First up, various academics, therapists and doctors have written to Channel 4 complaining about some of the messages communicated in its Joy of Teen Sex programme. We reported a couple of weeks ago that Channel 4 stopped referring to Ruth Corden as a social worker on the programme, as although she has a social work degree she was not yet registered.
Meanwhile there is a fascinating story in the Guardian about a new approach to social care being pioneered in Swindon, in which families get to choose the professionals they want to work with and workers are encouraged to show 'love' to service users.
Love is not a word much used by many professionals working with vulnerable families, and one of the first things Participle had to do when training the team was to define love as trust, respect, non-judgmentalism and a willingness to share who you are. Such notions turn upside down all the usual conventions of the distant professional whose job it is to make decisions.
It sounds like an interesting approach although I wasn't too impressed with the paragraph where social workers were seemingly criticised for wanting to leave a violent situation.
Finally, any Archers fans out there? Here's something I didn't know: the character Susan Carter is played by Charlotte Connor, senior research psychologist at Birmingham and Solihull mental health foundation NHS trust. Talk about multi-talented.
Anyway, according to The Guardian, Connor has been helping to develop a new site aiming to engage young people experiencing early signs of mental health problems. It's called YouthSpace and it looks rather good.
