Whiting & Birch (E-Journals)
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Economic Empowerment through Self-employment Initiatives: A Group Work Experience based on a Sri Lankan Village
No full textThis article looks into the application of groupwork in Sri Lanka with a group of women-headed households (WHHs) to empower them and promote a sustainable economic development through self-employment initiatives. This particular groupwork was carried out in an underprivileged rural village, in Sri Lanka. Participants were divided into three groups based on their interest in the following livelihood activities; home gardening, tailoring and handloom work. They were facilitated with different activities for the period of six months. The significant changes were; improved skills in selected area, leadership and team work, documentation, mutual support, internal harmony among the community members, marketing skill and self-confidence
Learning Social Work through Role Play: Developing More Confident and Capable Social Workers
No full textRole-plays are a staple teaching tool in social work classes that help students apply practice skills. Various uses of role-plays have been discussed in social work literature. Intensive simulated role-plays in which students practice skills over a series of weeks alternately acting as a social worker and a client, offers an opportunity to practice skills in greater depth. This small-scale research study examines undergraduate students’ perceived improvement of their interviewing skills through participation in an intensive simulation. Qualitative data were collected through surveys administered over three years. Results suggest that students learned by observing, receiving immediate feedback, and acting as a social worker. Findings also indicate that students valued the experience and felt it prepared them for practice with clients. Implications for teaching and undergraduate social work programs are discussed
Groupwork practice with hard to reach clients: A modality of choice
No full textIt is the central them of this paper that groupwork practice has unique qualities which lends it to working with had to reach populations as well as hard to handle issues. The two questions addressed are the following: What are the characteristics of these hard to reach populations with hard to handle issues?, and, what is it about groupwork which may make it a modality of choice with these clients?Publisher's note: We are now putting all back issues on line. Articles in this issue have been scanned to pdf files as viable original typesetting files no longer exist. Though they may not look it, these files are searchable. This issue was published nearly 30 years ago. We have stated author professional details as received at time of publication
Groups for older people in residential and day-care: The other groupworkers
No full textThe following article recounts the progress of four groups: a core group of workers on an in-service study course and three projects undertaken by course members in their work places with various groups of older people. We demonstrate the viability of groupwork by skilled, but not formally trained, basic grade staff: the uses of groups in a variety of residential and day care settings; the therapeutic use of groups in work with older people; the importance of support groups for groupworkers; the feasibility of groupwork even in social services settings which are badly understaffed and have an undeservedly low status; and the place of groupwork practice in social care teaching and training. The core group is part of the In-Service Course in Social Care at Southwark College and the groupwork projects were undertaken in a South London Borough.Publisher’s note: We are now putting all back issues of Groupwork on line. Articles in this issue have been scanned to pdf files as viable original typesetting files no longer exist. Though they may not look it, these files are searchable. This issue was published nearly 30 years ago. We have stated author professional details as received at time of publication. Abstracts are word-for-word transcriptions of the original abstracts with no attempt to update terminology
Hidden and ignored: Older sexual and gender minorities in New Zealand
No full textThis article explores the experiences of a frequently ignored and underrepresented population in social work research – older sexual and gender minorities. Reporting on findings from a larger research project with older LGBTQ+ people in New Zealand, thirty-one participants between the ages of 60 and 80 were interviewed about their experiences of social connectedness, stigma, and discrimination. Findings highlight that older sexual and gender minorities were twice made invisible. They felt excluded by mainstream society based on their age, as well as their sexual and gender identities. Implications include a need to incorporate intersectional perspectives when working with both older adults and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Social work practitioners also need to consider the multifaceted and compounding identities of their clients with diverse experiences.Keywords: sexual and gender minorities; older adults; New Zealand; invisibility; social wor
Developing family support services: A comparison of national reforms and challenges in England, Ireland and Spain
Get PDFA major aspect of contemporary European family policies has been substantial developments in ‘family and parenting support services’ albeit under challenging conditions of austerity in recent years. This article compares and reviews national reforms in family support, child welfare and positive parenting services in England, Ireland and Spain. The analysis critically compares national ‘system-wide’ reforms and frontline service-based innovations; and situates these within broader national and European policy contexts. The article examines the degrees and ways in which children’s and family services reforms across all three countries have been shaped by family support, children’s rights and social investment policy orientations; and deliberates national differences in the scope, timing and longevity of reforms. It raises critical issues from rights-based perspectives and reflects on cross-national insights
In search of social work's post-risk paradigm
Get PDFThis paper describes a paradigmatic shift in child protection practice within the UK, arguing that there is a move away from the risk paradigm but that its replacement is not yet defined. The paper draws upon the critical literature to elucidate this shift and to give examples and arguments for why the risk paradigm is unsustainable and how this has created an essential tension within the profession. While the case against the risk perspective is strongly argued there is not yet a coherent perspective to replace it which is problematic as practitioners are left with a toolkit of technical interventions to guide their practice but what is missing is the capacity to develop an ethic of practice due to a failure of social work in the UK to engage with philosophical questions about its remit. The conclusion is drawn that social work needs to focus more on ethical fluency rather than being stuck on statistical understandings of practice and policy in order to achieve a shift in paradigm from ‘risk’ to ‘ethics’
We ARTogether: A review of the importance of social support through the lens of newcomer women’s mental wellness programming
No full textThis article highlights one approach used to solidify social support and bolster mental wellness for newcomer women through community, arts and connection. Core values of the program are presented along with examples of successful programming that has been experienced by hundreds of newcomer women in Southwestern Ontario. By using a trauma informed lens, staff and participants are able to share lessons and create community. Women were able to come together to learn how to connect across linguistic and cultural divides to unearth shared experiences of womanhood. The precursor to this article was presented at the international social work and social development conference, swsd2018 in Dublin, Ireland
Reflections on the completion of a psychoanalytically informed interview study involving children’s services professionals
No full text Hollway and Jefferson’s free association narrative interview method is an approach to qualitative research interviewing that draws on concepts and practices traditionally associated with psychoanalytic therapy. Owing to this psychosocial framework, the method is an attractive proposition for psychodynamically orientated practitioner-researchers. Various studies by researchers in counselling and clinical psychology and the allied fields of social work and mental health nursing have made use of the method or aspects of it. This article describes and provides reflections on the completion of one study informed by the method involving interviews with social workers and intensive family intervention professionals working in English local authority children’s services. The article is concerned with some of the more practical issues involved in doing this research: gaining access to and interviewing a suitable sample of professionals; the format of interviews and interviewing technique; the analysis of interview material; and the role of researcher reflexivity and the use of the researcher’s ‘countertransference’ experience (with a specific concern for countertransference boredom). Overall, the article contributes to furthering thinking about the free association narrative interview method as a tool of social work research and what it means to do qualitative research with social work and child welfare professionals in a psychoanalytically informed way
Just shut up and let them talk’: Participation, power and the parent voice in the child protection system
Get PDFParticipatory practice is acknowledged as increasingly important in empowering families in the decision-making process. Yet parental participation in child protection and welfare settings remains a complex and multi-dimensional practice, dependent on a range of individual factors including willingness to engage; understanding of need, as well as system factors including power dynamics and resource constraints (Darlington et al., 2010). Parents can feel ‘powerless and helpless’ when not involved in decision-making processes (Hardy & Darlington, 2008). In addition to practice wisdom emerging from literature in the field, this paper examines the findings of a research study commissioned by Tusla (the Irish, national, statutory Child and Family Agency) on parental experiences of Child Protection Conferences (CPCs) in Counties Galway and Roscommon. Analysis of findings of a series of qualitative interviews (n=14) with parents who have attended CPCs, found that parents in the study felt unprepared for CPC, unclear of the implications for their families and felt marginalised by the CPC process. While many parents recognised their right to reply, most reported wanting to appear cooperative. The paper proposes recommendations including the development of a protocol for CPC preparation; participation supports for parents to ensure their voices are heard throughout the process; debriefing as a structured phase of the CPC; and continuous intensive engagement with parents post-CPC