Making & Breaking Social Policy: Recent Episodes
Dr Ben Lohmeyer
Featuring a range of guests involved in making and breaking social policy, this podcast is about how we all live together (social) and how we make that work (policy).
This podcast was created as a central piece of content for two social policy topics in Social Work at Flinders University. It is hosted by Dr Ben Lohmeyer, Lecturer in Social Work at Flinders Uni (www.flinders.edu.au/people/ben.lohmeyer).
Luke - now an official friend of the Pod ;) - chats about his new paper about Yarning as a culturally protected practice and how it can be used appropriately in social work research.
Luke's Paper: Cantley, L. (2024). Indigenous Data Sovereignty: What Can Yarning Teach Us?. Australian Social Work, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2024.2328169
Luke on Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-cantley-99792a2a8Luke @ Flinders: https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/luke.cantley
Ben on twitter: @lohmeyerben
Ben on LinkedIn
Dr Rachel Owen explains Contextual Safeguarding and how it complements Family Group conferencing in the UK. She also shares about her career in creative arts and how it informs her Social Work practice and Scholarship.
More about Rachel here -
https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/rachael-owens/
Find some of her workhere:
Lloyd, J., Hickle, K., Owens, R., & Peace, D. (2023). Relationship‐based practice and contextual safeguarding: Approaches to working with young people experiencing extra‐familial risk and harm. Children & Society, https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12787
Ben on twitter: @lohmeyerben
Ben on LinkedIn
A/Prof Keming Yang chats about his research on loneliness among 14 year olds utilising the Millennium Cohort Study. He describes the need to rethink the way we conceptualise loneliness to account for the presence of undesirable connections and relationships (like bullying).
More about Keming here - https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/keming-yang/
Find some of his workhere:
Yang, K., Petersen, K. J., & Qualter, P. (2022).Undesirable social relations as risk factors for loneliness among 14-year-oldsin the UK: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study. International Journalof Behavioral Development, 46(1), 3-9.
Ben on twitter: @lohmeyerben
Ben on LinkedIn
Tiff Downing and Jessie Bennie chat about the youth mentoring program at the Sammy D Foundation and why it makes for good policy (and good practice) with young people. Sammy D recently partnered with the Social Work Innovation Research Living Space at Flinders Uni to conduct an evaluation of this program. The evaluation used an innovative method called ‘friendship as method’ which leveraged the mentoring relationship between the mentor and mentee to gain rich insights into the mentoring experience.
More about the Sammy D Foundation here.
Ben on twitter: @lohmeyerben
Ben on LinkedIn
A/Prof Andrew Orton chats about his experience of working with policymakers and practitioners in policy creation through participatory practices. We discuss the opportunities and challenges of participatory practices in this context including the ethical dilemmas, power structures, and building collaborative responses to social issues.
More about Andrew here.
Find some of his work here:
The Ethical Dimensions of Dialogue BetweenPolicymakers: Learning Through Interaction Over Migrant Integration Dilemmas
Why networks matter in faith-relatedcommunity development work: Learning from diverse Christian responses to debtin England
Ben on twitter: @lohmeyerben
Ben on LinkedIn
A/Prof Jonathon Wistow chats about how despite the hold of competitive and possessive individualism in neoliberal societies, he thinks the Social Contract is not yet broken.
We discuss his new book Social Policy, Political Economy and the Social Contract and how he uses Complexity theory and Social Contract theory to investigate issues like health inequalities, climate change adaptation, and post-industrialism andclass.More about Jonathon here
Find his book here.
Contact him here: jonathan.wistow@durham.ac.uk
Ben on twitter: @lohmeyerben
Ben on LinkedIn
This is a special episode about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament.
This episode is a republishing of a Voice to Parliament event organised by the Office of Indigenous Strategy and Engagement at Flinders University.
The panel includes:
- Dwayne Coulthard, member of the Uluru Dialogue, SA
- Dr. Rob Manwaring, Associate Professor of Politics and Policy
- Dr. Rowan Nicholson, Lecturer in Law
- Dr. Jessica Genauer, Senior Lecturer in International Relations
Thank you to Flinders University and the Office of Indigenous Strategy and Engagement for permission to republish this event.
Flinders University: Office of Indigenous Strategy and Engagement Website
Kit Lian talks about the opportunities and challenges of managing a prison as a social worker. Kit Lian is one of the first social workers to manage a prison in South Australia. We chat about the tensions when implementing government policy in a prison while maintaining social work values such as the goal of rehabilitation.
More about Kit Lian here
Ben on twitter: @lohmeyerben
Dr Alhassan chats with us about his work on child protection and a recent project investigating the welfare of refugee children in Ghana.
Alhassan talks about the importance of engaging with multiple stakeholders (refugees, professionals and community) to gain a holistic understanding of the barriers to child protection.
Find Alhassan here: www.flinders.edu.au/people/alhassan.abdullah
and here: @DrAlhassanAbdul
Alhassan's Paper on Safeguarding the welfare of refugee children in Ghana
Ben on twitter: @lohmeyerben
This episode focuses on school bullying as an issue that is tied to the social experiences of being young, as well as the spaces and times (spatiotemporal) when and where school bullying happens.
This episode is a recording from Flinders Uni’s Fearless Minds Series, in which I am interviewed about my research on School Bullying and Youth Violence.
Thank you to Flinders Uni for permission to use the audio.
Find more info on these papers here: https://researchnow.flinders.edu.au/en/persons/ben-lohmeyer-2/publications/
Find Ben on Twitter here: @lohmeyerben
Isabelle Hermes (PhD candidate at Flinders University) comes to chat about Addictions and Drug Policy in Australia. She has a practice background in Social Work as a drug and alcohol counsellor with homeless, criminalised, and at-risk young people. Isabelle unpacks the key pillars in the National Drug Strategy as well as international approaches to decriminalisation, legalisation and regulation of drugs.
Isabelle on twitter: @IsabelleHermes1
Ben on twitter: @lohmeyerben
Australia’s NATIONAL DRUG STRATEGY 2017–2026
Kylie (CEO of Community Centres SA) chats about the findings of a research project on what Community Centres are doing to tackle loneliness and build social connection. We discuss the importance of physical and social ‘bumping spaces’ that encourage interaction and building connection. Kylie also tells us why she loves community development and advocacy.
Find Community Centres SA here: https://communitycentressa.asn.au
Find the report here: https://www.flinders.edu.au/swirls/what-we-do/resources
Ben on twitter: @lohmeyerben
Erin tells us about the findings from an in-depth national investigation of Australian young people’s attitudes and understanding of domestic violence from her work with ANROWS. Erin describes the implications for policy and practice design of discovering a gender-ignoring lens – utopian gender-free assumptions – in young people’s attitudes and how these insights were uncovered through research that facilitated young people ‘filling in the gaps’.
Find Erin on Twitter: @dr_ecarlisle
Learn more about ANROWS: https://www.anrows.org.au/
Erin also mentions:
Research report - “It depends on what the definition of domestic violence is”: How young Australians conceptualise domestic violence and abuse - https://www.anrows.org.au/publication/it-depends-on-what-the-definition-of-domestic-violence-is-how-young-people-conceptualise-domestic-violence-and-abuse/
ANROWS National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) - https://www.anrows.org.au/research-program/ncas/
R4Respect: A youth-led respectful relationships program http://r4respect.org/
Nat talks to us about what is and will be done about the skyrocketing housing market locking young people out of homeownership, the backlog of social housing need and the policy choices that produce homelessness. She plans to put homefulness on the policy agenda and lived experience at the heart of policymaking in SA.
Nat also mentions:
Homestart: https://www.homestart.com.au/
Home Seeker SA: https://www.homeseeker.sa.gov.au/
The Department of Human Services https://dhs.sa.gov.au/
Contact Nat via: minsterhumanservices@sa.gov.au
https://twitter.com/NatCookMP
In this episode, Lexi talks to us about her experience of growing up in out of home care. She is an advocate for the Make it 21 campaign championed by the CREATE Foundation.
More about the Make it 21 campaign: https://create.org.au/make-it-21/
More about CREATE: https://create.org.au/
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
In this episode, Dr Sarah Moulds from Uni SA gives us a realistic but hopeful account of her experience and research on getting the community involved in legislation and policy creation. She talks us through the various mechanism governments use to consult with the public and give us some hot tips and tricks about how to use them most effectively.
Find Sarah here:
https://people.unisa.edu.au/Sarah.Moulds
Ph: +61 8 830 27382
email Sarah.Moulds@unisa.edu.au
Twitter: @rightsnetworksa
Resources:
Rights Resource Network: https://www.rightsnetworksa.com/
Moulds, S. (2016). Committees of influence: Parliamentary committees with the capacity to change Australia's counter-terrorism laws. Australasian Parliamentary Review, 31(2), 46-66.
In this episode Sean Lappin (Connected Self) and Luke Cantley (SWIRLS) chat about the Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility Campaign. Drawing on ideas including Two Way Learning, Self Determination for Aboriginal People, Restorative Justice and Intergenerational Trauma they help us imagine an alternative to locking up 10 year-olds and perpetuating cycles of criminality.
Resources:
Find out more about Sean Lappin and Connected Self: www.connectedself.com.au
Find Luke Cantley (SWIRLS) here and follow on Twitter @luke_cantley
Resources mentioned in the podcast:
Raise the age: https://www.raisetheage.org.au/
Review of the service system and implementation requirements for raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the Australian Capital Territory FINAL REPORT https://justice.act.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-10/Raising%20the%20Age%20-%20Final%20Report.PDF
Recommendation to raise the age: UN Human rights council - Universal periodic review: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27287&LangID=E
Human Rights Law Centre: Major UN human rights review highlights need for Australia to raise the age of criminal responsibility - https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2021/1/20/un-review-highlights-need-for-aust-to-raise-the-age-criminal-responsibility
Dr Michelle Jones chats about her research on the sustainability of the Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle (OPAL) program run in South Australia between 2009 and 2017. She unpacks how a shift in the program funding spurred the community to take ownership over part of the project they valued most.
Find Michelle and her work
Twitter: @83mgjones
Flinders: Michelle Jones
Here is Michelle’s publication in @HealthPromInt
https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daab080
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
Dr Carmela Bastian chats about her research on the factors the facilitate the centring children in social work practice in the child protection system. She talks about how children can be made invisible due to the competing priorities of the child protection system, but also how social workers draw on a range of resources, including practice wisdom, to recentre and prioritise children’s voices.
Find Carmela and her work on:
Twitter: @carmela_bastian
Flinders: Carmela Bastian
Carmela mentions a recent publication:
Bastian, C., Dunk‐West, P., & Wendt, S. (2021). Being child‐centred: Factors that facilitate professional judgement and decision‐making in child protection. Child & Family Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12855
Carmela also mentions a current research project:
Understanding professional development for practitioners working with children, young people and their families
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
Prof Sarah Wendt and Senior Lecturer Kate Seymour chat about the implication of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children for developing a Domestic Violence Workforce. They draw attention to the gendered nature of the problem of domestic violence and the similarly gendered nature of the workforce.
The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children
Sarah is on Twitter (@DrSarahWendt) and her Flinders profile.
Kate is on Twitter (@kateseymour7) and her Flinders profile.
Social Work Innovation Research Living Space at Flinders @swirlsflinders
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
Dr Joel McGregor and I have a chat about what change is really possible in young people’s lives through case management.
Joel is a Lecturer in Criminology at Swinburne University. His work focuses on the complex relational practices that make up a case manager’s day-to-day work. We chat about a paper we published recently together that examines case management ratios, reporting requirements and qualifications in Flexible Learning Options and Joint Support Program.
Follow Joel on Twitter @joelrmcgregor
Read our paper here: Lohmeyer, B. A., & McGregor, J. R. (2021). A critical examination of Australian youth case management: compounding governing spaces and infantilising self-management. Journal of Youth Studies, 1-17.
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
Associate Professor Lorna Hallanhan, Deputy Director of SWIRLS at Flinders Uni, talks to us about her experiences working as a social worker in Disability Advocacy and for the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.
She describes herself as someone who likes to 'stir shit' and has a nasty habit of showing up. Lorna is funny and insightful offering us a challenge to consider how we can set people free.
Follow Lorna on Twitter @lhallahan
Lorna mentions the following resources:
Hallahan, L. (2020) Avashai Margalit’s concept of decency: potential for the lived experience project in social work education? Chapter 20 in The Routledge Handbook of Critical Pedagogies for Social Work Routledge, London pp. 233-244
Hallahan, L. (2010). Legitimising social work disability policy practice: Pain or praxis?. Australian Social Work, 63(1), 117-132.
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
In this episode, Luke Cantley, Research Associate with SWIRLS at Flinders Uni, talks us through the Model of Care for Aboriginal Prisoner Health and Wellbeing in South Australia. His experiences as a researcher and practitioner in the South Australian Prison systems demonstrate how social policy makes and breaks human service practice (and vice versa).
Follow Luke on Twitter: @luke_cantley
The Model of Care for Aboriginal Prisoner Health and Wellbeing in South Australia by the Wardliparingga Aboriginal Research Unit in the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) can be accessed here: https://www.sahmri.org/aboriginal-health-equity-theme/news-185/
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
Welcome to a podcast about the making and breaking of social policy. Sounds boring? Yeah probably, but we'll try to not let it be. Here you will find interviews with academics, practitioners, activists and anyone else I can convince to have a chat. If you like the pod please share, subscribe and all the other things. Thanks!