{"id":301,"date":"2020-08-31T12:21:02","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T11:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/?p=301"},"modified":"2020-09-04T16:38:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T15:38:54","slug":"celebrating-rural-social-work-conference-report-now-available","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/2020\/08\/31\/celebrating-rural-social-work-conference-report-now-available\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Rural Social Work &#8211; conference report now available"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On 11 March 2020, over 100 social workers came together in Dumfries to celebrate rural social work, share good practice and understand how it is different, distinct and what it needs to flourish. And as far as we are aware, it was also the very first gathering of this kind \u2013 with rural social work often overlooked, or simply \u2018missing\u2019 from the policy, research or educational landscape. The event was described&nbsp; \u2018 <em>as a lifelong ambition fulfilled<\/em>\u2019 by Colin Turbett, one of our keynotes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We were joined by social workers from as far north as Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, colleagues from England and Wales, and joining us remotely, friends from Europe and as far away as Alaska and North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iriss.org.uk\/news\/post-event-summaries\/2020\/08\/24\/celebrating-rural-social-work-conference-report\">The full conference report is now available<\/a> &#8211; a summary of the presentations, and key messages from the day. We explored what is unique about rural social work. Colin Turbett, author of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iriss.org.uk\/resources\/insights\/rural-social-work-scotland\">recent Iriss Insight on this topic<\/a> and two books &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/shop.basw.co.uk\/products\/rural-social-work-practice-in-scotland\">Rural Social Work Practice in Scotland (2011)<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macmillanihe.com\/page\/detail\/doing-radical-social-work-colin-turbett\/?sf1=barcode&amp;st1=9781137308535\">Doing Radical Social work (2014)<\/a> &#8211; shared his thoughts on what he thinks rural social work is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>the use of particular skills and knowledge to meet the needs of rural communities<\/li><li>a practice that builds on the assets typically found in rural communities: place, familiarity <em>&nbsp;<\/em>and shared knowledge; a small population; a tradition of mutual aid<\/li><li>a practice that addresses issues of disadvantage: remoteness, distance and transport difficulties; lack of choice over services with an absence of specialist ones; hidden poverty \u2013 often in the midst of beauty and wealth<\/li><li>a practice based on generalist and ecological styles of practice; this includes strong networking based on local knowledge; continuity and trust; working with dual relationships.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/sociology\/people\/jane-pye\">Jane Pye, from Lancaster University<\/a>, also shared her recent research- significant because it is the very first empirical research in the UK on rural social workers\u2019 experiences. Six key themes emerged from her study, the first of which highlights the extensive travel involved in doing the job.&nbsp; The other five were: a lack of services in rural areas; complexity in relationships; working across large geographical areas and in dispersed teams; personal and professional identity \u2013 and the benefits of being a rural social worker. \u2018They used the word \u2018love \u2018a lot when they talked about their role\u2019 said Jane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also benefited from the considerable expertise of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sarah_skerratt?lang=en\">Prof. Sarah Skerratt<\/a>, until recently, Director of Policy Engagement at Scotland\u2019s Rural College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For 30+ years, Sarah has researched rural community resilience, empowerment, disempowerment, poverty, and leadership. She has also focused on rural mental health, working with Support in Mind Scotland. &nbsp;Her work captures how people <em>really<\/em> experience rural life, and she insists this must help shape, inform (and challenge) policy and practice to deliver the kind of services that people really want and need. It\u2019s also important we do not default to an urban perspective on things, romanticise rural life (or communities\u2019 abilities to do it al!)- and that we ensure that people\u2019s lived experiences don\u2019t get lost by a singular focus on statistics in policy-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We were also extremely fortunate to hear from colleagues in Wales about their experiences. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hulmes2016?lang=en-gb\">Alison Hulmes<\/a>, Director of BASW Cymru, highlighted some of the legislative and policy drivers, and challenges for the profession \u2013 including recruitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/andrew-pennington-47442625\/\">Andrew Pennington<\/a>, a Senior Practitioner from Powys, followed this by beautifully illustrating&nbsp; \u2018a day in the life\u2019 of a practitioner in his presentation \u2018 More sheep than people\u2019 \u2013 and how they are delivering more relationship and strength-based working, and using assisted technology going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the closing session, we asked everyone to reflect on and share what rural social work needs to flourish and thrive. We also asked them to share \u2018what hurts,\u2019 what is \u2018sweet\u2019, what needs further investment, what type of leadership is needed and how they can stay connected. We also asked them to share their dreams, sending a postcard from the future to themselves. Read this report, and see if you agree with what participants had to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Rural high street mockup, illustrations by Josie Vallely, Iriss<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We hope you enjoy this report, and invite you to share any ideas and reflections in response to it. We are particularly interested in how rural social workers can stay connected after this event, which is why we set up this blog to capture rural social work\u2019s response to the pandemic as it unfolds. Little did we know on the day of the conference what was awaiting us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are interested in being a guest blogger, please contact: <a href=\"mailto:kerry.musselbrook@iriss.org.uk\">kerry.musselbrook@iriss.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons aligncenter is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-fill w-100\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link no-border-radius\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iriss.org.uk\/news\/post-event-summaries\/2020\/08\/24\/celebrating-rural-social-work-conference-report\">Explore the full conference report<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 11 March 2020, over 100 social workers came together in Dumfries to celebrate rural social work, share good practice and understand how it is different, distinct and what it needs to flourish. And as far as we are aware, it was also the very first gathering of this kind \u2013 with rural social work &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/2020\/08\/31\/celebrating-rural-social-work-conference-report-now-available\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Celebrating Rural Social Work &#8211; conference report now available<\/span> Read More \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[22786],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-scaled.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-scaled.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Kerry Musselbrook","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/author\/kerrymusselbrook\/"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-scaled.jpg",2048,1024,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-300x150.jpg",300,150,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-768x384.jpg",768,384,true],"large":["https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-1024x512.jpg",1024,512,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-1536x768.jpg",1536,768,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-2048x1024.jpg",2048,1024,true],"gb-block-post-grid-landscape":["https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-scaled.jpg",600,300,false],"gb-block-post-grid-square":["https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/files\/2020\/08\/rural-social-work-map-scaled.jpg",600,300,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Kerry Musselbrook","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/author\/kerrymusselbrook\/"},"uagb_comment_info":2,"uagb_excerpt":"On 11 March 2020, over 100 social workers came together in Dumfries to celebrate rural social work, share good practice and understand how it is different, distinct and what it needs to flourish. And as far as we are aware, it was also the very first gathering of this kind \u2013 with rural social work&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/rural-social-work-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}