Youth Act! For Human Rights

This pilot project, funded by The Ford Foundation, establishes Youth Act! For Human Rights initiatives in two locations (Washington, DC and Vancouver, W A), conducts social justice activism training for young people within these communities, challenges youth to put their newly learned human rights education into action, and provides a vehicle, via community advocacy summits, for them to showcase the results of their human rights activism. Youth Act! For Human Rights presents a unique opportunity for young people to analyze and work to solve community problems from the root level. The comprehensive approach- through application of the human rights framework - allows youth to understand the connection between the different problems in their lives and human rights. Participating youth are encouraged to identify local issues of concern, placing special emphasis on economic and social rights. Youth Act! For Human Rights is committed to training youth to solve social justice problems so they can grow to become adults committed to activism and working for change

Youth Act! for Human Rights

This pilot project, funded by the Ford Foundation, establishes Youth Act! For Human Rights initiatives in two locations (Washington D.C. and Vancouver, WA), conducts social justice activism training for young people within these communities, challenges youth to put their newly learned human rights education into action, and provides a vehicle, via community advocacy summits, for them to showcase the results of their human rights activism

Making it real of sustaining a fantasy? Personal budgets for older people

The restructuring of English social care services in the last three decades, as services are provided through a shifting collage of state, for-profit and non-profit organisations, exemplifies many of the themes of governance (Bevir, 2013). As well as institutional changes, there have been a new set of elite narratives about citizen behaviours and contributions, undergirded by modernist social science insights into the wellbeing benefits of ‘self-management’ (Mol, 2008). In this article, we particularly focus on the ways in which a narrative of personalisation has been deployed in older people’s social care services. Personalisation is based on an espoused aspiration of empowerment and autonomy through universal implementation to all users of social care (encapsulated in the Making it Real campaign [Think Local, Act Personal (TLAP), no date)], which leaves unproblematised the ever increasing residualisation of older adult social care and the abjection of the frail (Higgs and Gilleard, 2015). In this narrative of universal personalisation, older people are paradoxically positioned as ‘the unexceptional exception’; ‘unexceptional’ in the sense that, as the majority user group, they are rhetorically included in this promised transformation of adult social care; but ‘the exception’ in the sense that frail older adults are persistently placed beyond its reach. It is this paradoxical positioning of older adult social care users as the unexceptional exception and its ideological function that we seek to explain in this article

Physical restraint in residential child care : the experiences of young people and residential workers

There have long been concerns about the use of physical restraint in residential care. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study which explores the experiences of children, young people and residential workers about physical restraint. The research identifies the dilemmas and ambiguities for both staff and young people, and participants discuss the situations where they feel physical restraint is appropriate as well as their concerns about unjustified or painful restraints. They describe the negative emotions involved in restraint but also those situations where, through positive relationships and trust, restraint can help young people through unsafe situations

Bridging the gap: an exploration of the use and impact of positive action in the UK

Despite laws in Britain permitting limited positive action initiatives to combat disadvantage faced by minority groups in employment since the mid-1970s, the subject has notoriously been a neglected and highly controversial area in the UK. Notwithstanding the potential provided by sections 158 and 159 of the Equality Act 2010, it still appears that organisations prefer to steer clear of this opportunity to address disadvantage suffered by protected groups. Whilst there is a body of work considering the theoretical importance of positive action in the UK, there is a lack of empirical exploration of the practical implications of these provisions. This paper will provide a brief overview of the theoretical context and current positive action legislative provisions within the UK. In light of this context, the early findings of a small-scale qualitative study carried out by the authors will be discussed looking at the experiences of a purposive sample of public and private employers in relation to the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010. Early research findings suggest that whilst there was a clear willingness and openness by employers to use of outreach measures in order to redress disadvantage, there was evident wariness regarding a move towards preferential treatment as expounded by section 159. Whilst respondents appeared to appreciate the business case for and utility of the positive action measures under section 158, there was far less enthusiasm for more direct preferential treatment, with many respondents raising serious concerns regarding this. These concerns often reflected a highly sensitive risk-based approach towards any action that could expose their organisation to the possibility of “reverse discrimination”

Restraining Good Practice: Reviewing evidence of the effects of restraint from the perspective of service users and mental health professionals in the United Kingdom (UK)

Safeguarding, balancing the concept of risk with the need for public protection and its implication for the lives of individuals, is an important facet of contemporary mental health care. Integral to safeguarding is the protection of human rights; the right to live free from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, and having the right to liberty, security, respect and privacy. Professionals are required to recognise all of these rights when delivering care to vulnerable people. In the United Kingdom (UK) there has been growing public concern regarding abusive practices in institutions, with a number of unacceptable methods of restraint being identified as a feature of care, particularly in mental health care. In keeping with the service user movement, and following a review of the literature, this paper discusses the evidence regarding restraint from the perspectives of service users and professionals within mental health services and considers the implications for future practice and research. In reviewing the literature findings revealed restraint can be a form of abuse, it’s inappropriate use often being a consequence of fear, neglect and lack of using de-escalation techniques. Using restraint in this way can have negative implications for the well-being of service users and mental health professionals alike

Exploring the health visiting service from the view of South Asian clients in England: a grounded theory study

The fact that health inequalities disproportionately affect the minority ethnic population is not new and projections are that the minority ethnic population will continue to increase. The importance of early intervention and the key role that health visitors can play in attempting to reduce health inequalities is well documented as is the requirement for health providers to establish culturally sensitive services. To date, much of the research has focused on the perspectives of healthcare professionals caring for minority ethnic clients in hospital-based settings and little is known about the perspectives of minority ethnic clients regarding the health visiting service (HVS). The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives of South Asians regarding their experiences with the HVS. The study was conducted in a small town in the South of England between March and June 2013. A qualitative study using a grounded theory approach was used to capture the perspectives of this group regarding their interactions with the HVS. The sample consisted of 15 participants and data were collected through audio-recorded semi-structured interviews and analysed using constant comparative approach. Three key categories were identified: 'understanding the health visitor's role', 'sensitivity of services' and 'the significance of family'. While clients valued one-to-one support from health visitors, there was some evidence of poor communication and ethnocentric tendencies within the service. It was found that South Asian clients distinguish between health and parenting advice, being more likely to accept health advice from their health visitor and more likely to accept parenting advice from their family. The findings, although limited in their generalisability, offer important insights into how South Asians perceive the service and will equip health visitors with a better understanding of how best to improve the experience of South Asian clients accessing the health visiting