Keeping it Real: Service User and Carer Involvement in Professional Education: A National Conference

A national conference to share and promote best practice in service user and carer involvement in professional education. The conference will bring together service users and carers, students, educators, professionals and policy-makers. It will be relevant to social work, health, education and other areas of professional education, at qualifying and post-qualifying levels. The conference sets out to:

• Showcase good practice in service user and carer involvement in professional education and post-qualifying education and training;
• Share learning points and development ideas;
• Draw on students’ and professionals’ experiences of the involvement of service users and carers in their courses;
• Explore key challenges and ways to overcome them.

About the Group:

Stirling University Social Work Service Users and Carers’ Group was established in 2005 in recognition of the important contribution that people who use services have to make to social work education. Many of the group’s founder members continue to be involved along with people who have joined more recently. The group meets at the university on a six weekly basis with additional meetings around specific projects as required.

University staff involvement in the group comprises the group convenors, Sian Lucas and Fiona Sherwood-Johnson, who are members of the qualifying programme staff. We also have administrative support within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Each of the current group members represents a local service with which they are involved and their participation in the group is supported by a member of staff from that service. This is a valuable partnership which enables communication, dissemination of information and gathering feedback in between meetings as well as a shared role in taking ideas forward.

We also have student representatives who work with us and attend our meetings.

Workshops available on the day:

1. Challenges and opportunities in involving service user and carers at advanced post qualifying training – creating the evidence base. Anne McGlade; David Bickerstaff & Brian Taylor

2. Involving Scotland’s Gypsy Traveller Community in Social Work Education. Colin Turbett; Roseanne McPhee & Shamus McPhee

3. Service User and Carer Involvement in professional Education. Charlene Tait

4. User involvement in inter-professional education within the context of health and social care integration. Susan Levy & Fiona Clark

5. Creative Solutions in Challenging Times. The Open University in Scotland Service Users and Carers Group.

6. Developing Evidence Enriched Practice (DEEP) - a democratic and participatory approach to using diverse forms of knowledge. Nick Andrews

7. Co-Production and Quality Improvement in Social Work. Eileen McKay; Maria Somerville & Barbara Campbell

8. A quiet Moment. Penny Moon

9. Articulate Cultural Trust. Eona Craig

10. Hearing our voices: working together with advocates to ensure the voices of marginalised groups are heard.

University of Strathclyde/ Glasgow Caledonian University Service User and Carer Network

11. People First

12. Role-Played Interviews with Service Users in Preparation for Social Work Practice: exploring students’ and service users’ experience of co-produced workshops. UNITY Members & Sara Hitchin

Hosted by Unity Service Users’ and Carers’ group, in collaboration with the University of Stirling Students’ Union, the Scottish Social Services Council, the Scottish Inter-University Service User and Carer Network and the Institute for Research and Innovation in the Social Services (IRISS)