News

We are seeking partners to work with around an explorative approach to organisational enquiry and action. 

It's SDS Awareness Week (#SDSBlether) so we want you to know the latest about our Pilotlight project.

Pilotlight is working with co-design teams of people who use and deliver services across Scotland to design pathways to self-directed support.

Using a design approach, Pilotlight aims to demonstrate how to design support for seldom heard groups, provide more personalised and appropriate services and increase the marketplace of support providers.

We've published Insight 31 - Peer support roles in mental health services - which was written by Louise Christie, Network Manager (Policy and Development) at Scottish Recovery Network.

The print version has been newly designed to reflect our new brand and colours. I think you'll agree that it looks rather lovely. Print copies are available on request, contact Iriss.

Bob Parry, previously Associate Director at NHS Education for Scotland (NES), has taken up the post of interim Director at Iriss following Jackie McKenzie's departure in March 2016. Bob has held a number of senior positions latterly in the NHS in supporting workforce development and education, and leading work in supporting the integration of health and social care and in academia as Dean, Faculty of Health and Social at University of Hull.

Bob took up post on 2 May 2016 and will be with us as plans for the recruitment of a new Iriss Director get underway.

Today, we've published the story of the Relationships Matter project. The two-year project was facilitated by Iriss and led by the Relationships Matter Collective, a group of inspirational practitioners and young people who were brave enough to challenge, and confident enough to promote, continued relationships between practitioners and young people as they leave care.

This story provides an overview of the rationale, activity and learning from those who piloted new ideas as part of the project.

In 2015, Iriss launched a joint project with the Care Inspectorate to explore strategic innovation, resilience and risk in the context of the Care Inspectorate’s mandate of scrutiny and improvement.

The project has comprised of an internal staff survey with 108 responses, two workshops with 18 staff members, and has sought to engage the wider Care Inspectorate workforce through the findings. 

The People Powered Health and Wellbeing Programme (PPHW), delivered by the Health and Social Care ALLIANCE Scotland is contributing towards the Scottish Government’s ambition to create a safe, effective and person-centred health and social care system.

Each of the PPHW programme partners explored different facets of the PPHW aim. The Iriss project – Keeping It Personal (KiP) – explored the use of person-centred approaches when designing improvements to the delivery of health and social care services. 

Dan Hughes is a leading authority on dyadic developmental psychotherapy and has integrated recent research on the neurobiology of trauma, early child development and attachment.

During one of his many trips to Scotland as a guest of Scottish Attachment in Action, Iriss was pleased to video record Dan explaining how the brain reacts to trauma and how an understanding of this process is helpful to foster and adoptive parents as well professionals such as residential care workers and teachers.