Blog

a lakeside castle reflected in the water

Writing an anti-racist survey as a white person

Tuesday 19 August 2025

While it seems like it should be an indisputable statement that we are currently living in a society that is riddled with inequalities and was created by unequal power structures, this has become an…

Projects

Colourful illustration of path winding across rolling hills

Bridging distance

Tuesday 8 July 2025

Disabilities – Pathways and Perspectives is a resource. The hope is that it becomes a prompt for reflection, in and out of work, whatever each reader’s responsibilities, beliefs, uncertainties, stage…

Standalone projects

A squirrel looking curious from behind a tree

Curiouser and curiouser

Tuesday 24 June 2025

Iriss is embarking on a new project to find out all about professional curiosity across the public protection agenda - and we’re looking for interested folk to help us out.

Projects

Writing with, not about

Thursday 19 June 2025

A group of practitioners from the Transitions Team in Scottish Borders Council asked us if we could support them with a shift in writing culture.

Projects

Illustration of crowd of colourful figures

Wisdom in the difference

Tuesday 17 June 2025

Over the past few weeks, we have had the chance to listen to practitioners from across Scotland reflect on safeguarding and child protection…

Child Protection: update to the National Risk Framework

Call for Learning Partners

Tuesday 17 June 2025

We’re looking for third sector learning partners in using a new Iriss resource developed to supp

Voices and visions: collaborating for improved third sector social work student placements

Illustration of head made up of household items

Effects of Clutter or Hoarding on people affected by it

Thursday 15 May 2025

One current estimate is that 2-5% of the population has issues with clutter/hoarding, but this is hard to estimate as there is so much shame for someone admitting they have a clutter or hoarding is

Supporting people who hoard

Groups of people discussing the resource for TSOs

This Must Be The Place(ment)

Thursday 8 May 2025

After working on it for a year, our resource to support social work placements in third sector organisations is here!

Voices and visions: collaborating for improved third sector social work student placements

Finding a Focus

Monday 14 April 2025

Project planning is full of decisions to make. What partners do you need? What will success look like? How responsive can your plan be to new information?

Voices and visions: collaborating for improved third sector social work student placements

Practitioner Research with NQSWs: Inspiration from practice

Wednesday 2 April 2025

Recently we were invited back to North Ayrshire to meet some Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs) and talk about practitioner research. This was a follow up to a session we ran in 2023 where we…

Reimagining social work practice

Professional curiosity in the Scottish Borders

Thursday 27 March 2025

What are we doing about Professional Curiosity in the Scottish Borders?

ASPire hub

Launching a new resource for third sector social work student placements

Tuesday 18 March 2025

We’ve been quiet on the Voices & Visions blog updates recently while we’ve been working away on developing our new resource to support social work student placements in third sector organisations…

Voices and visions: collaborating for improved third sector social work student placements

Seven minutes of your time?

Monday 10 March 2025

Seven minutes might not feel like much, but it’s long enough to learn something new. That’s the thinking behind seven-minute briefings, several of which now sit on the ASPire Hub.

ASPire hub

An update from the Hoarding Taskforce

Monday 17 February 2025

2025 has started at a fast pace with Hoarding Taskforce activities.

Supporting people who hoard

Ethical Commissioning Support for Commissioners Group

Wednesday 27 November 2024

Following the recommendations by the Independent Review of Adult Social Care, the Scottish Government

Ethical commissioning programme 2025–26

Developing peer support: from acorns to trees

Thursday 21 November 2024

Last year we worked with Future Pathways, Voices for a Better Future and the Scottish Recovery Network to look at how we might co-design peer support for care survivors supported by Future Pathways

Co-designing peer support: future pathways

Developing national guidance for Large Scale Investigations

Tuesday 19 November 2024

Large Scale Investigations – or LSIs – can be a knotty issue for all involved. LSIs are a specific type of Adult Support and Protection intervention that is triggered when there’s more than one adult…

Projects

Sunlight shining into a woodland. Person with long hair in a ponytail facing the light and lifting their arms up towards it.

Great expectations: social work student perspectives on placements

Monday 18 November 2024

“I wanted that first placement to be something that I would be like ‘okay is social work the right career for me, is this the right job for me?" - Reflection from an early career social w

Voices and visions: collaborating for improved third sector social work student placements

The National ASP Learning and Development Framework (and more)

Tuesday 12 November 2024

I have now been in post for a little over two years as the National Adult Support and Protection Coordinator – which I find very hard to believe, it has completely flown by!

ASPire hub

Integrating tools from Deep Democracy in Adult Social Work

Wednesday 6 November 2024

Since my colleague and I started working with a local authority adult social work team, it’s been inspiring to see the team’s dedication and thoughtful approach to making a difference in their serv

Self-evaluation in adult social work