Scottish Social Networks

This page provides links to valuable resources developed by the Scottish Social Networks Forum.

COMAS Evaluation and Case Studies and Planning to Introduce Social Networks

Scottish Social Networks Training Pack

The Scottish Social Networks Training Pack, is designed for organisations working with vulnerable and socially excluded people.

The training, which is being distributed throughout Scotland, has been developed by professionals in the social care field. It will be used to train frontline staff and volunteers to encourage their clients to develop positive social networks and help them move away from dependency on services.

Specifically, it 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

The Training Pack has been developed for Scottish Social Networks by The Rock Trust, in collaboration with partners from Scottish Mentoring Network, Befriending Network (Scotlande training pack has been funded by The Scottish Government.) Ltd, Family Mediation Scotland, SAMH, Scottish Council Single Homeless and Edinburgh City Council. The training pack has been funded by The Scottish Government.

It will be used by a broad range of organisations working with a variety of client groups including the elderly, young people, ethnic minorities, homeless and disabled. It is especially important when working to improve mental health and wellbeing.

A link is given below to a PDF version of the Scottish Social Networks Training Pack. This pack was revised in April 2009 following feedback from trainers, results of a survey of all users, independent evaluation and follow-up workshops. If you would like to update your original edition, there is also a link below for you to download revisions, and a separate link is given to a power point version of the Training Pack overhead projector slides and handouts.

A link to a PDF of the Training Pack leaflet is also given above. This leaflet can be used to order your hard copy of the training pack.

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Toolkit

A link below is given to a PDF version of the Scottish Social Networks Toolkit which aims to answer the question; “what makes a successful social networks project happen?” The Toolkit is designed to make it easier for local authorities, voluntary organisations and others to develop successful mentoring, befriending and mediation projects which will help prevent homelessness.

Successful Project Development Toolkit (2.16 MB)

Please note the large size of this document if you wish to download it.

For current updates to the Toolkit please see -

www.scottishsocialnetworks.org/updates

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Guides, Linked Strategies and Research

Please click on the link below to view our research page which details useful research papers, guides and strategies. Most, but not all of these are also listed in the Toolkit, however we are constantly adding to the lists as we become aware of relevant materials.

If you have suggestions for other useful resources that you think should also be listed, please contact us at info@scottishsocialnetworks.org

Research page

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COMAS Evaluation and Case Studies

Ruth Cameron from COMAS recently undertook an external evaluation the Scottish Social Networks Trainer’s Training with the cooperation of Loretto Housing Association. The evaluation took part in three stages;

Pre-training interviews with a selection of 6 - 8 participants to assess their awareness of social networks, understand their perspectives on the organisation’s readiness to promote social networks, and the change processes they anticipate will be required to implement the approach within their teams

Post-training interviews with the same participants at 8 weeks, to assess their impressions of the training, their understanding of social networks, and their perspectives on the journey required within their teams to begin to promote positive social networks with clients

Post-training interviews with the same participants at 16 weeks, to review the impact of the training and any organisational/team changes they observe as a result of the training, as well as any early impact on their clients

With this independent evaluation, simple evaluation materials will be developed so that the process can be repeated further down the line internally. With this evaluation Scottish Social Networks have developed and improved the Trainers’ Training, in order to equip more front line staff with the knowledge needed to support clients with poor social networks. Below is a link to Ruth’s report.

COMAS Trainer’s Training evaluation

Self Assessment-Ready for New Ideas

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SHIEN

SHIEN is a national network, facilitated by GHN and funded by the Scottish Government. It is a network for those who recognise the importance of involving & empowering people to have a say on the decisions that affect their life.

SHIEN is for Local Authorities and Health Boards with the strategic and statutory responsibility for homelessness - as well as the diverse range of voluntary and other sectors that provide direct services and supports.

SHIEN recognises the overlaps between homelessness and other forms of inequality and exclusion and so we also warmly welcome membership from service users, practitioners, policy makers and planners working toward wider health and community care objectives across Scotland.

SHIEN provides a highly regarded Toolkit, an online information Resource Exchange from national best practice initiatives, alongside Networking opportunities through an annual national conference and local seminars.

The National Coordinator of SHIEN is Stephanie Plotnikoff and she can be Contacted by email on stephanie@ghn.org.uk or by telephone on 0141 276 4825

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Case Studies

Mentoring, Befriending and Mediation have been identified as offering positive support to individuals who need to build or rebuild positive social networks or prevent their break down in the first place. In many cases, it is the breakdown of these relationships with friends and family that triggers homelessness.

The majority of homeless people or potentially homeless people want to retain or re-establish contact with friends and particularly with family but often feel that things have been said and done which are a barrier to this. Sometimes raising the individual’s confidence and social skills through befriending or mentoring may enable them to address the issues themselves, sometimes another family member can act as a go between; but often if common ground is to be re-established outside independent mediation is required.

The case studies detailed below provide insight into some examples of befriending, mentoring and mediation in practice. These have been provided by a number of organisations who have had success in delivering these services. If your organisation would like to contribute a case study to be published on the website, please contact us at info@scottishsocialnetworks.org

Please click on one of the links below to view a case study –

Mentoring Case Studies

Befriending Case Studies

Mediation

Homelessness Case Studies

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