Be brave, be open and be on TV. That was the message from Kim Bromley-Derry this week when he said, with a lively grin, that social workers need a Police, Camera, Action style show all of their own.
But the ADCS president was making a serious point. He asked his audience at the National Children and Adult Services conference in Harrogate to consider how cop shows like Police, Camera, Action had "demystified" police work, and improved the force's public profile.
So why couldn't TV work its magic on social workers? Or rather social workers work their magic on TV.
Speaking to Community Care after the event, Bromley-Derry was preaching to the converted. A recent Com Care meeting raised the issue of the absence of dramas or docs about social work, particularly when formats about the police, housing association officers, youth workers and teachers are regulars in the TV listings.
"It might be because public sector workers, in general, aren't always comfortable with celebrating what they do," Bromley-Derry said. "No matter how well they've done, they always think they can do better."
He said there also tended to be a "defensive attitude" about social work and an understandable fear that "they, or service users, will be misrepresented."
"When you are dealing with people's lives, and vulnerable service users, of course you don't want to inhibit any of that work," he said.
The way to overcome this is to be "brave, open and transparent about our work", Bromley-Derry said, emphasising that there were ways of protecting the rights and interests of service users while still introducing viewers to the everyday nature of social work.
To the sceptics, he said: "I reflect back on whether or not people would have had the same concerns about police shows 10 or 15 years ago. But they've really helped the public image of the police and have increased public understanding."
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