1. Engaging Scottish Local Authorities Sharing knowledge: building impact Engaging with Involuntary Service Users in Social Work Heather Wilkinson, Mark Smith, Michael Gallagher Borders Council, City of Edinburgh Council, East Lothian Council, Fife Council, Midlothian Council, West Lothian Council Engaging Scottish Local Authorities Sharing knowledge: building impact

2. Engaging Scottish Local Authorities Sharing knowledge: building impact Project Aims Explore the context of social work with involuntary users Gather evidence of ‘what works’ in engaging involuntary users of social work Support dialogue and learning around this topic, for both academics and practitioners Capacity building through practitioner research projects

3. Engaging Scottish Local Authorities Sharing knowledge: building impact Activities Scoping reviews 3 sharing seminars Practitioner research projects (PRPs) with academic mentors Training for PRPs

4. Engaging Scottish Local Authorities Sharing knowledge: building impact Main results to date Scoping reviews: –Key themes briefing published, +ve feedback –Reviews 1&2 completed Sharing seminars: –1 st was a success, made contacts and gathered action points –2 nd will take place on 15 th June PRPs: –All are going, some faring better than others

5. Engaging Scottish Local Authorities Sharing knowledge: building impact Issues arising for coordination/review A lot of learning from the PRPs: –The process of refining aims and questions has taken a lot of time –Issues of time, workload and project scope –Ethics: most of our partner LAs don't have ethics committees –Practitioners have in some cases encountered barriers getting other practitioners on board, also recruitment troubles –Academics are learning that face to face communication is vital; email is OK but not ideal; online methods no good (e.g. wiki) –Practitioners are starting to think about impacts and appear to be well placed to achieve some direct immediate improvements to practice –Practitioners and academics appear to be enjoying the opportunity to work together

6. Engaging Scottish Local Authorities Sharing knowledge: building impact Acknowledgements Thanks to: All of our local authority partners Our academic mentors: Susan Hunter, Janice McGhee, Kay Tisdall, Bill Whyte