glasgow School of Social Work and project management from the Scottish Social Networks Coordinator backed up by the Rock Trust management team. In the final phase the Rock Trust will develop and disseminate training and share the experience of involvement in research.

 

Research Outcomes 

The research will provide robust evidence to influence local and national policy and provide staff with the functional best practice models and skills to develop or revise practice and bring direct benefit to service users.  Both service providers and service users will be directly involved throughout the process – in design, delivery and dissemination.  Not only will this ensure relevance, but will also develop user employability along with skills in developing, executing and utilising research.  Ultimately the research aims to help to prevent homelessness, reduce isolation, increase personal independence from support services and promote interdependence, community and family relationships. 

    

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Events

Scottish Mentoring Network – Edinburgh & Lothian’s Showcase Event
The event will take place on Tuesday 10th August 2010 at The Edinburgh Training Centre on St Mary's Place, 10 am. There will be a series of presentations from a number of local mentoring projects. Afterwards there will be a networking lunch to allow you to meet and catch up with local mentoring projects and those with an interest in mentoring in Edinburgh and the Lothian's. For further information please see the Scottish Mentoring Network website.

Positive Action in Housing Training Courses

Cultural Awareness

The course will take place on Thursday 29th July 2010, 9.30 am – 4.30 pm at Positive Action in Housing, 98 West George Street, Glasgow, G2 1PJ. This course aims to give you a deeper understanding of some of the key cultural differences and communication barriers affecting people from black minority ethnic communities and is aimed particularly at anyone who works with service users from diverse, multiracial backgrounds; anyone working in social work, housing, welfare, education, employment, health, community development or the justice system.

Working with Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants and EU Nationals

The course will take place on Wednesday 11 August 2010, 9.30 am – 4.30 pm at Positive Action in Housing, 98 West George Street, Glasgow, G2 1PJ. This course is aimed at anyone who works with new migrants, refugees and asylum seekers and is particularly relevant to people working in social work, housing, welfare, education, employment, health, community development or the justice system. The course examines the rights of migrants under UK and European Law.
 Mental Health Awareness: Best Practice Strategies
The course will take place on Tuesday, 24 August 2010, 9.30 am – 4.30 pm at Positive Action in Housing, 98 West George Street, Glasgow, G2 1PJ. This course is aimed at people working in social work, housing, welfare, education, employment, health and community development who are looking to increase their knowledge of the barriers faced by people with mental health problems and the impact this can have on accessing services, employment and housing.
For further details on any of these courses please see the PAiH website.

 

SHIEN Dumfries & Galloway Shared Solutions Workshop

The event will take place on Wednesday September 8th at the Murray Arms Hotel in Gatehouse of Fleet. The event is free and is for everyone who supports the belief that service user participation is a key component of finding sustainable solutions to homelessness.  Service users, staff, managers, planners and decision makers are all welcome.

SHASC 2010

This is happening on the 7th October 2010 at the Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor Hotel. The full programme content, updates and booking form are now available on the event's webpage.

Pavilion Conference: Aiming high for drug and alcohol treatment
The conference will take place on Wednesday 13 October 2010 at ORT House Conference Centre, London NW1. This conference addresses where drug and alcohol treatment goes from here and aims to bring together professionals from across a broad spectrum of the voluntary and independent treatment sector, from the public sector and from government and relevant government agencies. For further information please see the Pavilion website.

SCSH National Homelessness Conference

 This is happening on the 4th and the 5th of November 2010 at the Apex International Hotel, Edinburgh. For more information, please see the Scottish Council For Single Homeless website.

  

Befriending Network Scotland
Befriending Conference 2010 will be held on Tuesday, 9th November at St Paul’s and St George’s, Queen Street, Edinburgh. This year’s theme will be People of Influence and will explore ways that befrienders and clients are affected and influenced by their experience of befriending. 
Confirmed speakers so far include: Professor Robbie Gilligan, Professor of Social Work and Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin and David Robinson OBE, who founded Community Links with Kevin Jenkins OBE in 1977 and also led the Government’s Council on Social Action between 2007 and 2009.  For further information on this and other Befriending Network updates, please see the Befriending Network Scotland website.

 

Resilience Through Life Seminar 3rd March, 2010

 A review of the event has now been uploaded to the site and is available for perusal. On this page, you will also find links to the Seminar Report, speakers' powerpoint presentations and a list of questions raised by delegates at the event.

Scottish Social Networks Forum was delighted with the day and the excellent feedback from delegates.

 New Social Networks Training Days 

Scottish Social Networks

There are no training days currently planned; this page will be updated with any further days when they are planned.

The training has been developed by specialists in the social care field and will equip staff with analytical skills and practical methods to help clients:

·         Analyse their individual social networks

·         Strengthen and extend their informal social networks

·         Access further support if needed

Newsletters

  

 Click on April 2010 Newsletter for our most recent Newsletter, or go to the Archive to look at past editions

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