In May I joined a
group of students and academics from Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) to travel to
Prague to take part in and work to develop a powerful and innovative learning
experience. This was the intensive learning programme on street work between four
universities, LMU, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Prague, to which the
project forms part of a three-year Erasmus-funded Intensive Programme (IP), which initially began in 2013.
The Leeds teaching programme, which is led by Darren Hill and Dr
Erika Laredo from LMU, creates the space for 40 students from
across the four universities to work with academics and practitioners on street work,
research, theory and practice. The students come from a range of backgrounds
including social work and youth work and had all done preparatory work on
issues of homelessness, addiction and social theory.
This was a great
example of how Leeds, in all it's rich complexities of academics, practitioners,
students and former service users, could come together to learn and debate
options and approaches across countries. Darren Hill, senior lecturer in
social work at LMU and co-organiser of the programme, summed up
well what this meant: "The students and staff will be studying
international street work, visiting homeless projects in Prague, designing
research proposals and sharing their skills and experiences. We hope that it
will encourage the students to go into masters degree level study and move into
street work practice. By drawing together a range of academics and
professionals across a variety of disciplines, we aim to address the new
knowledge and skills that professionals working within a street context will
require over the next decade." More details about this can be found on the LMU website.
My memories of
the two weeks are positive and plentiful, with particular things standing out. One was that
the Prague conference on the ground was run and overseen by just one person -
Barbara Janikova. Barbara is lecturer in the Department of
Addictology, First Faculty of Medicine at Charles University in Prague. I was
amazed at how one person supported us all and organised the operation on the
ground, day after day. She was always there helping students and staff and we were all inspired by her. On the last day at the final meal, we were able to
celebrate her and all she had done for us. While it is true that Barbara is an
extraordinary person, it showed me again how one person can make a massive
difference. It is a lesson I see often in the NHS and elsewhere, that it
is really the people that matter. If we get the right people, people of care and
vision, all the rest can follow. Without this, I think we run into real
problems.
During the two
week teaching experience, Jo Smith, my colleague from Leeds Adult Social Care, and
I took part in different sessions. Jo is a mental health social worker for
the homeless and works in the Mental Health Homeless Team, which is part of Leeds City Council, as well as in the CRI Street Outreach Team.
Each day we ran sessions to encourage the students to meet and take part in
interactive work; this was to support cross national discourse, discussion and
work.
We worked with tutor groups looking at different aspects of teaching and research. My group looked at drug issues and visited an inspirational project, which works with those with drug problems in the city of Prague. It was interesting to hear about their challenges and work and it struck me how in Leeds, we are very fortunate to have built and continue to build strategic alliances for the poor and the vulnerable. These alliances see inclusion as not just including marginalised groups but address how a whole city can and should develop positive health and wellbeing agendas, vision and practice. This allows the generation of work from the bottom up and top down to occur and really start to change things. Two examples of this are the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board Vision and the innovative work around homeless hospital discharge work (Homeless Accommodation Leeds Pathway (HALP), which Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust and York Street Practice have been key workers in). One person (who has extensive experience in services and service development) and attended the HALP launch in January commented to me recently how, when they attended the launch event, they were impacted by the incredible positive energy in the room and how everything was joined together, from the streets to strategic levels.
We worked with tutor groups looking at different aspects of teaching and research. My group looked at drug issues and visited an inspirational project, which works with those with drug problems in the city of Prague. It was interesting to hear about their challenges and work and it struck me how in Leeds, we are very fortunate to have built and continue to build strategic alliances for the poor and the vulnerable. These alliances see inclusion as not just including marginalised groups but address how a whole city can and should develop positive health and wellbeing agendas, vision and practice. This allows the generation of work from the bottom up and top down to occur and really start to change things. Two examples of this are the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board Vision and the innovative work around homeless hospital discharge work (Homeless Accommodation Leeds Pathway (HALP), which Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust and York Street Practice have been key workers in). One person (who has extensive experience in services and service development) and attended the HALP launch in January commented to me recently how, when they attended the launch event, they were impacted by the incredible positive energy in the room and how everything was joined together, from the streets to strategic levels.
We used a variety
of forms to teach and share in the two weeks. One interesting format was a
staged debate between myself and my friend and colleague, Dr Asun Llene Berne,
professor of Theory and History of Education at the University of Barcelona. I was asked to take the
proposition that in times of austerity research should not be funded and the
funding should go into practice and services. Asun argued that practice without
research is lost, hence funding was necessary. The debate took place and we both
presented our cases. I was struck by the high
level of discussion, reflection and co-learning that the debate and the overall teaching experience created. I believe with Darren, Erika, Asun, Barbara,
Jo and other good colleagues such as Sue Lindsay, we already see international
and innovative ways of learning and practice emerging. This offers new
possibilities of health and education working in positive partnership to
generate quality research, an improved discourse on the needs of our most
vulnerable people and the evolution of the most compassionate and effective
care possible.
Colleagues at
LMU have written an article on York Street Health Practice (click here to read). In it they have a fantastic quote that this a
is local partnership with a global impact. I hope we can build this into a
living ongoing experience, which can generate a new international dynamic
model of collaborative work, research
and practice. I'm proud that Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust are involved in something so potent and promising.
John Walsh
York Street Health Practice
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