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Biology’s Challenge to Social Work – Embodying the Person-in-Environment Perspective

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The Body’s Role in Social Work: Integrating the Person-in-Environment Perspective

Dennis Saleeby is a bit of a hero of mine. Particularly his writing about strengths based practice. Definitely worth checking out – and I love the article Biology’s Challenge to Social Work – Embodying the Person-in-Environment Perspective about the importance of the physical body to social work practice so I thought I’d share with you the key points he makes from my notes. In social work, where the aim is to understand and support the individual holistically, there is a lack of attention to the body’s role and this can be problematic. Our physical bodies are more than mere vessels—they are deeply intertwined with how we experience the world and engage in social relationships. Ignoring this aspect in social work practice misses an essential part of what it means to be human. I go further than this and say that our psychology is stacked on our biology and we then take this biology and internally created psychology into the social world to present ourselves and then have ourselves (our psychology and biology) altered by our experiences in a circular relationship. But it all starts and ends with our biology.

The Body as a Social Being

The human body is not just a biological entity; it’s embedded within the social and cultural fabric of our lives. Our physical presence is shaped by, and in turn shapes, the social contexts we find ourselves in. Our relationships, roles, and even our ability to function in institutions are influenced by how we inhabit and understand our bodies. As thinkers like Michael Gazzaniga and others have pointed out, how we exist in society depends greatly on the sense and capabilities of our body, whether we realise it or not.

Survival, both biological and social, are inextricably linked. The types of relationships we have, the ways in which institutions interact with individuals, and even the opportunities available to us often hinge on the condition and perception of our physical selves. Social workers, therefore, must consider the body as part of the broader social environment, not as something separate or secondary to the person’s social experiences.

Unlocking the Wisdom of the Body

Our bodies hold a deep, intuitive wisdom that, when tapped into, can foster healing, transformation, and personal growth. The body isn’t just a passive recipient of care—it actively participates in its own healing. This understanding mirrors ideas from holistic medicine, where a good physician recognises the healer within the patient, acknowledging the patient’s inherent capacity for self-recovery.

In social work, the concept of the body’s wisdom is valuable. When social workers build therapeutic relationships with clients, recognising the body’s role in this process can be profoundly transformative. Whether it’s through somatic practices, or simply acknowledging the physical experiences of trauma, stress, or resilience, social workers can work with clients to activate their own healing potential.

Mind, Body, and Environment: A Complex Relationship

The interaction between mind, body, and environment is dynamic and ongoing. In social work, this interconnectedness forms the basis of the person-in-environment perspective, which emphasises how individuals are shaped by their surroundings and vice versa. This idea resonates with the ecological or life model, which stresses the importance of “goodness of fit” between the person and their environment. The ability to adapt to changing external demands is not only a practical matter but also a moral imperative within this framework.

Adaptation is about more than just survival. It involves growth, development, and the successful navigation of life’s transitions. But adaptation is not just a mental process—it requires the body’s active participation, which we must acknowledge when supporting clients through challenges like illness, aging, or trauma.

Critiquing the Medical Model: Where It Falls Short

The traditional medical model tends to objectify the patient’s body and overlooks the personal knowledge and experiences of the individual. It reduces people to a collection of symptoms, stripping them of agency, autonomy, and responsibility. This model is problematic for us, where the goal is to empower clients rather than pathologise them.

Social workers understand that a person’s body and mind must be integrated, not treated as separate entities. Clients must be seen as more than their illnesses or deficits – the cornerstone of strengths based practice. Empowering clients involves recognising the strength and capacity within their own bodies, rather than assuming that only professionals hold the key to healing.

The Body as a Site of Struggle

Many clients we come into contact with in social work have experienced their bodies as a site of control and oppression, whether through institutional practices, societal ideologies, or interpersonal violence. This loss of control over their bodies can diminish their sense of self-worth, power, and capability. For instance, societal expectations about gender, age, or ethnicity often dictate how people should inhabit and experience their bodies, leaving many feeling disconnected from their physical selves.

For social workers, part of the healing process is helping clients reclaim their sense of agency over their bodies. This may involve confronting issues like body image, disability, or trauma, and helping clients re-establish a positive, empowered relationship with their physical selves.

Reconnecting Mind and Body in Social Work Practice

To fully support clients, social workers must recognise that the body holds significant restorative powers. Healing is not just about resolving psychological issues—it’s about engaging the whole person, including their physical body. Forming an alliance with clients that acknowledges the body’s role in this process can open up new avenues for growth and recovery. This requires a practice model that respects the body’s role in a person’s overall well-being.

This approach doesn’t mean treating the body like a medical object rather, it involves inviting clients to engage with their bodies in a way that fosters healing. Touch, physical presence, and bodily awareness—when used appropriately—can be powerful tools for affirmation, comfort, and emotional connection.

The Strength-Based Approach: Honouring the Body’s Resilience

Social work prides itself on being a strength-based profession, and this applies as much to the body as it does to the mind. The human body is a source of resilience, vitality, and strength. When social workers recognise the body’s potential, they can better support clients in tapping into these resources to navigate life’s challenges.

Whether dealing with illness, trauma, or everyday stress, helping clients understand and reconnect with their bodies can lead to more profound and lasting changes. This holistic approach not only helps clients heal but also enables them to experience the joy, freedom, and empowerment that comes from knowing and inhabiting their bodies fully.

In Conclusion: Embodying Wholeness in Social Work

Ultimately, social work is about fostering wholeness in the individual. This requires an integration of mind, body, and environment. By recognizing the body’s importance in this equation, social workers can deepen their practice, enhance the helping relationship, and more effectively empower their clients. The body is not merely a backdrop to social and psychological issues—it’s an active, dynamic part of the healing process, and when integrated into social work practice, it can open the door to greater transformation and growth.

If you want to read the whole article by Saleeby – here it is

1992 – Biology’s Challenge to Social Work Embodying the Person-in-Environment PerspectiveDownload

Common student questions answered

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As we come to the end of the academic year and another group of social work students are set to graduate, I’ve been thinking about common questions I’ve been asked over the years. Here are some of my responses.

Diary Management
Paper diary or electronic calendar? Which is best?
By far the best option is electronic. Let’s be honest how many of us don’t have a smartphone these days. If you’re using a paper diary and you put it down somewhere and forget you’ve lost it all, but most electronic calendars are stored in the cloud so you’ve got it wherever you are and you can’t lose it. Add to that functionally. You don’t get something done one day you just move it into the next day. I use the time slots on Google Calendar for time sensitive stuff and the daily entries for stuff I hope to get done in the gaps! Start getting used to diary management now and it will be much easier when you’re in practice.

What should I be looking for in a good diary?

Let’s talk paper diaries first if you want to go in that direction! I don’t think, as a student, you can get away with anything less than a page a day. You’re going to have a lot to keep track of assignments, tutorials and lectures, never mind your social life. ‘Page a day’ means you’ve got space for the things you’re doing and room to make quick to do lists for the day. Maybe even look for something that has a diary page and a note page facing each other. Personally, you can’t go past Molskine for quality and there are similar budget versions available. As for electronic calendars – accessibility is everything. You need something that’s useable on your desktop and on your phone. My personal favourite is Google Calendar.

What sort of things should I be putting in my diary?
Easy answer! Everything! Everything that is demanding your attention should have a diary entry. Most people just use their diary for things that have an actual time attached to them; lectures, seminars – that kind of thing. You should be putting everything else in your diary – allotted time to go to the library, time to draft your assignment, time to write your plan. That way you get a sense of everything you need to do, not just when your appointments are! And I’d suggest you diary longer than you think you’ll need. Invariably we underestimate how long things will take. And when you finish a task early you can start on another one!

Proof Reading
No matter how much I proofread I’m still missing things! Help?
You probably just need to slow down. It’s easy to miss stuff when you’ve written it because you know what it needs to say so you ‘see’ what should be there not what is there. It’s often the small words that cause the problems. ‘It’ and ‘is’ are easy to miss as are missing words. You brain is very clever and will ‘see’ the word even when it’s not there. I always feel that reading it out loud is a good tactic. This makes you actually say what’s there and it’s harder then to automatically fill in the missing bits and gaps. Do you struggle with punctuation? Again reading it out loud might help you figure out where the commas go as you will often naturally pause or take a breath where a comma should be. Reading out loud will also help you spot sentences that are simply too long… you’ll run out of breath!

What’s the best approach to proof reading?
Proof reading isn’t easy and you’ll often miss common errors as your brain fools you into seeing what’s not there. What’s the best option then? Get someone else to proof read it for you. It’s even better if they don’t know much about the subject matter as they can then tell you whether it makes sense to the casual reader. Other people will more easily spot errors, as they don’t know what’s coming so are actually focussed on reading it properly more than you will be when it’s your own work. If you have to proof read yourself slow down or read it out loud.

Time Management
I keep running out of time for everything. What’s going wrong?
You’re probably not planning effectively. People who write about productivity say that you can’t plan and do at the same time. So plan then do! Start your week planning what you need to achieve this week (or even better end the previous week planning the following week) and start each day with considering what you need to achieve that day. Every so often look ahead a month and work backwards from things you need to achieve putting all of the steps into your diary. This is based on the old adage “how do you eat and elephant”? The answer… one bite at a time. When you have big tasks to complete, like an assignment, break it down into achievable steps. For example, “go to the library to get books”, “read the books”, “collate notes”, “write assignment plan”….you see how it goes. And put all of these things in your dairy. This will help you hit the end goal.

How do I manage my time to meet deadlines?
The first thing to do is to set yourself a deadline that is before the actual deadline. That way if you do hit a problem you’ve got built in capacity to give yourself that little more time. This reduces your stress response to the situation. When you are stressed you are less productive – so you need to avoid that. Break the task down into smaller steps and put these in your dairy. Always give yourself more time than you think you’ll need. As humans we have a tendency to overestimate the time small tasks take so we put them off, and underestimate big tasks so always end up running out of time. Apply the two minute rule for small tasks. If it’s going to take less than two minutes just get on and do it. If you need to diary it for later diary up to 50% more time than you think you need.

What’s the best strategy to make the best use of my weekends!?
Plan! And not just your academic or work stuff but also your household and social stuff. There’s sound evidence that if you plan something and put it your calendar you are more likely to do it. If you get up on a Saturday morning without a plan I guarantee you’ll get to Saturday afternoon having achieved nothing. Focus on your home and social life in the same way as you would your study or work life. Make sure there’s something in there for you. You can’t work and study all of the time. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy – as the saying goes.

Effective communication
Should my emails to my tutor be formal or informal?
I would generally err on the side of formal. Also, make sure the email is useful and clearly sets out what you are after. Don’t just email and say, “can I have a tutorial please”. Email and say “Can I have a tutorial please to look at the assignment that’s due in on 17th December. It would be useful to meet next week and I’m available on…….” With all of that information one email back from the tutor might be enough rather than it taking lots of emails. Your tutor will be busy so anything you can do to help with your request will improve the chances of a helpful response. Start ‘Hello Stephen” and end ‘Thanks Debbie Jones, First Year BA”. This is really helpful as if your course is big the tutor may not know who just ‘Debbie’ is and may well teach into more than one programme. Let clarity be your watchword!

What are the most important things when it comes to communication?
Well, that depends on the communication activity. If we are talking about in writing then brevity and clarity are important. When emailing in a professional context, to your tutor for example, they will have a lot of emails to get through. My guess is they will read the first line or two and then if it’s a long email just scan to the end. So, put the important stuff at the start, but also keep it short, as that will mean there’s more chance of the recipient actually reading to the end! Sometimes if I’m asking for support from someone and I’m not sure if they will have the time to read a lot I give them a brief outline and suggest that I can give them more detail if they feel we can progress things. In face-to-face communication body language is important. Various pieces of research say that it’s the primary way we communicate. So how you present yourself is just as important as what you say. Make time for the face-to-face communication so that you are not distracted. Maybe think through in advance what you want to say so you get the words right and get the tone right.

How to I communicate effectively in emails?
You need to make the email effective for the person on the other end. Be clear about what you are after and offer a solution or a range of options to the person you are sending it to. If you want to meet, tell them what you want to meet about and what timescale you want to work to. Tell people the dates you are available. If you want a response to something from the person that’s time sensitive for you then tell the person when you need a response by. Personally I’d tell them a date a couple of days before you actually need it to account for slippage. Be clear and succinct. No waffle! People get hundreds of emails and often don’t read all the way to the bottom of long emails.

Working in groups
When we work in a group at university one person always dominates. What can I do about it?
I’m assuming you’ve been given a task like a presentation to prepare and deliver as a group. Group work is not easy as personalities are powerful things! I would formulate the group in a formal way with someone acting as Chair who facilitates the group. They are not in charge they just steer things. I’d also have someone taking notes so you know what has been agreed. People who dominate often just want their view validated so it’s helpful to listen and acknowledge what’s been said positively then ask the others to contribute. If it gets difficult start the meeting by saying we’ll go around the group and feedback where we are up to. Or, we’ll go around the group and make suggestions before deciding. This is also a useful tactic for including quiet members.


When we work in groups one person never pulls their weight. What can I do about it?
You can try and tackle this yourself by discussing it with the person but I suspect you’ve already done that! I would alert the module leader of your concerns in a timely fashion. It’s not much use telling the module leader just before you need to present whatever the group have been doing. When working in the group take notes with clear timescales identified. Even if the person not pulling their weight isn’t there identify tasks for them and email the notes and tasks. Ask them to respond to say they’ve got the email. Keep including them because if the module leader is to do anything they will need evidence that you’ve tried to include the person. If the work you are preparing is to be graded as a group you may have to just ‘bite the bullet’ while the module leader deals with the situation, as you don’t want to compromise the group mark.


Struggling academically
How do I make the best use of my tutor?
Make sure you take up all of the tutorials you are entitled to. Prepare for them. Your university will probably have tutor guidance telling you what you can expect from your tutor, so, within those parameters figure out what you might want to ask for guidance on. Always have something to ask so that you engage the tutor or they may think you are not interested and draw the tutorial to a close. If the tutorial is about something specific, like an assignment, then again the important thing is to prepare. Have a list of what you have read, prepare an outline of what you are going to write and have some questions prepared. Be clear about the learning outcomes and if you are unsure make sure you ask.


How do I plan an assignment?
The first thing to do is read! Have you read the set reading? You need to do this to at least have an overview of the subject in question. Make notes as you go. Make sure you note where you have written it down directly from the book or where you have paraphrased so you know how you need to reference it if you use it. Keep a reference list as you go. Then and only then you should start with the learning outcomes and the task. There’ll also be a question to consider probably! Break the question or task down into its parts and consider what you are being asked to do. Consider words like ‘describe’ and ‘critique’ as they require different things. Where you are asked to describe you are simply going to provide an overview or a narrative. Where you are asked to critique you will need to start by explaining one position and offering alternatives, all from academic literature, to show there is more than one opinion. Once you’ve broken down the question consider what you will write and construct a plan. Your plan is probably going to follow the task if the assignment sets one out. Once you’ve created your plan then look at each learning outcome in turn and make sure that there is an element in your plan that covers each learning outcome. If you miss a learning outcome the assignment will not pass so this is a crucial step.


How do I make sure I’m doing what I need to do in assignments?
There are a few things you can do to be sure. Firstly listen in class. Tutors will often guide you to teaching that is relevant to assignments. Then make sure you read the set reading or chapters referenced by the lecturer. Then you need to plan clearly. Make sure your plan addresses the task and the learning outcomes. Make use of tutorials to ensure you are on the right path. Then, stick to your plan. Don’t go off at a tangent and, if the subject matter is emotive or has personal resonance, don’t make it personal. In a sense your view isn’t important. What’s important is that you understand the view, or range of views, in the literature. Penultimately proof read effectively… then proof read it again… then get someone else to proof read it. Then! Go back over the learning outcomes and task and make sure you have absolutely addressed all things!

How much reading is enough!?
Read as much as you can. Then read more. Then read more! You can’t read enough. The reality is that the students that do the best are the students that read the most. Your module guides will direct you as to the key texts but also read around the subject to get different views. Delve into journal articles on your subject matter as this will give you the absolute latest in terms of thinking and research. Use the Internet carefully. Make sure the sources of the information you are using are legitimate and ideally peer reviewed or you risk using sites that have a bias. This is particularly important if you are going to reference it in assignments. Reading widely will improve your vocabulary and therefore your writing.

Voices: Our Scars

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In the second of our ‘Voices’ we are delighted to introduce you to Miranda. Miranda writes prose and poetry that is born out of her personal life experiences and her observations through practice with others. She illuminates places and events from the inside-out.

Our Scars

They didn’t mean to do it. Not really.

Characters larger than life who just didn’t belong in a row of terraced housing in Leeds. My mum liked to waft around in her kaftan, gin and tonic in hand. My dad had a red face and a loud laugh and always sat at the head of the table and held court.

In the early days the house was always full. Parties every night, everyone bursting at the seams. My dad’s voice could be heard right down at number 32 at the bottom of the hill. Reckless hilarity playing out often until 6am. It was hard for my brother and me as we had to be up for school. After no sleep we would climb over the bodies on the stairs and into the kitchen carnage to make some breakfast. Often to find there was no food. Always an array of empty bottles on the counters and the floors. Once my brother sliced his foot open on some broken glass. We had to call Mrs Zimmer next door who took him to the hospital. We couldn’t wake mum and dad.

Those were the fun times. Dad was changeable like the weather. On his sunny days he would grab us as we ran past and pull us onto his knee. Tickle us until we couldn’t breathe. Smother us with whisky kisses. Slap us affectionately around the head until we saw bright lights and sharp pains. Then tell us to piss off. Sometimes he came home (from his mysterious ‘work’) with bulging bags of boiled sweets. Or a crisp 10 pound note each. Other times he came home with a rough beard and dark circles under his eyes. Then he would just go to sleep. Mum would mutter under her breath something about whores. We never really knew where we were with dad. I guess that made it more exciting. I know my brother was really scared of him.

We knew that he hit mum. Sometimes she would have a black eye or a bruise on her cheek. She would try to hide it with make up or sunglasses. She would say that she had walked into the door. To some people my mum may have seemed invisible. She was fragile like china. To us she was like an ethereal fairy queen. Pale and beautiful. Bewitching and detached. To be admired from a distance. She tried to be a warrior in the end. Rising up to triumph in the face of adversity. Not easy after two bottles of Vodka.

My brother and I had to lie to our teacher. She often asked if we had eaten breakfast. Once she asked us if our washing machine had broken. Another time she gave me some shiny shoes and said that her daughter had grown out of them. Looking back I think she was worried about us. Life wasn’t perfect but we muddled through.

Until that day. The day everything changed.

Mum and dad had been to the pub. Their days of wild parties had diminished. Dad looked worn now like an old overcoat. He hung in loose folds. Mum was lined and her face was hard. She didn’t speak very often. Well not to us anyway. Her shine had gone. We always tried to hide when they came back from the pub. We would stay in the shadows while my dad’s face grew redder and we knew what was coming. Mum would stand and wait for the punch. He would usually miss. After nine pints of lager and four whisky chasers he was a poor aim.

We watched as she threw something over dad. It all happened in slow motion like a bad film. I ran in and tried to push her over as she lit the match. Dad would have gone up in flames but my brother pulled him out of the back door and he landed on the rosemary bush. I wasn’t quite so fortunate. I didn’t actually ignite. Just smouldered a bit. I remember the pain. I remember the screams. Mrs Zimmer’s face leaning over me with her mouth open. I must have looked bad. Fade out.

I was in hospital for several weeks I think. It was all a bit of a blur. My brother came every day. He cried a lot and said that we had a new home. Mr and Mrs Blake. He said they always made breakfast. Mum and dad had disappeared. He wasn’t sure where they were. No one was really telling him anything. He had heard Mrs Blake and the social worker talking about a court case. I don’t think he really wanted to know.

That was my brother all over. He left number 91 Rigby Terrace that day with emotional scars. I left with a melted cheekbone and singed eyelashes.

If the content of this article has led you to think you need support or someone to talk to then the organisations listed below at the links provided can offer such services. Please do contact one of these organisations if you feel you need help

Samaritans – Mental Health At Work

https://www.samaritans.org/

https://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-abuse-directory/

Home | Refuge Domestic Abuse Helpline

https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/

https://www.mensaid.co.uk/

DesignStudio rebrands Mind with focus on social change | Design Week

https://www.mind.org.uk/

Voices: It’s a struggle being poor

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In the first ‘Voices’ that Social Work Shorts would like to bring you this is a testimony from a 38-year-old single mum living in the South of England and is taken from the insightful collection of illuminating and much needed writing in a book created by Dominic Watters (Twitter @SingleDadSW).

You can find the book at this link. 

It’s a struggle being poor

I’m a Dutch national of African descent and single mother of two boys. I have been living and working in the United Kingdom for the past 15 years. I was in a tumultuous relationship for nine years which resulted in my children and myself being made homeless. We were initially placed in a hostel for eight weeks in another borough before my local council rehoused us into a temporary one bed council complex, where we were placed with families who faced similar circumstances that I’ve been experiencing. After three years, I’m currently still waiting to be housed into my permanent place.

I’ve worked at Gatwick Airport for the past 15 years and was made redundant due to the impact Covid had on the airport. During lockdown, not only did I lose my job, my electricity and shopping expenses increased due to the kids being stuck indoors. Prior to when the government finally decided to introduce school meal provisions and the £20 Universal Credit top-up, I succumbed to using my credit card to provide for our basic needs. At times, I had to reach out to the local church for help with food and supplies.

Going through all this, I was also faced with the task of home-schooling my children in an overcrowded space and unable to engage in social activities which has been very challenging. This negative impact has definitely tested my boy’s mental health.

As if this hasn’t been stressful enough, I also endured racist abuse from my new next door neighbour’s boyfriend (they moved in during Covid) who referred to me as the N-word after a violent outburst in the middle of the night. I was both angry and scared for my children and I felt trapped in my own space. I reported this and he has been spoken to by the police. Although I hope this won’t happen again, he’s still there.

It is a real struggle having a narcissistic ex-partner who doesn’t pay child maintenance, myself not being financially secure. Living in half-way housing and trying to keep my sons unaffected has proved to be very testing for my own sanity at times but I’m pleased to say that I have found a new job as a teaching assistant at my boy’s primary school.

Snippet taken from the Social Distance in Social Work: COVID Capsule One

About Social Distance in Social Work: COVID Capsule One

A social work student facing eviction from his home and experiencing food insecurity authored this book in the hope that it could get his voice heard. As a single dad living in a council estate block of flats, Dominic @SingleDadSW lets the reader into an environment drenched in poverty. He invites some of the leading thinkers, practitioners, and people with lived experience of services to discuss the impact of the COVID crisis.

The COVID crisis made everyone aware of keeping their distance from other people because of health concerns, but SingleDadSW was reflecting on the distance between people due to poverty, culture, class, and other factors. Social Distance in Social Work: COVID Capsule One is both an action in the face of destitution, and a collection of notes from the crisis. A collection of pieces that he has curated to tell a story and capture a moment in time.

A book that discusses established and new approaches in Social Work:

  • • Social Justice & Social Distance
  • • Food Poverty & Food Insecurity
  • • Lived Experience & Living Experience
  • • Child Protection & Social Harms
  • • COVID Crisis & Crisis Capitalism
  • • Social Work During the Pandemic

Featuring all exclusive work by Ray Jones, Phil Watson, Brid Featherstone, Cal Webb, Gerry Nosowska, Simon Haworth, Lewis Roberts, Ian Gould and more… and includes a foreword by Ruth Allen, chief executive of BASW.

Book Endorsements

‘A stunning book right from the heart of exciting, newly emerging social work practitioners. At its core is a genuine commitment to the application of rights-based practice made possible by the authors personal, deep understanding of social justice and the impact of structural oppression of poverty.’

Rob Mitchell, principal social worker, co-author of ‘Social Work, Cats & Rocket Science

‘We are a human rights profession. But it can be hard to embed this into everyday practice. This book is a precious and creative contribution to understanding how we can do that.’

Ruth Allen, chief executive of the British Association of Social Work (BASW)

Getting to grips with theory: Social Learning Theory

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I can’t help but think of this poem when I think about Social Learning Theory because I think it says what it is perfectly…. From the immense poet Philip Larkin – This Be The Verse (That’s the name of the poem – I haven’t just turned into a pirate!!)

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.   
They fill you with the faults they had 
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.

Social Learning Theory is a Psychological theory despite the insistence of it having ‘social’ in the title just to confuse everyone! I’m sure you intuitively get how it works from the poem! You may well have picked up traits and ideas, and all manner of things from your parents, your family, your peers… the list goes on. You learn how to go on and what to do from others.

Usually when we talk about this theory, we think of negative things that we pick up from others possibly because the behaviour learnt in Bandura’s famous (and in my view highly dubious in terms of the ethics!) experiment was negative (more later). So, remember we can learn positive things as well! Role modelling… that’s what it is.

The theory is rooted in behaviorism. The fundamental idea of behaviourism is that behaviours that are reinforced will tend to continue, while behaviours that are punished will eventually end – referred to as conditioned responses. We develop learned responses to external stimuli – conditioning.

Social Learning Theory also draws on cognitive psychology because what is also important is what happens after stimulation but before reaction – the thinking bit – the flow of information in your mind before you decide what you are going to do. Our view of the world is self-constructed inside our minds so interpretation of what we observe is also at play. Our brains have a plasticity so although we do learn behaviours, we can modify them – so this is not a fatalistic position. You are not stuck with behaviour you learn but you might decide to stick with it even if it’s not good for you or you might stick with it because you don’t know any other way.

Albert Bandura was an American/Canadian Psychologist working in the early part of the 20th Century on observational learning theory. He observed that conditioning occurs not just from internalising behaviour we are exposed to but from our conscious observation of others.

He suggested that individuals that are observed are called models. These models provide examples of behaviour to observe and imitate so we figure out how to behave from what we see. If someone imitates a model’s behaviour and the consequences are rewarding, then they are likely to continue performing that behaviour. This is reinforcement and can be external or internal and can be positive or negative. For example, if a child wants approval from her parents and such approval is given and reinforces behaviour then such approval is an external reinforcement – it comes from outside herself. But if she is feeling happy about being approved of, and that reinforces her behaviour then that is an internal reinforcement.

If you want to know how Bandura discovered this then this video below will do the job! Save me telling you 😉

Context also plays a role. I suspect you can think of different ways you would act in different places and when with different people. You may well be different when eating out with your parents than you are when you eat out with the boys for a curry. We learn how to behave in different settings – if you want the fancy words around this it’s – cross-situational variability of behaviour. Children are great at it! Those of you who have children know they behave very differently at Grandma’s than they do at home because they know they get away with more and they behave differently at school because they know they get away with nothing – conniving little monkeys!

Bandura says there are four mediational processes at play in Social Learning Theory. These are mental processes that mediate between the stimulus and response. Individuals do not automatically observe the behaviour of a model and imitate it. There is some thought prior to imitation and this consideration is the mediational process. This occurs between observing the behaviour (stimulus) and imitating it or not (response)… so like I said earlier – the thinking bit.

The first is Attention. This is the extent to which we are exposed to, or notice, the behaviour. More exposure or more noticing could lead to more learning. Then Retention. This is how well the behaviour is remembered. Much learning in this way is not immediate. Even if the behaviour is reproduced shortly after seeing it, there needs to be a memory to refer to. We then get to Reproduction. This is the ability to perform the behaviour that the model has just demonstrated. And finally, Motivation – the will to perform the behaviour. Once the behaviour is initiated the rewards and punishment that follow will be considered by the observer. If the perceived rewards outweigh the perceived costs, then the behaviour will be reinforced and will be more likely to be imitated by the observer.

Social Learning Theory may help us understand that people learn behaviour from their immediate environment, not just their past, although it comes from there too. But all is not lost because the brain has a plasticity so behaviour can be modified. If people can learn ineffective ways of being, then they can acquire, through ‘learning’, other ways and so maintain and change behaviour. I feel that social work is one of few professions that always sees the potential of people to change no matter how difficult their circumstances or ingrained and deeply rooted their behaviour is – we need to hang onto that don’t you think?

Resilience – dirty word?

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It sometimes feels like resilience is a dirty word. Whispered in hushed tones in corridors in case over heard. Or spoken out loud as a rallying call to try harder and be stronger. It shouldn’t be this way. Resilience is crucial to a productive life but in social work it is in danger of being shouted down as a take over bid by mangers to make staff do more with less.

The claim I hear most is just that. Managers want to individualise the problem to the social worker, make them be more resilient, and therefore be able to give them more work. I don’t find this to be the case. At worst managers clutch at the straw offered by resilience as a way of keeping their teams well and intact. At best they see it as a real opportunity to develop a confident, satisfied workforce, comfortable with being at work.

Resilience isn’t a silver bullet to fix all of the problems in social work, or indeed to ensure everyone stays well – we all have our point at which resilience gives out. But, by enhancing people’s ability to cope with the rigours of life we do enhance their resilience and they have a better, but maybe not perfect, time of it at home and at work. You can’t separate the two. Stress created at work is carried home and stress created at home is carried to work. We need to embrace the challenge of being resilient everywhere and not artificially separate the two.

It’s about more than emotions. While emotional resilience is important it is underpinned by,and functions alongside, practical and physical resilience.  These are what I describe as the three pillars of resilience:

Physical
Practical
Emotional

And I place them in that order deliberately because that’s how I see them operating. 

Physical
You must be sleeping well, eating well and being physically active. If you are going to focus on one thing first you must get your sleep right. You can read more HERE and HERE. Then you can work on nutrition and exercise. Without getting sleep right you are unlikely to have the motivation to get these other things on track. The social work office can be a minefield when it comes to eating well and I share some tips HERE. We also can’t overlook the reality of the connection between our gut and our brain MORE HERE. Finally you need to move some, or more, depending on how much you are moving already. Research has shown that regular exercise (in the study it was three 40 minute power walks a week for a year) causes growth in your hippocampus. This is part of your brain that is key in memory, emotional regulation and more. It can be referred to as the brake to your amygdala which is the part of your brain that is largely responsible for your fight or flight response to stress. You can read more HERE 

Image result for resilience

Practical
You are not going to be able to fit everything in to your time without being organised. Clinically organised I’d suggest! How you manage your diary, how you allocate your time and how you keep track of all of the things you do is crucial. Have a look through the PRODUCTIVITY section of this web site. Or the BEING ORGANISED section of our sister web site Self Care Shorts.

What you will find in the links above is that all of these things promote our ability to manage our emotional responses to what we are confronted with in all areas of our lives.

Small steps repeated over time lead to big changes.

None of these things in isolation will make a great deal of difference but add lots of small changes together and you will bring down what I refer to as ‘base line’ stress – the stress we carry with is all of the time. The good stress that motivates us. By bringing this level down through implementing strategies in relation to our physical well-being and our productivity we will have more headroom to ride the challenges without hitting our stress ceiling and becoming unwell. Long before we become unwell we become demotivated and prone to procrastination and that simply makes matters worse.

“Control it or it will control you”, as David Allen says.

Stephen

Stephen is the co-author of ‘How to Thrive in Professional Practice”
Available for pre-order from https://www.criticalpublishing.com/how-to-thrive-in-professional-practice for publication in early May

Empathy, Sympathy and Compassion

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“Empathy Is Walking A Mile In Somebody Else’s Moccasins. Sympathy Is Being Sorry Their Feet Hurt”. (Rebecca O’Donnell)

The nature of our work as social workers, (or any caring profession for that matter) is dealing with some marginalised sections of society. We do our job because we care. By the very nature of ‘us’ caring, are we being empathic, sympathetic or compassionate? Let’s take a closer look at and see what the difference is.

Empathy
Often without realising, we empathise with others in our role as social workers on a daily basis. Meaning we try to understand what our clients or their families are going through from their perspective. We often mentally and emotionally place ourselves in their position as a means of really understanding what things must be like for them. This is empathy.

According to Psychologists there are 3 types of empathy;

  • Cognitive empathy; the ability to understand someone else’s thoughts, feelings and emotions from a rationale viewpoint rather than an emotional viewpoint.
  • Emotional empathy; is otherwise referred to as emotional contagion, meaning you ‘catch’ someone else’s feelings, you literally feel what they are feeling.
  • Compassionate empathy; being able to understand how someone else is feeling and take appropriate action in order to help them.

Sympathy
According to Tear and Michalska, (2010), when we perceive, understand and react to the distress or need of another person, this is referred to as sympathy.

The word itself is said to have its origins in Greek ‘Syn’ meaning together and ‘Pathos’ meaning fellow feeling.

Spatial proximital sympathy refers to the level of sympathy we may feel towards someone or something that is geographically closer to us.

Likewise, sympathy for those who we feel are similar to us is called social proximity.

When we become exposed to repetitive situations that trigger our sympathy, we can become less sympathetic and this is what we refer to as compassion fatigue.

Compassion
The word compassion stems from ‘Compati’ latin for ‘suffer with’. When we feel compassion, we are moved by the experiences of others so much that we want to take action as a means of assisting or preventing harm. A classic example is making a financial donation to a charity following a natural disaster such as an earthquake.

Compassion is noted as being a virtue, a moral quality that helps underpin how we view the world around us and respond to those within it.

As we mentioned before if we have too much exposure to pain and suffering we can become removed from the emotion of what others are going through.

How does Compassion fatigue affect us as professionals?

Compassion fatigue according to Figley, (2002) was a term first used by Carla Johnson in 1992 when referring to the repeated exposure of trauma by nurses in emergency situations. Figley explains those of us who have a greater ability to empathise with others are more likely to experience secondary trauma. The Professional Quality of Life Scale suggests burnout and secondary traumatic stress are closely linked to compassion fatigue.

Compassion fatigue is a medically recognised condition these days and I can certainly recognise myself as experiencing this in the months leading to my ‘crash and burn’ and career break. I found myself literally feeling ‘nothing’ whilst clients and their families would be sat breaking their hearts in the midst of whatever crisis they were going through.

Reflection
Prior to my career break, when I had what I now recognise as compassion fatigue, I often wonder whether not ‘caring’ for the people, actually made me a more effective social work practitioner in a pragmatic sense.

During my cold-hearted days, (I know I’m being hard on myself, but hey I’m reflecting!), as a social worker in adult care, not being emotional enabled me to take a step back from those long standing family disputes. You know the ones where one family member accuses another of something he or she said or did (or didn’t do but should have) 20-30 years ago.

Some families try to involve professionals within their family disputes as a means of having professionals ‘on their side’. I wonder whether being less emotional made me more objective and thereby more able to rationalise information I was gathering, thus placing the service user slap bang in the centre of the assessment process as well as enabling me to stand back from any possible hidden motivations of family.

But what about those of us who are not very empathic? Can we learn to become empathic?

Can We Learn To Be Empathatic?
Yes, according to Roman Krznaric, (2015) in his book, Empathy: Why It Matters, and How to Get It. Krznaric, (2010) expands upon five easy steps to expand your empathy;

  • Cultivate A Curiosity About Strangers, talk to them about their lives, interests and views of the world around them.
  • Learn From Your Experiences; reflect upon your own experiences of needing empathy directed towards you from someone else and when this did or did not occur. How did it feel? Explore through reflection times when you failed to empathise with someone.
  • Tackle Your Family Empathy Deficit; sometimes our families are the very ones who fail to be empathic to our needs. Try and put yourself in their shoes and view the world from their perspective.
  • Take An Imaginative Journey, we know our thoughts can influence our feelings, so in taking ourselves on a mental journey, we develop that part of our imagination whereby we can ‘see’ places in our minds eye. Imagine what someone else is thinking or feeling.
  • Challenge Your Prejudices; we sometimes make sweeping judgements about groups of people without even realising we are doing so. Notice yourself doing this and stop. Take a step back and take a long pause reflecting upon what someone’s life may be like. What is life like for someone with chronic back pain? What is life like for someone who has mental health issues?

Theory Of Inner Imitation
When it comes to social work it is actually suggested that many of us come into the profession having had difficult life experiences. So, in essence we may already be de-sensitised to the trauma of others we end up trying to help (Collins, 2014). With the exception of a few studies over the years that showed males are more empathic than women, Kristen Zaleski et al, (2016) explains women are usually more empathic than men.

Whilst there will no doubt be various reasons for this, which I am not exploring here, Riess, (2010) explores the theory of inner imitation. Riess, (2010) drawing upon the work of Carr et al, (2003) explains how neural relay mechanisms allows those of us who are empathic to unconsciously mimicy postures, mannerisms, and facial expressions of others, (Ibid).

Carr et al, (2003) claims in doing so, the same part of our brains that stimulate motor and sensory areas are activated. An example used by Avenanti et al (2005) is when a patient who has their hand muscle pricked by a needle. The person who is administering, (i.e. the nurse) will also ‘feel’ the needle as the same motor and sensory areas will be activated just by observation.

Conclusion
I know I cringe and close my eyes if watching anything gory on casualty on a Saturday night! So, in essence, if our brains share neural circuits in motor, sensory, and emotional areas to help us feel and, in turn, understand what another person is feeling, then possibly this element of our brain functioning decreases if we become burnt out. Riess, (2017) claims this is exactly what happens and as such, we need to become much more aware of how we take care of ourselves as a means of helping us to maintain our levels of empathy.

For me in our role as social workers, I see empathy as being a major requirement to allow us to really get into the heart of people’s lives – those who we are trying to help. But I also recognise how in the past this has led to my own struggles with mental wellbeing and professional burn out just by trying to help others.

Its these very experiences that we try and bring to your attention, so you can learn from them and in turn hopefully, promote your own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

By Lisa Watson, Co-author,

How to Thrive in Professional Practice: A Self-care Handbook
available for preorder here
www.criticalpublishing.com/how-to-thrive-in-professional-practice

References

Avenanti, A., Bueti, D., Galati, G. and Aglioti, S.M. (2005) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Highlights The Sensorimotor Side Of Empathy For Pain in National Neuroscience, 2005 Jul; 8(7):955-60.

Carr, L., Lacoboni, M., Dubeau, M.C., Mazziotta, J.C. and Lenzi, G.L. (2003) Neural Mechanisms Of Empathy In Humans: A Relay From Neural Systems For Imitation To Limbic Areas in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2003 Apr 29; 100(9):5497-502.

Collins, Franklin, M. (2014) “The Relationship Between Social Media and Empathy” STATESBORO, GEORGIA https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2189&context=etd

Figley, C. (Ed) (2002). Treating Compassion Fatigue. New York: Brunner-Routledge.

Krznaric, R., (2015), Empathy: Why It Matters, and How to Get It, Penguin Random House

Krznaric, R., (2010) Five Ways To Expand Your Empathy https://www.romankrznaric.com/outrospection/2010/01/01/324

“Professional Quality of Life” Professional Quality of Life Measure https://www.proqol.org/Home_Page.php

Riess, H., (2010) Empathy In Medicine–A Neurobiological Perspective in JAMA. 2010 Oct 13; 304(14):1604-5.

Riess, H. (2017), The Science of Empathy in the Journal of Patient Experience, 2017, 4(2): 74–77.

Skills You Need For Life https://www.skillsyouneed.com/

Tear, J., and  Michalska, KJ (2010). “Neurodevelopmental Changes In The Circuits Underlying Empathy And Sympathy From Childhood To Adulthood”. Developmental Science. 13 (6): 886–899

Zaleski, K. et al (2016) Empathy in Social Work Education https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311689289_Empathy_in_Social_Work_Education

Dr Dan Siegel’s Hand Model of the Brain

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George Bull, Social Worker at the Connected Carers Team South Tyneside, explores Dr. Dan Siegal’s hand model of the brain and its use in social work practice.

In the Solution Focussed Therapy model of social work practice the core goal is to nurture the innate self-capacity for change and repair in individuals and families.  I strongly believe unless this is achieved the people we support are vulnerable to our repeat involvement as they perceive that their problems (which often perhaps inevitably recur in some way) can only be solved alongside the practitioner.

I’ll give you an analogy. Think of a car owner who does not know how to change a windscreen wiper blade. They will either struggle on with a wiper blade that leaves the screen murky or go to a garage and professionals will entirely repair and replace the wiper blade. They will do this for every car they own.  The other option is that at some point the car owner tries themselves to change the blade or is shown how to do it by another car owner who knows how to do it. They can then do it themselves forever!

The DIY job we seek to do as social workers is supporting people to change the patterns of behaviour that have led to the issue becoming fixed and other wise immovable.  Quite simply patterns of behaviour are cemented by the human brain that seeks to develop the best strategy available for survival. The optimal option being to seek to replay past successful strategies over and over.

A previously traumatized child or adult’s brain will recognize that it survived the traumatic experience and that the behaviours of shutting down, running away, or fighting worked. Survival is so paramount the brain cares not if the lifestyle and relationships for the person are severely impaired due to this strategy.

How can this hard-wiring be addressed?

Daniel Siegel the author of Mind Sight and the Child Brian has developed a simple and massively accessible model to support this “The Hand Brian Model”. (video at the bottom of the article)

This model offers social workers a very tactile and easy way to demonstrate to children and adults why and how their brain is responding with negative automatic behaviours like hitting out, shutting down, and addiction.

Siegal explains that the two competing areas are the downstairs (limbic system) and the upstairs (frontal cortex). By explaining this to an individual the social worker has lifted the bonnet of the car and is letting the person look beneath it perhaps for the first time.   This is the opposite of dumbing down. This is explaining neuroscience to children and adults to increase their understanding of their own bodies and behaviours.

This specific point of looking under the bonnet or inside their brain is where a small important change can happen, looking at your behaviours from the lens of being one step removed creates a transformative perspective namely meta cognition which is highly linked to healthy attachment and positive mental health and lifestyle.

The key point to stress is that limbic system fires first automatically and leads the person to damaging behaviours that will continue the issues they are struggling with. This is represented in the model by the thumb (see the video below). Only by slowing down and engaging the fingers, which represent the frontal cortex, by wrapping them around the thumb, can this powerful part of the brain be challenged and potential for change created.

By demonstrating the functions of the brain and by the using the body an instant and memorable connection is made increasing the chances of the model being used again after the session.   Just like a joke or an anecdote it is immediately accessible, social and totally memorable.

This I feel sets this model apart from many others I have seen. Children and carers remember and continue to use this over extended periods, and indeed explain and teach others about the model.

Social care professionals rarely use any brain science in their work as they feel they are not expert enough.  By keeping it simple and being confident in the basics social workers should aim to build this knowledge with children and families. After all its about their brains.

So, give it a try watch the video, put the model in your practice locker and I bet in the next few weeks of practice the opportunity will arise where it will be relevant.  At this point just remember don’t be like the garage! Do better by building knowledge, building capacity and revealing what is going on under the bonnet.

George Bull

George is Social Worker at the Connected Carers Team South Tyneside. He has been a social worker for 10 years working mainly in child protection and Early Help. He has lectured with Jamie Scorer at New College Durham, University of Sunderland and University of Northumbria in solution focused practice.

Who IS to blame….?

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The Guardian this morning (August 1st 2019) reports that social workers are being blamed for their own stress and burnout. You can read the article here.There are some very damning statistics in there about how social workers are feeling about this and how they are maybe being made to feel by employers. Indeed, the HCPC standards of proficiency include things about developing resilience and utilising self care (although not exactly in those words).

In the world of ‘things’ resilience is defined as the ability to resist stress (think of an iron girder), or the ability to spring back into shape. In the social work worlds resilience is defined as the ability to bounce back from the emotional trauma of practice. But I’m not convinced that is exactly all it is. The Guardian points out that there is a lack of an agreed definition or even a sense of what it exactly is but it does seem that the word resilience, more often than not, is prefixed by the word ’emotional’ as though that is the only, or primary, form of resilience.

I think resilience is multi-faceted. And I do think there is a personal responsibility element to it. I am not going to argue here against the very clear fact that workloads for social workers are too high and available resources are too low but I am going to argue that that is not the only factor. This is based on my observation that some people are coping well, some are doing ok, and some are not doing well at all, in very similar environments. So, I do think there is more to it than too many cases and not enough time. Although I am keen to stress that I think that is probably one of the more significant factors. And I think it’s worth saying here that workloads in most professions are too high – it’s not just social work…

Emphasising the personal responsibility element of resilience plays right into the hands of the dominant neo-liberal agenda endemic in the political stand point but nevertheless there are some things that can be done to enhance resilience that can only be personal. Let me explain. Resilience is not just about the ‘bounce-back’ from emotional trauma – it is about other things. We need to be physically resilient, not just for our work life but also for our life outside of work. We try and compartmentalise ‘work’ and ‘life’ in pursuit of ‘work-life balance’ when really what we should be doing is creating one balanced life that includes the things we get paid to do, the things we don’t get paid to do, and our rest and recuperation. Physical resilience helps us cope with all manner of things. This is why exercise is so important in managing stress. It has been shown that moderate levels of exercise (a brisk 20 minute walk) reduces feelings of stress (as well as reducing levels of cortisol and adrenaline in our bodies – the physical manifestation of stress). So, if you are exercising you will be more physically resilient. What you eat is equally important. The science of ‘the second brain’, as many researchers are referring to our gut, is young, but there are clear signs that what you eat has an impact on your gut biome and in turn on how you feel and how you cope with stress. How you sleep has a huge impact on your productivity and how productive you are, or are not, and therefore has a huge impact on stress. It is in this element – self care – where it is clear that personal responsibility is required in order to achieve physical resilience. No one can make you go for a walk, eat well, or go to bed at a reasonable time – only you can do that. This physical resilience has a direct impact on our emotions, our ability to manage them, and therefore on how we respond to stressful situations in all areas of our lives.

There is also another element to resilience. The ‘Organised’ element. If you have control of what you can control – if you have some sort of system that records and manages all of that for you – then when something throws your world into chaos you will have the capacity to deal with it better. David Allen (Author of Getting Things Done) talks about having a mind like water. When a rock is thrown into a still pond it creates ripple and these ripples eventually dissipate and then the pond is returned to calm. This is how your mind should be. This relies on what he calls a trusted system that contains everything that needs to be done, everything in your ‘sphere of responsibility’ as I like to call it. There is a lot of your life, at work and at home, that you can control and structure so that you can leave it safely alone while you deal with the crisis that will inevitably manifest itself at some point. By being organised and controlling what you can you will be more psychologically resilient. Research into the Getting Things Done methodology that Allen proposes has shown that by having everything you need to do, or may want to do in the future, recorded in a trusted system, feelings of overwhelm and stress are reduced. It doesn’t get the things done but it stops you trying to remember everything, gives you a sense of control and order, and frees up psychological capacity to do whatever needs doing right now.

There’s no denying that the emotional impact of working with people has an impact and that impact needs to managed somehow. By dealing with the things we can deal with ourselves, exercise, nutrition, sleep, and being organised, we can free up more of our capacity to deal with the emotions and demands of the job. I say again, I am absolutely not saying that we have no problems in social work with case loads and resources, but taking some care of yourself and having a system to be organised have been shown to help. Fact.

So, the government have some responsibility in terms of funding, the regulator has some responsibility in terms of advocating for the profession, senior managers in local authorities have a responsibility to engage in the local political agenda around funding and resources, but you also have a role in making sure you are ready for the task. You can make a contribution, you can make a difference. Why would you not want to look after you!? Why would you not want to do at least something? There is clear evidence it helps. It won’t make the problem go away but it might help you manage some of the fall out. You are too important to leave it to others. That’s the personal responsibility bit. That’s why you need to do something because you are too important not too.

Self care is an essential, not a luxury in any profession.

Unique!?

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Recently, when teaching the first year BA students where Iwork I’d gone off topic….. this never comes as a surprise. And I asked the students, “What is the unique contribution that social work makes to the professional world?” Now, it’s not the first time I’ve asked this question, and the answer I get is usually the same one. Silence. And I’m left thinking, well, if we don’t know what our unique contribution is then no wonder the general public, and possibly other professionals, are at a loss as to what we do!?

If you ask solicitors what they do they will tell you. They give people legal advice. They represent people in court. Ask nurses. They administer medication, they bandage things. Ask doctors. They diagnose conditions and offer treatments. Ask mechanics. They fix your car. These are all things unique to those professions. So what is the unique social work contribution…. because there will be one. But, when asked, it’s hard to put your finger on it. Don’t you think? And maybe it’s good that it’s hard to put your finger on.

So what do we do? Well, we communicate? Yes, indeed, as do all other professionals. We solve problems. As do other professionals. We offer advice. We offer support. We offer guidance. We offer knowledge. We offer ourselves. ……..and that, for me, is where it is….. that’s it…. that’s the thing. Don’t you think?

But still, I think it’s more than that. I don’t think our unique contribution is what we do. I think it’s how we do it. Because good social workers do all the things they need to do from a position of ‘offering themselves’. This is why the job is draining. This is why looking after self is so important. Because social workers routinely give of themselves in a way that other professionals don’t routinely do. It’s the core component of our way of professional ‘being’. It’s our unique contribution. And that is why, when stuck behind a desk doing the paperwork, rather than being sat in front of people, social workers become…. well you insert your own word… disillusioned, stressed, disenfranchised, demotivated. The big question is how do we put social workers in front of people rather than behind a desk more… because only then can they make their unique contribution.