Nice girls don’t get the corner office, or … do they?
I’ve been listening to an audiobook recently called ‘Nice Girls Don’t Get The Corner Office’… I’m confident in stating that if you have met me in my career so far, you will appreciate why this title intrigued me so much and why I decided to give it a try. I have always been a self-confessed […]
And The Answer Is… Technology!
At a time when there seem to be more questions than answers, here’s one we all should get right: As Britain begins to emerge cautiously from the effects of healthcare upheaval, does anyone still doubt the importance of digital technology in tackling big problems effectively? Surely now the question should not be about whether technology, […]
The Upside of Lockdown
I firmly believe that if nothing else comes out of this disruptive time, it will be an enhanced awareness of each other and the often invisible world of care. It is an awareness that, while we go about our everyday, rather self-centred stuff, there is a kind of ‘parallel universe of caring’ where people look […]
Looking For Kindness
The theme for Mental Health Awareness Week this year is kindness; something that we all appreciate but it can be difficult to define. Last year, I took part in a series of conversations led by the University of Edinburgh on kindness in policy. This was in response to the inclusion of kindness in Scottish Government’s […]
Beyond A Two-Tier Social Care System
More than four in five adult social care services are currently either rated Good or Outstanding by the CQC. While the fact that the vast majority of care services continues to excel amidst a funding and recruitment crisis is a cause of celebration, there remains a sizeable proportion (almost one in five) of failing services. […]
Loneliness And Mental Health: Social Networking (In The Flesh)
The subject of loneliness and mental health has been at the forefront of discussions in adult social care. We have explored the topic of loneliness and come across a few options to help combat loneliness such as au pairing and Homeshare schemes. If the Homeshare scheme or au pairing isn’t right for you because there’s no spare space at home […]
Is This Thing On? Age Vs Social Media
I feel as though I was part of one of the last generations to experience childhood with limited access to the world of social media. I remember hearing stories of Myspace, but my young mind couldn’t comprehend what this meant. I was too busy devouring books and playing with toys and, besides, we didn’t own […]
Au Pairing: An Affordable Solution To The Care Crisis?
Similar to the Homesharer scheme, au pairing is another intergenerational live-in scheme available to elderly homeowners, and actually the inspiration for this set of blogs on the topic of loneliness. If I had known before I embarked on my journey as an au pair in Spain that I had the option of being an ‘au pair for […]
NO MORE MORRISONS FOR YOU, MUM. An everyDAY Life & Death Situation
So she died then. My mother, that is. To be fair, she’s been saying that her children would be the death of her for the last 50 years so she was finally right. But it does mean that Morrisons caff will have one less customer, or one more seat available, depending on your outlook on life […]
The Homeshare Scheme Bringing Unlikely Housemates Together
Forging meaningful social connections is the obvious route to prevent loneliness. For those living alone, it can be hard to find ways to make those connections. One scheme that is helping tackle this issue is ‘Homesharing’. Programmes enabling homesharing have been around for decades, the first official schemes developing separately throughout Europe (including the UK) in […]
