Social Work, Cats and Rocket ScienceIs social work complex, like rocket science? I am still not sure. I’ve heard social work be described as being harder than rocket science (which I suppose isn’t hard if you are an actual rocket scientist) and I’ve heard it described as being simple common sense (which I am always sceptical about). I think I […]
The care home had given notice and were very clear on the telephone call that came through that in their opinion there was nothing more they could do. Betty was a problem. Wandering. Absent Without Leave. Absconding. Leaving other vulnerable people at risk whilst staff had to go find and recover her. She had been […]
Autumn. All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey. Some people love the crunch of leaves under foot, the colours demanding attention as they turn gold and red and finally brown before falling. Autumn is called the Fall in America for good reason. I don’t love this season though. To me, Fall is […]
Conflict between the lived experience of practicing as a social worker for a social work employer and trying to fit in to the bigger organisation with your social work values is possibly a big source of stress for social workers. Social workers are employed by lots of different types of employer. Housing associations, community health […]
Successive UK policy makers since the early 1970s have proposed a role for social workers in meeting the wider needs and aspirations of UK citizens by acting as a source of advice and connecting people into wider circles of support to sustain their independence and wellbeing. However laudable as a direction for social work this […]
The struggle for recognition, Kampf um Anerkennung, was proposed by the German philosopher Hegel (1807). Hegel philosophised that the nature of self-consciousness was the recognition of struggle between two individuals for dominance. Nearly 150 years after Hegel, Hannah Arendt similarly argued in her 1951 book The Origins of Totalitarianism, that human rights are mediated through […]
Andrews paper file was too big for a filing cabinet. It was also too big to be scanned onto the system. It was locked in a cupboard. Whenever Andrew was allocated a new social worker, which was often, the cupboard was opened, the file carried out and placed on a desk and the new incumbent […]
“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another” Carl Sagan, Cosmos (2002) The final report was published this week on learning from the Named Social Worker for adults with learning disabilities pilots. The […]
A Guest Blog There is lots of movement of social workers within Local Authority and NHS employer organisations. Times change, different agendas and different prerogatives mean people move on. A common question asked when a worker joins a team these days is whether you are an agency worker or permanent staff. I’m never quite sure […]
If you follow @MarkNeary1 you will know he is currently curating #RightfulLives – see here https://twitter.com/MarkNeary1/status/1003525646662995968?s=19 Spotted in another thought provoking blog was a reminder of context for the the call for lives to be rightful: In a debate on “Hospital and Patient Welfare” in the House of Commons in 1964, the MP for Abertillery […]
Social Work, Cats and Rocket Science 