Care to chat? A podcast from the Northern Ireland Social Care Council

Helping children and young people thrive – as they say it can take a village. In this final episode in the ‘Care to chat’ 2024 podcast series we are talking childhood development and sharing practical advice and ideas for supporting children and young people to improve outcomes for them and their families. In particular a number of resources available on the Northern Ireland Social Care Council’s Learning Zone which aim to support and build knowledge, skills and confidence for those social work professionals and others navigating the early childhood and adolescence development landscape.  Our host hosted by Dr Wendy Austin MBE speaks to experienced social work professional and academic Mary McColgan, Emerita Professor of Social Work at Ulster, and Laura Durkan, Social Work Student who is entering her final year at Belfast Met, who has had experience working with children and young people before she started to study social work.  This episode focusses on what are some of the resources available to support social work practice in child development and how they can be used in their practice, with a new resource now available.   Are you interested in child development?   Whether you are a social worker, social work student, a professional working in education, youth and community work, early years/childcare, health and social care or a parent/care giver, or a young person yourself, you can access a number of resources about this on the Social Care Council’s Learning Zone.  ‘Care to chat?’ will return with lots more important conversations in social care and social work in 2024. Have an idea for a future episode? Contact us on comms@niscc.hscni.net with your suggestions

Like other professions, in social care the recruitment process is not just about getting a person for a vacancy – the person has to have the right values to work in social care and to match with the organisation they are going to work for.  So, what is value-based recruitment in social care and why is it important? And what does good retention look like in practice?  If you are an employer that has staff from the social care workforce these questions are very relevant to you. The answers are in this week’s episode of ‘Care to chat?’, where you can find out actions you can do to ensure the staff you recruit will want to stay, thrive and build lasting careers in social care.   This episode our host Dr Wendy Austin MBE talks about this important issue for employers with special guests: Dr Shirley Boyle, Lecturer, Open University, Paul Rooney, Professional Advisor, Social Care Council and Caitilin Robinson, Homecare Area Manager, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.  During the episode you will find out why this approach to recruitment and retention has proven to be particularly effective in the social care sector and tips you can put in practice so you can keep those who are there for the right reasons – to improve the lives of the people they support.  Do manage staff and social care and could do with some help? You can access the new Values-based retention toolkit on the Social Care Council’s Learning Zone. 

In our latest ‘Care to chat?’ podcast, discover how to get into social work as a career in Northern Ireland and learn more about the qualifications, skills and experience you'll need.   Our panel of experts explain from their own experiences why they decided to embark on a social work career and what they love about it. They tell us that there is ‘more than one chance’ or pathway into social work and what it is really like to be a social work student in training towards one of the most rewarding careers there is.    Host Dr Wendy Austin MBE is joined by Catherine Maguire, Head of Workforce Development, Northern Ireland Social Care Council (also a registered social worker), newly qualified social worker Ioan Racasan, current social work student Niamh Quinn and senior social worker Caragh McLaughlin, Head of Community Social Work, Western Health and Social Care Trust.   Wendy asks the questions so you don’t have to about what preparation you need to do before you apply for the Degree in Social Work in Northern Ireland, where you can study and what support is available.   A must listen for any budding social worker. Let your career journey start here.   Feeling inspired? For more information on how you can train to be a social worker in Northern Ireland check out our Interested in becoming a social worker? page. 

The criminal justice system is complex and can be a difficult thing for the public to understand if they have not had first-hand experience of it. Therefore, it is understandable that the role of social work practice in the justice sector is similarly not well understood.  This week’s podcast sees host Dr Wendy Austin MBE, sit down with two social workers who practice in the justice sector. Guests Robyn McVeigh, a Probation Officer with the Probation Board for Northern Ireland Ashley Galloway, a Floating Support Social Worker with criminal justice agency Extern, talk through their experience working in what is a complex and life changing area of social work practice, where their day to day work and the work of their colleagues can change an individual or a family’s life trajectory for the better. 

When thinking of a lifelong, exciting and fulfilling career in healthcare, social care may not be the first profession that comes to the mind of many. However, social care is currently going through a process of redefining career pathways in the profession and many working in social care know it is just as an exciting and important job-for-life prospect as other areas of the integrated health system in Northern Ireland. In this episode Dr Wendy Austin MBE, sits down with Positive Futures Director of Operations, Kerry Mallon, to talk about her own 20-year career journey in social care from starting as a support worker, to moving into different areas of practice, to becoming a manager and social care leader in her own right. Feel inspired? You should be. Listen on to hear how Kerry’s real-life insights might inspire you to start your journey working in social care, or if already work in social care to take that next step in your career.

In this captivating episode titled “‘We are one of you – working together as part of Team HSC’, we welcome inspiring social care leaders to discuss social care as a profession supporting the effective delivery of the health and social care system in Northern Ireland. Join us as we delve into the heart of the public and community’s understanding and misunderstanding of social care, why it’s important to recognise social care as a profession with diverse expertise and opportunities for career progression, how we need to ensure social care is promoted positively and seen as a solution to challenges in the HSC system and how social care works alongside other professions to support everyone’s health and social care needs both now and in the future. In the studio with our host Dr Wendy Austin MBE are qualified nurse Fifi Kourakou, Nurse Manager from Daisy Hill Private Nursing Home, Alex McIntyre, a registered social worker and Domiciliary Services Manager with the Optimum Care Group, Pauline Shepperd, CEO, Independent Health Care Providers (IHCP) and Heather Sleator, Associate Consultant with IHCP and who has a social work and nursing background.

A new episode of ‘Care to chat’ is now available. This time around we have a special conversation which shows a very different area of social care – social support – and demonstrates how special relationships can be for those that access support at a crucial time and those that give it. Host Dr Wendy Austin MBE is joined by Teresa Miles, Social Care Manager, Belfast Central Mission, and her staff member Support Worker, Rebecca Simpson, alongside mum of three, Molly Lappin, who has had support from both Teresa and Rebecca to find suitable housing for her and her family, and who as a result is considering a career in social care herself.  

Working in partnership with people who user services and their families or carers is an important way to influence positive change. In this week’s ‘Care to chat?’ podcast we hear from members of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council’s Participation Partnership which consists of people who use services and carers from a range of backgrounds and experiences. Members of the Participation Partnership influence and advise the Social Care Council and develop principles and standards to encourage best practice in participation working.    Dr Wendy Austin MBE hears from members Alan Ritchie, Grace Price and Anne Mallon about their experiences of being involved in advocacy and engagement in health and social care, what motivates them to participate and why they think others should consider getting involved. Hear from them about the importance of nurturing the service user and family’s relationship with social care and social work professionals and to view it as an equal and respectful partnership. If you are interested in influencing just like Grace, Alan and Anne you can join the Social Care Council’s Participation Partnership by sending an email to: comms@niscc.hscni.net.  

On the latest episode of ‘Care to chat?’ podcast, we welcome the Northern Ireland Social Care Council’s (the Social Care Council) Head of Fitness to Practise, Helen McVicker. Helen sits down with our host Dr Wendy Austin MBE, to talk about the role and challenges of regulating social care workers and social workers, when it comes to protecting the public. They speak about fitness to practise which is the public protection role of the Social Care Council, including the importance of registration and the Public Facing Register (the Register), community awareness this, how they work with others who have a role in public protection and what happens when a concern is raised about the standards of conduct and practise for a social care worker or social worker – proportionately, both for the practitioner and the person raising the concern.

This week is Loneliness Awareness week, so our next Care to Chat episode is a worthwhile listen. This year’s theme, ‘Random Acts of Connection’, encourages everyone to increase simple, everyday moments of connection which can help us build relationships with others and feel happier and less lonely. Loneliness is a significant problem in our communities and often arises from complex and multifaceted issues linked to mental and physical ill- health, discrimination, inequality and exclusion. So, how can social workers help people who are experiencing loneliness? In our latest podcast Dr Wendy Austin MBE guides a conversation to find out more about why a newly qualified social worker, an early career social worker and a team leader ask the people they support about loneliness. Jeanine Toner, Team Manager, Northern Ireland Refugee Support Service with Barnardo’s, Steven McMillan, Community Older People’s Team with Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and Aislinn Delaney, Social Work Lead with the NI Hospice share how they use their skills and relationship centred practice to have important and sometimes difficult conversations about loneliness in very diverse settings working with older people, refugees and people with life-limiting illnesses.

In our first episode of 2024, we focus on social work and leadership. There is a big conversation going on across the social work profession, around the Social Work Leadership Framework, a framework to help shape how leadership applies to social workers in Northern Ireland and how it makes a positive impact on their practice. This episode features Aine Morrison, Chief Social Worker, Department of Health, Marita McGuiness, Assistant Director for Social Work and Social Care Governance, Southern Health and Social Care Trust, Eileen McKay, Deputy Executive Director of Social Work, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and Louise Kearney, Children’s Services Manager, Action for Children. They answer questions about what the Leadership Framework is and why it’s important for social work to have one.

In this final episode in the Northern Ireland Social Care Council’s ‘Care to chat’ 2023 podcast series hosted by Dr Wendy Austin MBE, we are taking another look at social work and human rights specifically in the context of children’s safeguarding and young people in care. Experienced professionals contribute to the discussion including Jane Hynes, Senior Social Worker, Learning and Improvement Team, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, Geraldine McGuigan, Manager, Voypic, Suzanne Cunningham, Assistant Director of Children’s Services, RQIA and Dr Nazia Latif, Right Practice. This episode is a follow on from our previous episode (see previous related episode), where we talked with human rights expert Dr Nazia Latif. It explores further human rights in social work, and guests discuss how to make human rights real in practice. ‘Care to chat?’ will return with lots more important conversations in social care and social work in 2024. Have an idea for a future episode? Contact us on comms@niscc.hscni.net with your suggestions.

Our new ‘Care to chat’ podcast episode focusses again on leadership – which is a crucial part of how we get health and social care right. This time we are looking at it from within the profession of social work. Leadership from within social work is even more important given the diverse area of support social workers provide for individuals, families and communities. In this episode the social work leaders in Northern Ireland, Maura Dargan, Executive Director of Social Work and Divisional Director of the Children’s and Young Peoples Division, Northern Health and Social Care Trust, Michelle Janes, Director, Barnardos NI and Vivian McConvey, former Chief Executive, Patient Client Council, sit down with host Dr Wendy Austin MBE and talk about the breath of social work leadership across services, what leadership means in social work and that its time to look at leadership from a different and more integrated point of view.

On the latest episode of ‘Care to chat?’ podcast, we welcome the Northern Ireland Social Care Council’s Senior Leadership Team to talk about the role of the Social Care Council, and the value of regulation for social workers and social care workers and most importantly for people receiving care and support. As the Social Care Council reaches the end of its 21st year, Dr Wendy Austin MBE is joined by Patricia Higgins, CEO, Marian O’Rourke, Director of Regulation and Standards and Declan McAllister, Director of Registration and Corporate Services. She encourages them reflect on their own careers, the last 21 years and how the Social Care Council’s role now in supporting the social work and social care workforce is more important than ever.

On the latest episode of ‘Care to chat?’, a podcast from the Northern Ireland Social Care Council’, tackles the topic of ‘Compassionate leadership’ and why this is so important right now. Prof. Michael West, CBE Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology at Lancaster University, contributes alongside senior leaders from across health and social care in Northern Ireland who are working on your behalf to help the system work better for us all. Dr Wendy Austin MBE explores how compassion towards service users, colleagues and yourself, creates compassionate cultures in health and social ensuring better outcomes for service users.

Here’s a question – what do you think of having social workers based in schools? In the latest episode of the Social Care Council’s ‘Care to chat’ podcast Dr Wendy Austin MBE and guest discuss this relatively new specialist area of social work practice in Northern Ireland which is providing a unique support service to students. We hear from Principal of Abbey College, Maria Quinn, Dylan Sloan a social worker working in her school, and to talk with Colin Reid from the Education Authority about social work practice in schools. Dr Wendy Austin once again asks the questions that matter to find out about this growing area of social work practice in NI.

Northern Ireland has changed a great over the last 25 years, and as the Good Friday Agreement reaches that milestone, it is timely that we look at the social care and social work workforce as part of a diversity and inclusive workforce across Northern Ireland. In the latest ‘Care to chat’ podcast episode, you can hear reflections about what equality, diversity and inclusion mean to the social care and social work workforce and where the challenges lie. Our host Dr Wendy Austin MBE speaks to Professor of Social Policy at the Ulster University, Professor Ann-Marie Gray and Paul Rooney, Professional Advisor with the Social Care Council. Both agree that attracting a diverse workforce to social care and social work as careers is of the utmost importance, which is part of creating a prosperous society for all.

What does human rights social work mean for both service users, their families and for social workers themselves in practice? In the latest ‘Care to chat’ podcast episode, tune in to hear from Dr Nazia Latif, who has worked with the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and how runs her own organisation, Right Practice, that provides advice to help organisations meet their equality and human rights commitments. She tells us about an important aspect of social work practice – human rights. Dr Wendy Austin MBE discusses with Nazia her career to date, what human rights is and why is it important for social workers.

Social care workers are the largest professional health and social care workforce in Northern Ireland. In the latest ‘Care to chat’ podcast episode, tune in to hear from Paul Rooney, a Professional Advisor at the Social Care Council and Elaine Somerville, Assistant Director of Social Work from the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust. They join Dr Wendy Austin MBE to talk about social care workforce reform – they discuss the value of social care and why reform is needed? What is happening? What does this mean for social care workers? Listen to hear all these questions and more are answered.

Those who know best about the difference that social care makes are the people who receive it. In the latest episode of ‘Care to Chat’ we hear from 11-year-old Cillin and his mum Trisha from Enniskillen who are supported by Rhonda Knox, a Community Support Worker from Positive Futures. Dr Wendy Austin discusses how they work together to ensure Cillin continues to develop and grow to his full potential and the great support they have from this community-based service.