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 […]
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 […]
“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 few years ago, when I was a Team Manager, I chaired a meeting about a man who the Local Authority had recently placed in a care home. During the meeting I noticed that the man’s mother Sheila was becoming increasingly frustrated by the meeting, in particular she became fidgety as the Social Worker insisted […]
In 2015, social workers supported people to participate in the General Election. To find out more, the first 50 people to click on this link will be able to download the paper for free – https://www.emeraldinsight.com/eprint/5A9ESHWF4FBNZ6S2AH9G/full If you still need any persuading that #promotetheldvote matters – take 5 minutes to watch this: https://btmprojects.com/2018/04/11/2274/
My favourite mornings start with a coffee. I’m a member of the coffee club at work. Gossiping with others over that first cup is a ritual that grounds the day. There’s something about the feeling of belonging that being part of the coffee club brings. I can’t imagine how it would feel to have that […]
There’s a song by a band called the Wedding Present which like so many other songs is about falling in love. It’s called A Million Miles. It’s about that moment when you meet someone for the first time. The moment when your stomach spins. You can’t eat, you can’t sleep and yet despite this, as the […]
Social Work, Cats and Rocket Science 