As we adjust to a world pandemic and the impact this has had on our society many are starting to look to the future and consider what next. What have we done in a few months that can be normal practice and business as usual in the future? What doesn’t work and how can we […]
Author: communitysocialworkerrmej
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Social Work, Covid-19 and Hope
Do you remember when at the end of the 6 weeks holiday on one hand you dreaded going back to school, but on the other you were looking forward to seeing your mates again and falling back into the routine? As we start to come out of lockdown, for us, it feels a bit like […]
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In Our Best Interests
Steven Neary’s unlawful detention at the hands of the state is something we talk a lot about to students and social workers. When we have heard Mark recount what happened to Steven he often mentions that Steven serenaded the ATU manager with Queen’s ‘I Want To Break Free’. To his dad Mark, and with the […]
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Happy Ever After ?
So this piece of writing is a bit of an early morning reflective supervision session at the end of laptop as I take a breath, and pause, and begin to absorb just how truly terrible the casualty numbers are from this virus. In a week which has distorted comprehension to such a point that the […]
Social Workers have our own version of the old joke – how many social workers does it take to change a light bulb? The answer is, and always will be, ‘one, you’. We change the light bulb, we don’t refer on for someone else to sort. We need to be there when everyone else […]
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Nice ‘n’ Sleazy does it every time
By @briantheroomie When one considers representation and inclusion within the arts then it seems there is a huge omission in relation to people with a learning disability. Goddard (2014) argues that people have very little or indeed no say in the in the development of the inclusion agenda when considering the professional arts from a […]
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Learning to Fly
My middle son started an MA in Social Work a few months ago. This was a bit of a surprise for me. Although he is ideally suited to the profession (he is very lovely, far less spikey than me, has lots of patience and will be brilliant – I am of course exceptionally biased) I […]
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In the Bleak Mid-Winter
Everyone knew Mary. She had been known since her husband Albert had been admitted to hospital with his heart 6 years earlier. Mary had sat by his bed, refusing to leave, sleeping on the chair. The ward staff had tried to get her to go to the café to get something to eat, but she […]
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Stay Another Day
So, it is a given that we love the Mental Capacity Act. We love the fact that when it is administered properly, it ensures people who lack capacity to make specific decisions benefit from safeguards, which simultaneously enable the person to exercise their rights, such as challenging the assessment/Best Interest decision. As well as ensuring […]
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Special not Special
A guest blog by student social worker @RShirtliffe Social Workers = Special type of person, aren’t they? I am currently embarking on my second year at University to one day become a qualified Social Worker. To myself, becoming a Social Worker would be a ‘dream transfer’, as the footballers would say, into a career I have long […]
Social Work, Cats and Rocket Science 