The Portal Podcast: Linking Research and Practice for Social Work

In this episode of The Portal Podcast , Professor Sarah Lonbay and Dr Lesley Deacon speak with Jenni Guthrie about her work exploring the experiences of autistic and neurodivergent social workers and students. Jenni shares insight into the lack of research in this area, the challenges autistic professionals face in social work, and the strengths they bring to the profession. She discusses her comp...

In this episode of  The Portal Podcast , Professor Sarah Lonbay and Dr Lesley Deacon speak with Professor Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, a Swedish sociologist and social work professor, activist, and member of the autistic community. Hanna shares her journey from queer studies and community activism into autism research, including her own “community assessment” and self-identification as autis...

In this episode of  The Portal Podcast , hosts Professor Sarah Lonbay and Dr Lesley Deacon speak with Dr Laura Lennuyeux-Comnene and Professor Rebecca Charlton from Goldsmiths, University of London, about the COAST Project –  Co-designing Autism Social Work Training . The project focuses on collaborating with older autistic adults, social workers, and social care providers to create trai...

In this episode of the Portal Podcast, Professor Sarah Lonbay and Dr Lesley Deacon speak with writer and author Alice Running about the systemic issue of  parent-carer blame  in autism and SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) services. Drawing on her lived experience as an autistic mother of neurodivergent children, Alice explains how she has repeatedly encountered damaging...

In this episode of  The Portal Podcast , hosts Professor Sarah Lonbay and Dr Lesley Deacon speak with Dr Amy Pearson, a developmental psychologist at Durham University’s Centre for Neurodiversity and Development. Amy shares her research journey from a traditional, deficit-based view of autism to a neurodiversity-affirming perspective, informed by both her professional work and personal experi...

In this episode, Professor Sarah Lonbay and Dr Lesley Deacon speak with experienced independent social worker Cathie Long about her professional and personal journey in the field of neurodiversity, and her research into the contentious and deeply impactful issue of Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII). Cathie shares how her work with autistic and ADHD individuals evolved from her early career in ch...

In this episode of the  Portal Podcast , hosts Professor Sarah Lonbay and Dr Lesley Deacon introduce Series 4, which focuses on the intersection of neurodiversity and social work practice. Over the series, they speak to six guests whose research and lived experiences shed light on important and often misunderstood issues facing neurodivergent individuals, their families, and pr...

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley reflect upon and chat about Season 3 of The Portal Podcast. We consider some of the key threads that have run through each of the conversations and reflect on the key messages for practice. Transcripts are available on the Portal Podcast Website: https://wp.sunderland.ac.uk/portal-podcast/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley spoke with Sigrid Mairhofer about her research exploring social work with older people in rural and urban areas of Germany. We learned about how social work operates in Germany, as well as some of the challenges social workers face in supporting older people.  About our guest: Sigrid Mairhofer  is a Professor of Community and Organisational Development a...

In this episode we spoke to Sally Nieman who has undertaken research to explore the role of social work in care homes. Sally spoke to us about the intersection of social work and care homes, how social workers support older people in these settings, and some of the challenges that social workers experience in these roles. Key learning and recommendations for social workers were also discussed.&nbs...

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley spoke with Alisoun Milne about family carers and older people. We discussed ageing and mental health, the impact of caring, the need to challenge existing narratives around family carers, and much more besides.   About our guest: Alisoun Milne  is an Emeritus Professor in Social Gerontology and Social Work at the University of Kent. Before becoming...

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley speak with Carrie Phillips about her research into hospital social work. Carrie talks about the key learning from her work, including the number of social workers employed in these roles, their day to day work, and some of the challenges that they experience when working with older people in a hospital setting.  About our guest: Carrie Phillips  is a Sen...

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley spoke with Nick Andrews about social work research with older people and the value of story telling. Nick shared learning from his extensive work including discussing relationships and professional boundaries, ‘undercover’ kindness, outcomes-focused and holistic practice, and much more. About our guest: Nick Andrews  is a registered social worker and Research...

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley spoke with Gerry Nosowska and Professor Paul Willis about their research on social work with older people. The ‘ Social Work with Older People ’ research explored the contribution of social workers to older people’s well-being and in this episode our guests shared some of the key learning and recommendations from the work. About our guests: Gerry Nosowska  is...

In this episode Sarah and Lesley introduce season three of the Portal Podcast. This series we have focused on social work with older people and were joined by guests who are all researching this area of social work practice. This episode introduces our guests with a brief overview of the conversations we had with each of them. Transcripts are available on the Portal Podcast Website: https://wp.sun...

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley reflect upon and chat about Season 2 of The Portal Podcast. We consider some of the key threads that have run through each of the conversations and reflect on the key messages for practice. Transcripts are available on the Portal Podcast Website: https://wp.sunderland.ac.uk/portal-podcast/ The music is called “Together We’re Stronger” by  All Music Seven (All...

In this episode, Dr Sarah Lonbay (University of Sunderland) swapped roles to become a guest on the podcast and Dr Angie Wilcock stepped in, to co-host with Lesley. The episode explores research that was undertaken by Sarah and Dr Carole Southall (Northumbria University) in relation to domestic abuse in the older population. The podcast discussion explores some of the complexities of abuse in later...

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley speak with  Dr Louise Harvey-Golding  and  Carrie Phillips  (both University of Sunderland) about their research exploring the experiences of Eastern European women. Whilst the research did not set out to explore domestic abuse, it came up as an important area of concern, particularly in relation to a lack of access to services for Eastern Euro...

In this episode, Lesley and Sarah speak with  Dr. Angie Wilcock  (University of Sunderland) about two areas of research. The first was about help seeking in response to domestic abuse. The second area was about the experiences of Thai women living in the UK in relation to domestic abuse.   Transcripts are available on the Portal Podcast Website: https://wp.sunderland.ac.uk/port...

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley speak to  Dr Sarah Martin-Denham  (University of Sunderland) about her research on domestic abuse. The conversation covers emotionality and safe practice in research and practice, stigma and labels, support and education. Sarah’s work explored services for male perpetrators of domestic abuse, as well as services for women who had been victims/surviv...

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley speak with Paula McCormack and Darren McGee from the Wallsend Children’s Community and  Emma Aggar from University of Sunderland  about the work of the Children’s Community and findings from a recent project which uncovered financial consequences of domestic abuse.  In this conversation, Paula, Darren and Emma spoke to us about some research they di...

In this episode, Sarah and Lesley introduce the new series of The Portal Podcast. In this series we have focused on domestic abuse and in each episode we speak to a different researcher about their work on domestic abuse and what social workers can learn from their research to inform their practice. Transcripts are available on the Portal Podcast Website: https://wp.sunderland.ac.uk/portal-podcast...

In this second season of The Portal Podcast, we have a range of guests joining us to talk about domestic abuse. The nature of this topic means that we cover content that some listeners may find distressing. Lesley and I discuss this within the audio below. Transcripts are available on the Portal Podcast Website: https://wp.sunderland.ac.uk/portal-podcast/ If you are affected by any of the issues d...

In this episode Sarah and Lesley reflect upon and chat about the episodes from this first series of the Portal Podcast. We consider some of the key threads that have run through each of the conversations and reflect on the key messages for practice. Transcripts are available on the Portal Podcast Website: https://wp.sunderland.ac.uk/portal-podcast/ The music is called “Together We’re Stronger” by...

In this episode Sarah and Lesley speak to Dr Nicola Roberts and Miss Demi Price about their paper ‘Gendered Perceptions of Domestic Violence: how young females are more likely than young males to know controlling domestic violence behaviours’ ( click here to read the paper ). Nicola and Demi’s paper (and this podcast episode) focuses on the views that young people hold about domestic violence (som...