The transition problem – student to practitioner

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Stephen Mordue

In their book ‘The Lost Art of Running’ Shane Benzie and Tim Major talk about research that was undertaken with athletes that sought to explore their running gait and style. The research was conducted indoors on a treadmill so that the researchers could control conditions. They watched the athletes and learnt lots about how they ran and offered suggestions to improve. They runners got better at running.

They then moved outdoors and…. the improvements disappeared. The changes didn’t work the same. Because outdoors – real life if you like – isn’t the same as in the lab. The runners still used what they had learnt but had to re-engineer and, in some cases, relearn some of what they knew. Social Work is the same. What you learn at University and what you learn on placement gets you through the door and you then need to transfer that knowledge into the real world of practice.

Croisdale-Appleby noted this in the 2014 report Re-visioning Social Work Education and said ‘the first year of practice is absolutely vital for social workers as they consolidate the learning from their degree and develop new knowledge and skills in their first employment setting’

Playing the guitar

Let me give you another example. I’m a guitarist and have taught many people over the years to play the basics. If I was to hand someone a guitar they would intuitively know what to do with it…. to a point. They would know not to try and blow into it like it was a wood instrument. They would know it wasn’t something to help them with cooking. They would probably pluck the strings. I’d then teach them a little theory. Which string needs to be tuned to which note and what shapes to place your fingers in on the fret board to make chords to strum. We’d then practice. We’d replay, over and over again, the same shapes and learn to change between them. Over time we’d learn to play a song with the chords we had learnt and invariably the student says I’d like to play ‘song x’. So you look at ‘song x’ and realise that the guitar student knows most of the chords but needs the chord of F to play it all. F is not an easy chord for a beginner. They feel like they are back to square one and their confidence takes a knock. But over time (a long time) they overcome this, learn F, and a whole other set of chords, and they become proficient enough to play with other people and maybe join a band. They have to learn to then play in time with others… this is not as easy at it sounds. Then… someone might ask them to improvise a guitar solo which they’ve never done before so they use their intuition! ….based on the theory they know and the practice they have done Full circle! And the first time they do it it may well be alright but it might not be brilliant but they’ll practice and it will get better

Intuition > Theory > Practice > Time > Intuition (or as we call it Practice Wisdom)

Starting in practice

Evidence from Grant Sheridan and Webb (2017) suggests that newly qualified social workers felt ‘quite well’ or ‘very well prepared’ for practice in general. However, when this is broken down into preparedness for specific tasks, confidence levels drop. Essentially I’d suggest this is because specific tasks are often context specific (the type of social work you are doing and the organisation you are doing it in) and role specific – that is – not generic. You have to reapply the skills from the treadmill on the outdoor running track.

The conclusion of formal social work education is only one layer of the learning experience which is continuous throughout your career (or should be).

They also found that respondents felt most prepared to ‘promote and enable’ (89 per cent) and least prepared to ‘intervene and provide’ (32 per cent). Again because intervene and provide is context specific whereas promote and enable has a more value base feel about it. Respondents in the study reported feeling ready to conduct assessments, build relationships and communicate but less prepared for commissioning services and dealing with IT systems. Well they would because you can’t teach this as it is too organisation specific. They said they felt prepared for applying theory and demonstrating values but not for caseload management. It’s not the face to face work that seems to cause the stress but the ‘office’ function the research tells us.

The Dunning-Kruger effect

There is also something else going on that relates to the Dunning-Kruger effect. There are certain points in our lives where we are likely to overestimate our abilities and feel quite confident. Usually when we have achieved something that has taken great effort. Like completing a degree or securing a promotion or becoming a manger… or becoming a lecturer! The problem occurs when you transition from something where you are at the top of your game and you have to translate that knowledge into something else. This transition tends to undermine your confidence and you feel like an imposter.

Moving from being a student into practice is one such transition. You’ve just graduated and you know loads of stuff. You’ve just had a great placement and a got a good mark for your dissertation and then you have to translate the knowledge you have (which is valuable) into the new practice environment. You are likely to feel immediately out of your depth and like you know nothing and your confidence will take a hit.

At this point you need to remember some things. This feeling is completely normal for us all, to one degree or another, when we transition. You do know loads of stuff you just need to rework that knowledge into a new environment – stay calm. When transitioning it’s essential to stay focussed and organised. You are going to have to ‘lean into’ this for a while and it will take pretty much all of your energy. As in the diagram above your confidence will take a hit but apply the theory, engage in practice, take your time, and you will develop the practice wisdom to climb up that curve again….. and next time you transition you are likely to have to go through the same process again! Joy!

Remember your degree can not completely prepare you. It can only give you what you need to get started. It gets you the key to the door. Like people say about driving a car. You only really learn to drive a car after you’ve passed your driving test. This is the same. You are qualified, you are good enough, you can do this… but… the transition is going to be difficult and now you know that you can prepare for it.

Have growth mindset, a positive attitude, and that will help.
Keep on top of your planning and organisation and take time out for yourself.
Don’t lose yourself in the transition.
Work with your manager and mentor in an honest way and seek out support.

Whenever things are changing those who create as much order as possible do the best.

References:

Newly Qualified Social Workers’ Readiness for Practice in Scotland Scott Grant, Lynn Sheridan and Stephen A. Webb British Journal of Social Work (2017) 47, 487–506

Croisdale-Appleby, D. (2014) Re-Visioning Social Work Education: An Independent Review, London, Department of Health

Invisible: Two Presidents, Catwoman and Social Work Reviews

Posted on February 9, 2023 by George Bull

Last month the government announced a wide scoping investigation into childrens’ social work and the care system with Frontline boss Josh MacAlister appointed as the head honcho.

Josh is a rising star of private sector social work, he’s the brainchild of Frontline a programme that seeks to fast track top students hopefully from Universities that have rowing and lacrosse teams to be social workers putting the profession on an even footing with legal careers. It offers a short 5-week intensive summer school before entering practice and placement, with a clear trajectory of management and beyond. Why should social work not get the best and smartest kids from University is the rhetorical question it seems? For nearly ten years he has received funding and been a go to man for the conservative government, in short, he is the archetypical Govian innovator (Michael Gove himself in the care system for 4 months as a child).

Enter Catwoman

I hate to bore you all with yet another Catwoman and social work story, but I think there is a surprising link found in the biography of Ertha Kitt.

Ertha was born in 1927 on a cotton planation as a consequence of a rape by a white doctor. Her mother (who was half African American and half Cherokee) was forced to give Ertha up to another family as her then new partner could not abide her “yellow” mixed race skin. Her new family raped and abused her and set her to work as a slave in their home leaving her to be tormented by their own children. Her route to stardom is one of the most remarkable stories in modern American history.

The indefatigable Ertha became a sultry actor (batman, mission impossible, Disney, Miami Vice), singer (Santa Baby) and performer (too many stage plays to mention). One of many big breaks came when she got a once in a lifetime role as Catwoman in the ultra kitch 60’s Batman TV series! KAPOW!!!!.

During this time Orson Wells described her as “the most exciting women in world”

50 years before The Black Panther movie one year before MLK got assassinated there was Eartha holding a gun to the head of the Joker, seducing Batman and generally stealing every single scene. Catwoman’s role would be to upset the status quo make villain and hero feel uneasy and unsure about what they have previously assumed and the positions they occupied.

During this exact period President Johnson’s wife, the extraordinarily named Ladybird Johnson, held a meeting at the White House to discuss why the youth of America had become so disaffected. There was rising crime, broken homes, drugs and gangs, all of which were major concerns. All this set against the disastrous Vietnam War Johnson had started, a war that was a bad idea executed badly that costs millions of lives.

To crack the problem Ladybird assembled a white crowd of socially clambering Stepford Wives and to quietly sit in the corner and to provide ‘faux’ racial balance, Eartha. With the pristinely ironed and noxiously perfumed beige mob assembled, speaker after speaker, talked about the tidy highways, excellent school system and really nothing to do with disaffected youth let alone any offer any solutions. Towards the end Eartha raised her hand and summed up the mood for the youth of America thus,

“Boys I know across the nation feel it doesn’t pay to be a good guy,”. “They figure with a record they don’t have to go off to Vietnam. You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed”.

Hearing this Ladybird Johnson bursts into tears and was furious with Eartha. A little later her husband the president walks in and Eartha again unprompted starts questioning him about the war, motherhood and the root of the problem. The body language in the picture below explains how he responded to her.

TRUTH TO POWER!!!!!

Eartha did not care one jot for upsetting the room or the ultimate decision maker the president, she cared more for the children than her own standing. Her reward for upsetting Ladybird and the president was the CIA basically shut her career down with her not working for over 15 years in the US again.

I am 10000% confident the review by Mr MacAlister will not dim his lights in the hearts of the senior Tories or his bank balance, he will not risk his career one jot so his suggestions will be palatable to his pay masters.

However is Eartha’s position a foolish one to occupy. The economist in me would suggest an outcome that optimizes the probability of something being accepted or achieved and the impact of the expected outcome, even if your right implementation is important. What value in making a suggestion that you know will never be put in place, or if it is watered down. For example Munro’s review (as she acknowledges) got universal nods of approval but little policy or actual change.

The Trade off being

MacAlister – High chance of acceptance + Low potential impact
v.
Ertha – Low chance of acceptance + High potential Impact

Tony Robbins

Another maverick who spoke to a president is the I Am Not Your Guru documentary maker and motivational zillionaire Tony Robbins. He was invited with another group of the politically harmless to speak with Obama in early 2014 about his health care bill.

Whilst Tony agreed with Obama’s policies, he made a point that stunned the room. Tony explained to the president that the error that he is making is that his policy on issues such as health care are based primarily on Obama being the smart and him feeling his policies are the best ones, however for policy to work this is simply not enough. It’s about relationships and if you don’t take the other half of America with you and your party will pay a price (and look how that turned out insert Trump MAGA emoji here).

The message here is even if you have a good, or even the best idea it has to be gripped and accepted by the populous for its implementation to be successful. Johnson and Obama could not be further apart politically, but they fell on the same trap that is looming over MacAlister’s Review. The first sign of this came when MacAlister jettisoned many voices and tarnished thousands of potential relationships with the people he seeks to aid, namely care leavers and other stakeholders. 1000 care experienced people applied, 40 were successful of which about 10-15 will form part of the review board. (You stand a better chance getting into Oxford or Cambridge with this offering a poignant Irony to the type of student McAllister wants to have on his Frontline programme.)

Imagine for a second a care leaver whose life story is a series of assessments, letters, and case notes on a computer, being asked to help but just getting another generic “no thanks” response to your ideas.

Ex piano tuner Alison Moyet I feel comes close to an accurate description in her 80’s hit Invisible,

You’ve got me so confused and there’s words I could use
But I’m afraid to say them
I feel I’ve been had and I’m boiling mad

You don’t have the time and you won’t spend a dime
Not even to call me
You don’t know I exist and I wouldn’t be missed
If I had the nerve to quit you

Invisible – I feel like I’m invisible
You treat me like I’m not really there
And you don’t really care

I wonder if Josh Mccalister is a Moyet fan?

Earlier this month I attended a conference that Mr Mcallister spoke at concerning Connected/Kinship Care.

At one point an experienced Carer/advocate raised the issue of several disparities between work/leave entitlement between kinship care and adoption and the post code lottery of levels of support and financial assistance to carers. MacAlister responded that he will look into theses issues and address them were possible. His unique cocktail of suave confident good looks, positivity and engagement really convinced me and likely many others in the conference. He on the face of it did better than Obama and Johnson.

However, after a day’s contemplation I realised the scale of ironing out these inequalities in just one small corner (kinship care) of his vast review. The following would have to be re-aligned.

Employment law, The Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002
Children (leaving Care Act) 2002
SGO support regulation
Local Authority financing

The scale of this task is tremendous and the votes in parliaments, debates and implementation would need to go on for many years beyond the publishing of Mr MacAlister’s review. Potentially Mr MacAlister is naive, and we can’t expect him to know the ins and outs of every area, but each of his recommendations I feel should be separated between easy wins and herculean legislative labours. Any one can provide a wish list, the real magic is in high quality and lasting implementation.

I wish MacAlister all the best with his review, but would urge him to be the Eartha and Tony Robbins in the room and don’t fall into Obama and Johnsons trap in leaving the Invisible people behind just because you think you’re the smartest.

Links

Munro’s review

Frontline website

Moyet singing

Eartha Kitt meets president

Solution Focused Gorillas

Posted on February 9, 2023 by George Bull

In 2006 Cadburys poisoned 37 people with Salmonella and the treasured British company was brought to it knees. Fined millions, reputation in the trash, hostile take over talk, how could it ever recover…………….

Cadbury’s response was marketing genius they ran one of the most famous adverts of the past twenty years.

[You really should watch it (below) – it’s amazing! It’s 4 and half minutes long (this link is a shorter version – but if you have the time watch the long one – it is sooooo worth it!]

The advert features no humans (Phil Collins excepted) and no chocolate, it just creates a warm positive enjoyable feeling exactly the feeling that Cadburys wants associated to their brand.

By honing down to base psychology Cadburys have distanced themselves from their Salmonella existential crisis. The advert was entirely positive, feel good and very importantly simple. Cadburys chocolate will make you feel like the advert does.

The next video….. well…. watch it then I’ll tell you….

It features the very same gorilla as in the Cadbury advert (honest!) in the now famous experiment by Simon and Chabris (2009). In the experiment the focus of the viewer is requested to be entirely on the white team passing the ball, the human brain squarely focuses on its target to the deletion of everything else.

Nearly all test subjects fail to spot the gorilla but can count accurately the number of passes of the ball, as soon as you are told of the gorilla it is 100% obvious, as gorillas always are.

Before the gorilla starred in adverts and experiments, he used to live in the jungle where he met famous primatologist (monkey expert) Diane Fosse.

The male gorilla before Fosse (and others Sigourney Weaver etc) had always been considered to be totally dominant in sexual situations with the female subservient and vulnerable.

As Matthew Syed points out in his excellent Rebel Ideas (2019) however, primatology was full of stuffy bearded men in the Charles Darwin mould who had a massive blind spot about female activity. They accepted the dominant view and importantly had no interest in challenging it creating a jaundiced perceived wisdom. Syed observes that it was not until a critical mass of female scientists entered the field that the frame of reference shifted and female gorillas were found to have agency and power, and, could select a range of sexual partners.

The story of this gorilla I feel is useful to solution focused work as it makes clear a very important point.

“You see what you aim at”

This quote by, at times controversial, psychologist Jordan Peterson I feel holds a lot of weight for social care. The power, and indeed ‘blindness’, that can be achieved by a clear focus is both useful and dangerous.

Here are some examples –

The social worker whose main focus is the assessment rather than supporting lasting and client led change, or the family whose only focus is to seek the end to the intervention never questioning or considering possible future directions or opportunities.

Conversely the focus on one particular issue for a period of time can yield results as nobody can deal with many problems all at the same time (I’m sure many of us have all been to child protection or adult safeguarding meetings where the list of identified issues is long).

To balance this I feel as social workers we need a wide lens to be open to risky ideas that will reverse challenging situations (Cadburys), we must be brave not to fall under the cloak of perceived and dominant thinking (Dianne Fosse) and to be focused on the detail but not to miss the gorilla in the room (Simon and Chabris).

George Bull

George is a 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.

References:

Simon and Chabris (2009) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/p281059

Rebel Ideas, Syed (2019) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rebel-Ideas-Power-Diverse-Thinking/dp/1473613914

The Nocebo in Social Work – what can the COVID vaccine trials tell us about social work practice?

Posted on February 9, 2023 by George Bull

In the COVID Vaccine trails boffins at Oxford gathered 40,000 people (80,0000 arms) and split them into two groups.

One would get the vaccine jab and the other a harmless placebo.

The placebo is used in what is know as a “double blind” trial as it provides the gold standard to set the vaccine against. The placebo has a measurable positive effect that is well established in the scientific literature.

This effect is not caused by the material in the placebo jab but from the psychological expectation of a positive change. A great example in the literature is knee operations. It was shown that just going through surgery cutting into the knee and doing nothing reduced patients pain and increased mobility (amazing!)

The Placebo has an evil twin the Nocebo. This is where despite a treatment being benign (chemically and medically) there are negative impacts psychologically which cause measurable side effects like nausea, stomach pains, itching, bloating, depression, sleep problems, loss of appetite, sexual dysfunction and severe low blood pressure.

(An interesting side thought is how would anti-vaxers be impacted by the vaccine given their world view is dead set against it, their mind might cause more damage than the vaccine prevents?)

What does this all mean to social work.

I wonder that given we know as social workers that families are often fearful, sceptical and resistance to intervention or change it is possible that our intervention may cause harmful effects, due to the dread and lack of belief.

Example: A mother who is worrying and not sleeping prior to a social work visit, her body physically and mentally braced for a “punch” from a social work Tyson Fury. Her fight or flight mode (driven by her amygdala) is switched on, her capacity for learning (controlled by her frontal cortex) is switched off, and the body is anxious, inflamed and worn out.

In this scenario the over all impact on the mother health physical and mental may very well be negative, even if the social worker has read every word of Carl Rogers, Community Care magazine and their lecture notes.

How can we beat the NOCEBO. The answer is in its twin the placebo – the power of positivity.

As social workers we have to be the most positive and hopeful person in the room. We have to ‘defrost’ problems and open up a new path for families.

In short, if we don’t feel enthused, or don’t feel confident in the effectiveness of our models’ the families certainly wont. And given their worries about our intervention we may be doing harm. I feel this may be particularly true in cases where there has been repeated failed interventions over the year, as why would you have positive expectations of your 5^th Single assessment?

Food for thought.

George Bull

Theory? Huh!?

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Stephen Mordue

There is no way to approach theory other than to be critical of it. I mean, you’ve got to understand it first before you can be critical of it. So, you have to delve into the books. But once you understand it then you should critically analyse it and ask whether it’s actually of any use. Often it feels very reductionist. It suggests the world works in a particular way as though it always does – or at least that’s sometimes how we teach it and sometimes how students grasp, and then, sometimes how practitioners apply it. A parent uses drugs, a child goes on to use drugs – oh well there you are then – learned behaviour – missing all of the other things like poverty, housing, education and more that contribute to why people do what they do. Because people often don’t do what the theory says they will do.

Sometimes though we, as educators, we perpetuate this. In teaching people about theory I wonder if we are too simplistic, so some students fall in to the trap of thinking what we say is the sum total of it and don’t go and find out for themselves? I love Taleb’s analogy (in Antifragile) of education in Universities – we teach birds to fly. We take baby birds and educate them in the mechanics of flying and then when they fly we claim victory. We taught them to fly. They would have flown anyway. Education should be about people discovering for themselves, or at the very least we should just point them in a general direction – like the library – and leave them to it. They’ll learn to fly themselves because they have it in them.

Taleb (in the same book) says he was asked by one of his students for a rule on what to read and I applaud his view. “As little as is feasible from the last twenty years”, he says, and I agree, go back to the original text, don’t use what someone else has written about it. They won’t have the passion or nuanced understanding of the originator. You want to know about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Read what Maslow said. You want to know about Marxism, read what Marx said…. simple.

The problem with how we use theory is that we apply it in the wrong direction. I can’t for the life of me find where I’ve read this recently – so I’ll have to tell you when I find it! We take a theory and apply it to the individual. Social Learning Theory says this, so now I will go and observe the person, and oh yes look – clearly Social Learning Theory in action. Of course if you start from a premise, from an answer, you will find what you want. Explore people and their presentation the other way. What can I see, what do I observe? What might help me understand that? At least this means you start with the individual and look at things from their subjective position not simply through the lens of a favourite theory.

I have the same problem with models of practice. We use model x here! Oh right…. what if model x doesn’t help this person or fit with the way you should practice with them from their point of view, from what they need from you? Have a dominant model, maybe, but don’t be afraid not to use it.

I’m of the view that the days of big structural theories are numbered. The days of using attachment theory or social learning theory, for example, as ways to fully explain are limited. It is not by being driven by some big overarching way of being that we support people but in the individual interactions that we have with them. It’s how we treat people or how people are treated that fuels behaviour not some compliance to a particular ‘way’ born in the 60’s (often) and largely irrelevant to life in the 2020’s. If we were still using IT concepts from the days of flower power we would still be waiting for the machine to boot up. How we act towards each other individual to individual is the root of cause and effect, and everyone is different, everyone’s environment and history is different – so, one size doesn’t fit all – but it often feels like we think about theory from the assumption that it does.

Maybe it’s time for a clear out?

Power & Autonomy

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Stephen Mordue

When we think of power, we usually think of hierarchical power exercised over us by those in certain positions. There is also power in culture. Harari, in his book Sapiens, says cultures have typical beliefs, norms and values but that they are in a constant state of flux and that culture is changed through environment. He says that cultures are simply stories we tell ourselves, stories that we are conversant with. These stories have power because they hold values in them – ways of being, seeing the world, and behaving.

Our social work favourite – Thompson’s PCS model – says that the personal is embedded in the cultural and that cultural is embedded in structural. I’d suggest that this can bring each of these level into conflict with each other in a power struggle for dominance. Think about the white teenager in conflict with the culture norm of their family who are comfortable with racist jokes or cultural norms around the role of women that are in conflict with an ideological view of equality. I wonder is power about who decides what is right? Is there a ‘right’. Or are there many rights? Are people not free to choose their version of right? If they are not where’s the line?

Those who have power or are perceived to have power end up making the decisions…. Don’t they? Sometimes people have a legitimate power that is bestowed on them through position – but sometimes there’s perceived power in the labels that people have – people assume social workers have more power than they often do

Tedam in the Chapter Developing Cultural Competence in Bartoli’s Anti-Racism in Social Work Practice says that culture is difficult to define, it adds to, but doesn’t need to define, someone’s identity – it doesn’t constitute the whole person – but how often do those in power make assumptions it does? It can include ethnicity, religion, beliefs, taboos, language, and history. Ayn Rand, controversial writer in the 60’s who heavily influenced Thatcher and Reagan, says in her essay on racism in The Virtue of Selfishness that history has no business influencing the individual – for her the individual is everything (hence the title of the book). I would tend to agree with this. History has the power to influence culture and culture influences individuals – but we are more than our history. “Glory the past and your future dries up”. says Bono in God Part II on U2’s Rattle and Hum album

Disclaimer! – I’m not suggesting we lose sight of what history has taught us – or indeed that I agree with everything in Rand’s essay – but I do agree that people should be able to shape their own lives and ‘self’ despite their cultural heritage.

Karen Healey in Social Work theories in Context says some things we should be mindful of. She says power is not necessarily repressive. It can be – but it doesn’t have to be. Power can be liberating – ask those who feel they have a lot of it! How power is used, not who has it, shapes the outcome of it. Because… Power is exercised rather than possessed – power isn’t something we have to distribute but rather it is something we exercise over people as a result of position, authority, or because we can because others feel they lack it. When we talk about empowerment, I feel we often talk about it like – as the powerful person – we have it and we can do something that somehow gives the other person some of it. This is not the case.

She says power is analysed as coming from the bottom up. We all can exercise power. But often we don’t realise we can, and if we don’t know we can then we don’t know that we can. We remain disempowered. It’s about showing people how to exercise power rather than thinking we can give them some of ours – that’s not easy and there are all sorts of things that can get in the way. Often how the person views themselves or how the person feels individuals and society views them. Thompson’s PCS model again.

Relating this to social work and drawing on Foucault’s view (also in a Karen Healey book Social Work Practices) Foucault argues that helping professionals play a vital role in providing a bridge between the individual and the efficient management of “men and things”. Societal control if you like, agents of the state maybe? That’s a contested idea but worthy of some consideration. ‘Caring’ interventions he says allow the state to manage and discipline citizens. Think of those with substance misuse problems who can’t get their mental health issues addressed until they are substance free. Such intervention result in a conduit for state control. Power produces a certain kind of population. A one that is subjugated and produces a certain type of ‘self’. Foucault doesn’t deny the existence of structures but says such structures don’t produce ‘local’ power. But rather it is local power – power exerted between individuals – that enables the global phenomena of power.

There are links here then to Autonomy – we need to know we can exercise power to be autonomous – power to control our own destiny if you like. We have autonomy as practitioners and how we use that autonomy is in our hands. But also, how we apply our power, perceived or otherwise, enhances or restricts the power of those we work with.

Davies in Social Work with Adults says autonomy is the right to make your own decisions on personal matters and to be free from interference from the state, noting, however that autonomy is not absolute. We can’t simply do what we want.

He says that where power is exercised through intervention in citizens lives it should be transparent – there should be no hidden agenda – it should be clear what is going on. It should be fair – which begs the question what is fair and who decides what is. Also, rational – what we do should make sense – we should be able to explain it – and it should all stack up. It should be lawful – social work is a profession with a legal framework to adhere to – we need to do that. And finally, it needs to be impartial – this links to being fair I suppose. We shouldn’t disadvantage someone because of our own personal values or opinions. The same should apply for the organisations we are part of. It’s worth considering whether this is the case?

What we do, our actions, should seek to show people the power they can exercise not limit their ability to do so.

Social Care, Risk, COVID and True Uncertainty

Posted on February 9, 2023 by George Bull

The understanding and assessment of risk for social workers is as important as it is challenging.

The current COVID pandemic has brought risk into the public spotlight with social care (and everyone else) facing an array of risk-based judgment calls.

One example from my Connected Carers team is should the children of a 70 year old carer (with underlying conditions) continue to go to school; is it better to harm their education or harm the health of their main carer, what is the probability risk of these outcomes? What is their severity?

Stephen Webb offers a theoretical ladder to climb up with his adoption of the concept of irreducible uncertainty.

This is the acceptance that the risk of a certain outcome will carry with it a level of probability that can’t be assessed, can’t be worked on and that will stubbornly remain regardless of our approach and level of intervention.

“No one can say with certainty whether child abuse will occur, when it will occur (if it does), to what extent it will occur (if it does) or whether it is likely to happen again (if it did occur). Nor is there agreement on the degree of uncertainty involved in child abuse cases. These kinds of uncertainty will remain whatever mode of organisation is undertaken in child protection at a national level”
Stephen Webb (Decision making in social work Lecture (2014).

Importantly this unknown element is not in of its self-bad or dangerous it is just a representation of human complexity and the work we do as social workers.

A basic but useful definition would be

Risk = Assessed/measured uncertainty of a future outcome

Irreducible uncertainty = Risk that can’t be measured or quantified

To give another COVID example – we know many risk factors, age, weight, job role, post code, diabetes, racial background. Crucially thou we cannot say with certainty who will get it, who will die if they get, or, inversely, who wont and who will only have mild symptoms.

However, from a risk perspective it is valid to talk about the risk to 90-year olds being a 1 % chance of death and the risk for under 20’s being 1 in 10,000. This immense range is further confused by media reporting the shocking and very sad tiny number of cases of children who have died, it becomes part of our consciousness, so we feel it is more likely than it is.

A social care example would be cases likely Baby P or Victoria Climbe which have led a sea change in child protection. But their story is only representative of an absolutely tiny percentage of all cases open to social care. The point being that considering the most extreme forms of child death and torture are not useful when supporting families that are struggling with parenting, ADHD or poor standards of physical care. Undoubtedly fear of a terrible outcome will always be part of human nature and we have to be aware of this in our practice, to quote her Majesties professor of risk Dr Speigelhalther

“I am as prone to irrational statistical judgements as anybody else”

The messages for practice I feel are,

A risk assessment does not cover all the picture some of which cannot be quantified through social work intervention.
Using extremes as a measuring tool is not useful and can skew practice towards defensive decision making
Whilst we fear the worst-case scenario, we must be aware of how this can alter thinking and allow ourselves as professionals to develop an accurate, case specific judgement, on future outcomes.

George Bull

Resilience – dirty word?

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Admin

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

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

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Admin

“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

The Merchant of Venice and Critical Thinking

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Jamie Scorer

Was Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice making a critical decision that was necessary and proportionate, when he was demanding his pound of flesh?

Let me give you a brief rundown on how Shylock found himself in a position where he was able to demand a pound of flesh from the poor Antonio.

Shakespeare sets out his stall telling us how Bassanio wants money so he can impress his bride to be Portia (we will meet Portia later). Bassanio asks his friend Antonio to lend him the money, however all of his friend’s cash is invested in merchant ships. When his ships come in he will have a canny penny (that’s my Geordie twang not Shakespearian English!) and be able to lend Antonio the cash to impress Portia. Bassanio decides to lend money from Shylock for Antonio. Shylock sets up a contract with Antonio which states that if Antonio does not honour his debt, he will forfeit a pound of his flesh. A bit extreme however I doubt Shakespeare writings would have been so successful if the forfeit was he had to shave of his hair!!

Surprise of surprises he is told that the ships have sank. Antonio is unable to pay his dept to Shylock and Shylock has him arrested and takes him to court demanding his forfeit. Antonio’s friend offers to pay double his debt, however Shylock demands the forfeit to be met.

This sets everything up for a dramatic court room scene more dramatic than Judge Rinder. Let’s look at where Shylock may be, with his thinking. Shylock is Jewish and tells us of the discrimination he faces in his brilliant heart felt stanza

To bait fish withal;

if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge.

He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million,

laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains,

scorned my nation,

thwarted my bargains,

cooled my friends,

heated mine enemies –

and what’s his reason? I am a Jew.

Hath not a Jew eyes?

Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?

Fed with the same food,

hurt with the same weapons,

subject to the same diseases,

healed by the same means,

warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?

If you prick us, do we not bleed?

If you tickle us, do we not laugh?

If you poison us, do we not die?

And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.

If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge.

If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example?

Why, revenge!

The villainy you teach me,

I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

What we also learn is that Shylocks daughter has married a Christian and converted to Christianity. Shylock appears to be using his contract to seek justice and revenge for the racism he has been clearly subjected too, and with his daughter choosing to convert to Christianity he clearly feels that he has is justified to seek his revenge by demanding his pound of flesh.

So lets put this into some social work content, The Liberty Protection Safeguards have replaced DoLS and if as social workers we are planning on depriving a person of their liberty we now have a legal duty to ensure that the proposed deprivation is necessary and proportionate and this needs to be evidenced. Shylock is proposing a course of action by taking a pound of flesh from a person and we can understand his reasons for vengeance. He has clearly been a victim of racism and he has been treated horribly. Antonio entered into his contract willingly so should forsake his pound of flesh?

If we are planning to deprive a person of their liberty I do not think it is too much of a stretch to say the magnitude of a decision to place a person into care potentially against their will can be as dramatic and serious as Shylock’s decision to exercise his right to uphold Antonio to his contract.

Let’s apply the necessary and proportionate test to Shylocks decision to take a pound of flesh from Antonio. Firstly, is it necessary to? Questionably there is a legal contract that all parties willingly signed up to. Although we as readers would seriously question the necessity of placing a pound of our flesh as collateral to a financial loan. Now, like most, I am not a rich man and I have needed to rely on bank loans and overdrafts throughout my adult life, however I have never read the small print in the terms and conditions. I however do hope that a pound of my flesh was not used as collateral against any loan!

Was it necessary for Antonio to enter the loan, I would have said no. Let’s apply some critical thinking to this, clearly something that is lacking from the love struck Bassionio. What Antonio failed to recognise was that his thinking was heavily influenced by the matters of his friends heart, which blinded him into considering the risks into entering into this contact. If he had applied critical thinking, he would have calculated what the facts of the transactions were. Was the risk worth taking? Did he need to enter into the contract, and more critically how were his emotions impacting on his decision-making ability. How much was his desire to support his friend to marry Portia blinding his ability to critically evaluate the contract. And for our poor Shylock he is clearly influenced by the prejudice he has received, not to mention his perceptions of his abandonment from his daughter. Did he critically evaluate, ‘I have years of pent of vengeance brewing in my thoughts, so I need to be careful not to allow those into thinking when drawing up his contract’. I suspect not.

So, we can establish that the lack of critical thinking from all parties has resulted in a great difficulty in establishing if honouring the contract was necessary and proportionate. The legality of the contract was not in doubt here, however, if they did apply critical thinking at the time of drawing up the contract, we could seriously argue that the contract was not necessary and proportionate.

Firstly, he wanted the money for his friend who did not really need it. So, his loans were not necessary. Secondly, giving up his pound of flesh and potentially his life was not proportionate to him having extra cash for Bassiono to impress the lovely Portia.

Was the contract necessary and proportionate for poor Shylock? The short answer is no. He was hell bent on seeking his revenge and his revenge is something we can understand. It would appear this man was persecuted and subjected to horrendous racism, which resulted in him wanting his pound of flesh. Spoiler alert this became his downfall. If he had approached this contract and was aware of his own feelings and desires for justice, he could have reflected through this and applied a more sensible and less dramatic penalty for non-payment of debt.

So legally the pound of flesh is necessary as that was the terms of the contract, however is it proportionate? Again, although we would say that a pound of our flesh is not worth any financial gain, especially if we live in a time without anaesthetic and the removal of a pound of flesh would have a significant risk to life.

Let’s once again apply ‘necessary and proportionate’ to assessments in social work and in this context we are talking about a ‘contract’ which will deprive a person of their liberty. In order to avoid making emotional decisions as did Shylock and Antonio the social worker needs to navigate their way through emotions that could be just as powerful as Shylock and Antonio’s, such as family members strong opinion that there relative would be safer in care. This can be a powerful motivator and their views should and do influence the decision of the social worker, however, heed the warning from Shakespeare here. A family member who wants to place their relative into care, may have very emotive reasons for their decisions such as they believe it is the safest option for the person. Take a moment to think about that, if you believe that one of your loved ones is not safe and their life is at risk and you firmly believe that they would be safer in a care home your views and opinions will be very set and vigorous. They may believe the person cannot make the decision themselves and they may become angry at social services as they believe social services are more concerned about not making payments for residential care. It’s up to the social worker to critically analyse all the available data. This is not easy as not only is it right to gain the views of loved ones, there is also a legal obligation to do so if the person lacks capacity to make that decision themselves under the Mental Capacity Act. So how do we apply critical thinking here that would lead us to be able to apply a professional ‘necessary and proportionate’ assessment.

Firstly, the facts need to be established. What happened? When did it happen? What were the contributing factors? Secondly those facts need to be robustly questioned and picked apart to explore where is, and how we can gain, evidence. We then need to consider the persons views when we relay those facts to them as well as the options of their loved ones. So, at this point we have applied critical thinking and we have been able to establish opinions from facts. The social worker then needs to evaluate the evidence of the options available to the person, i.e. the risks and benefits associated with living in residential care, such as risks associated with living with others who are experiencing difficulties, risk of abuse, risk of falls, and risks associated with loosing your home and potential liberty. Once all this data has been critically collated it needs to be given in an unbiased way to the person that needs to make the decision. Which of course is not the family member but the person themselves.

If the person is not able to make a decision through lack of capacity, which needs to be established via a mental capacity assessment. Then the social worker, providing there is no lasting power of attorney, needs to make a best interest decision and a subsequent necessary and proportionate assessment. First of all the social worker needs to establish if the deprivation is proportionate to the needs of the person and if it is proportionate, could these needs be met in a less restrictive way? Providing that due process has been carried out and the evidence has been critically evaluated then the assessment should not be too onerous.

If critical thinking has not been applied this area could be fraught as Shylocks and Antonio’s was and you could reach this stage in decision making with opinions and facts not appropriately established. What the social worker needs to be aware of is why the family member has their opinion, what the views are of the actual person and weigh these up against the evidence by carefully establishing what are facts and possible outcomes are. The danger with such emotive decisions is that the emotion takes over the critical thinking and a decision is made on a person’s liberty based on fear and not on evidence. The social worker needs also to reflect on what they are bringing to the table and what are their fears? What are there past experiences and how do they influence their ability to make a decision?

So what happened to poor Shylock? Unfortunately for him someone was applying some critical thinking and cast a critical eye over the contract and asked him to honour his contract and ensure he produced a pound of flesh only. He could not take any more or any less and not spill a drop of blood. If he did not honour the contract in such a specific way his life would be forfeit, subsequently he could not do this as he would spill blood which was not in the contract. The process of taking his pound of flesh would result in the death of the defendant which was illegal in Venice and resulted in charges against Shylock. He was ordered to be a Christian!!! (I’m not sure how you can enforce that one) and share half of his wealth to Antonio and the other half to the state. His lack of critical thinking when drawing up the contract has truly bit him on his backside. Antonio had a somewhat happier ending and his ships had not sank and they had actually come in. Hurrah!

Such a tragedy for poor Shylock and a turn of luck for Antonio. And there lies the risk that is taken here, such important decisions that are made on the back of human emotions and not on critical thinking can lead to absolute disaster or triumph, and this is not the approach we should be taking when considering a depriving someone of their liberty. As the reality is, a wrong decision can contribute to a premature death of a person and the consequences could be far greater than those which Shylock was made to endure. Or they could result in a positive change in someone’s live, or more probable somewhere in between. What Shakespeare has showed us in his play The Merchant of Venice is it is the critical thinker that reduces the chance of an unhappy ending. As in this case the Doctor in Law was none other than Portia in disguise supporting Antonio. The fact that she committed fraud and claimed to be a Doctor in Law and a man seemed to go unnoticed by Shylock.

The key message here is to ensure that as a social worker you critically evaluate the information you have gathered and have sought evidence when it is required.

Jamie Scorer

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Category Archives: Commentary

Solution Focused Gorillas

“You see what you aim at”

George Bull

Power & Autonomy

Resilience – dirty word?

Empathy, Sympathy and Compassion

The Merchant of Venice and Critical Thinking