Listening to service users and carers
The General Social Care Council requires that service users and carers be involved in social work education. This places London Metropolitan University's Social Work programme in an ideal position, owing to its strong service user and carer network.
‘Listening to Service Users and Carers’ is a series of interviews with members of the network. Its purpose is to enable service users and carers to talk about their experience in receiving social services. The interviews were recorded on mini DV and will be made available for purchase on DVD. The project was organised by Dr. Donna Dustin, Undergraduate Course Leader, Ray Thompson, Media Services, and Nora Duckett, Senior Lecturer.
The DVDs have already been used in teaching at London Met. They help facilitate students’ understanding of the service user perspective, and to foster an understanding of the socially-constructed nature of the interaction between social workers and service users, and the impact this can have.
The project was presented to a Higher Education Research Seminar in January 2006. If you'd like a copy of that presentation, e-mail Donna Dustin at d.dustin@londonmet.ac.uk.
