Blog | Iriss

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

Reflections on the MHO Conference 2025

Tuesday 4 March 2025

On February 25th, we had the opportunity to attend and present at the Mental Health Officer (MHO) Conference, Reigniting Our Resilience: Informing and Future-Proofing the MHO Workforce, held at The

Big picture

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

What did we learn from our Learning Week?

Wednesday 12 February 2025

Learning Week is over at Iriss now.

Inside Iriss

Evaluation - Invisible String

Tuesday 11 February 2025

As part of our learning week we had a day where we focused on our internal evaluation process, as well as how we can better use the data we already collect to show our impact to partners and…

Inside Iriss

a train crosses a river reflected in the waters seurface

Exploring the intersections of our work

Tuesday 11 February 2025

In a fast-paced environment, the instinct can be to act quickly, but without a shared understanding of where we have been, we could move in directions that are not fully aligned or as effective as

Inside Iriss

Making Time

Tuesday 11 February 2025

As a Development Lead with Iriss, I spend a lot of time thinking about time.

Inside Iriss

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

Narratives, problem rehearsal and the implementation gap

Monday 25 November 2024

The social services and social care system is complex and we face enormous challenges including a lack of resources, squeezed budgets, burnt-out staff and moral distress.

Big picture

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

Ringing Bells

Thursday 14 November 2024

Earlier this month, as part of a project we are working on in the ethical commissioning space, we met with a team of care home managers.

Inside Iriss

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

Ready, prep, go!

Monday 14 October 2024

There’s a lot of work that goes into preparing to host a social work student on placement in a third sector organisation, from communicating with universities, meeting with students and their tutor

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

Launch of a hoarding taskforce

Monday 9 September 2024

Iriss is working with a mix of strategic and local partners to co-design a better and more joined up approach across Scotland to hoarding…

Supporting people who hoard

Research alongside social care practice

Tuesday 27 August 2024

Back in 2009, I was a fresh faced researcher, working as an intern in the Office of the Chief Researcher in the Scottish Government.

Inside Iriss

The Value

Friday 23 August 2024

Having been working on Voice and Visions for nearly six months, it is safe to say we have heard a lot about the third sector social work student placement world; from third sector representatives,

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

Why should I care about ethical commissioning?

Monday 19 August 2024

“What matters isn’t if people are good or bad. What matters is if they’re trying to be better today than they were yesterday. You asked me where my hope comes from? That’s my answer.” Michael ‘The…

Inside Iriss

Change – the only constant?

Tuesday 6 August 2024

We have been reflecting on our last year (and more) and looking forward to this year and our future, and it got me thinking about change. We (people not just Iriss) talk a lot about how we need…

Inside Iriss

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