I too qualified last year and am working in an initial child protection team. I would echo your sentiments. I have had no training on counselling or direct work and have no resources. In my first placement, 3 years ago, there were some books and resources which you could use to help children to come to terms with their thoughts and feelings through drawings etc. These are not available to me now and although I have searched for these to buy for either myself or my team, I have come up with nothing (any suggestions where they could be sourced from greatly appreciated).
My work is very much focussed on completing assessment forms and getting cases transferred to the long term team as quickly as possible. I feel this gives a poor services to clients at a time when they most need to be able to make changes.
I have recently retired after 35 years in social work. The last 12 as a senior social worker in a very busy field child and family team. Yes there are some books that are useful but the best resource is yourself. Visit the children, take them out or spend time with them away from the adults. Being genuinely caring and open and honest about what you are doing and why and saying difficult things when you have to, is the only way. Keep it as simple as possible for yourself and your service users (how I hate that phrase). If you haven't got an answer, say so, but you'll try and find out. We are not miracle workers. There is an argument that all intervention is therapeutic. You did not train to be a therapist or a counsellor you trained to be a social worker. David Howe and Gillian Schofield and their work on attachment theory and their input in lots of other social work theory books and literature are worth reading and re-reading. You will find that your children will lead the way for you.
Social work training does not prepare you for anything in my view, except how to pass assignments. I did not qualify until I was 44 years old and while, I'm glad I did, nothing prepared me for the change from adult services to children. I was so scared and I'd been doing direct work as a care manager for more than 20 years. It's ok to be scared, in fact the newly qualified oh so confident social workers really scare me because they don't know they don't know. I benefited from working alongside more senior worker for the first 2 years and really good supervision. Latterly I worked in a coaching/mentoring capacity to less experienced workers and that I feel is the way forward. However, experienced social workers are now thin on the ground. If I knew how I'd create a website to try and help newly qualified social workers, as I am so worried that you are all leaving the profession in droves. Good luck and have faith in yourself. Mary B
Thanks for your suggestions and and advice, Lins. On placement I was observed both communicating with service users whilst undertaking an assessment, and working directly with people insofar as I provided practical/emtional support. However I feel this is a far cry from providing therapeutic support or counselling and it is this which is apparently expected of social workers by other agencies and professionals.
Unfortunately we did not complete a module on therapeutic interventions at University; there was a run-through of the different interventions used such as CBT and solution-focused brief therapy, but it was all very vague with no specific training on how to use any of these interventions within the workplace. Are there specific courses for social workers to undertake on these various interventions to prepare us for direct work? Or do people tend to just read up on a specific intervention method and employ this in practise? I would have thought that to use these methods of working with families, one would be required to undertake extensive training.
There are many courses ran all over the country to support SW in their work it is just about keeping your eyes and ears open. I am part of Brief Therapy North east who are a Solutioned Focused group. They have a website www.btne.co.uk check it out they have workshops available. Also again it is about furthering a deeper understanding once qualified and using your degree as a stepping stone in your professional development. Also check out the community care research section as it has some very interesting articles. All practitioners are learning and developing no matter how long they have been in the job so you are not alone. Why not start a peer supervision group at work?
Like your children they dont come with a book of rules or advice. I was fortunate before I became a social worker that I was a dad, had helped out in Youth Club and a number of other things with children (ok Sunday School) as well as training as a counsellor (ok not a children's counsellor), but nothing prepared me for my first day on placement in an Intake Team. However, good supervision, good colleagues and an opportunity to try out things stood me in good stead for my first job in an Intake Team. Reading stuff and pinching ideas and again good supervision and good team members led me into Practice Teaching Award. Then there was Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) Training in the Fostering and Adoption Team. I believe that treating everybody with Unconditional Positive Regard (A Rogerian term) will stand you in good stead. Maybe getting hold of 'Working with Children and their Families' by Martin Herbert or 'What do you say after you say hello?' by Eric Berne. Tons of old stuff and lots of new stuff to dig into. But your best asset and always available is yourself and as Mary says 'If you dont know, say you dont know' It's no good trying to Blag in a social workers role. Think Values, Values and Values.
Still learning and willing to learn
The bit about pinching ideas really made me smile. I did it all the time and used to say why use your own head when you can use someone elses !!!! Phrases like 'children should live in families unless there are compelling reasons they cannot' the child/ren need 'wholesome nurturing parenting' 'the child is too young to obtain his/er views and wishes (for very young children) therefore decisions need to be made that are deemed to be in his/er best interests' and advice from a much admired senior colleague many years ago at my first contested Court case (I was petrified) 'you must never let fear get in the way of doing what's right for a child'. Vera Fahlberg's 'A Child's Journey through Placement' an oldie but good, Billy Books (can't remember where I got them from but your fostering colleagues should know) for young children going from foster care onto permanence or adoption. Subscribe to Jessica Kingsley Publications (it's free) and your County Council website should have all the most recent research available.
My biggest ice breaker was my pencil case, which looked like a huge tube of fruit pastilles, so I used to fill it with all different pens and crayons and take a folder of coloured paper with me for the children to do me a picture, which I always took away with me. I do not and cannot interpret drawings and never tried to but accepted what the children said they represented. They sometimes helped me to understand the way they were feeling when I checked that out. I always used to tell them my name and ask them if they knew what a social worker was ? Invariably the answer was that they did and we 'put people in homes' when they were bad !!!! I would correct this by being very worried they thought this was all we did (but acknowledged sometimes children couldn't stay at home but they were the exceptions) as all social workers really want to do is to work with mums and dads (or any combination of) to try and help children and to make things better, so that they could all be happier and safe at home. The best feedback from a lad of mine was 'it's everso easy to be naughty but it's everso everso hard to be good'. He is now training as a plumber having made it all the way through secondary school.
I like Spartacus love Carl Rogers and still have his books.
Mary B
Like Mary I also favoured the crayons and paper "technique". Most children love to draw or write (even toddlers) and the thought of having ones artwork displayed on a fridge or a wall is usually sufficient enticement for artists of any age.Even today with modern technology like PSPs and Laptops and Nintendos etc etc children just love to make things and present them for others to praise and enjoy.
I'm interested to know if people think there is enough of a therapeutic element in social work training?
CareSpace support
Simeon.....................No. We need the therapeutic element addressed by Practice Teachers/Assessors I believe.
Rachel (justme on this site) has in - "Aspirations, Encouragement,Realism, Openness, A guide to help increase children's happiness and potential in and outside schools" -, what appears to be, a good therapeutic tool for working with Children/YP's. AERO only cost £7.00 and Mark Doel thinks it could be used/adapted for other Social Work user groups. I'll have a read and maybe let you know what I think - if you're interested.
A few years ago I did an introduction to counselling course at my local college. They usually run one evening a week for 10 weeks. I found it fantastic and would recommend it to anyone. It gives you a chance to practice counselling skills and massively improved my confidence. It also introduces you to psychological approaches and cost about £120. It is a recognised qualification. I know lots of colleges offer this. I enjoyed it so much I went into the next level. Last year I had the option of completing the final level in counselling to become a fully qualified counsellor. But I wanted to branch into social work instead. I feel that I want to encompass all the counselling skills that I now possess and use them within my social work practice.
It does seem a shame that there is so little therapeutic training - I don't think it's that way in other countries. Perhaps it is a reflection of how those in charge see the social work role now?
Spartacus - I would be interested to find out more about that guide
Simeon,
I have sent an email to Rachel (justme) and asked her to reply to you about AERO.
On the matter of social work training generally I have heard a number of people saying that there is no therapeutic work taught at university. I would say that nobody is an empty pot waiting to be filled. Learning social work (?) is not like being in Junior or Senior school. It is about Adult learning. When we reach a certain age - perhaps an age of responsibility (whatever that is) -, we have to use the life skills we have gained and an awareness of our own strengths and weaknesses to get what we need for that toolbag (some call it a box of tricks) for living and working. As social workers we can only work within the law (1970 social services act I think), which gives us great scope. The therapeutic stuff will come honest. I actually believe that the admissions procedures for social work training are generally OK. You wouldn't be there if someone didn't think you could do it. I accept that some are not getting the support you feel you should be getting, but as Mary and others say previously 'If you dont know, say you dont know'. It's no good trying to learn therapeutic work, it needs to be absorbed. I think that you've come into a great profession and that you've invested a great deal of money and yourself into it. Dont knock yourself - there are enough others to do that - and look back some years later and see that you've been OK. I like the doctors thing which say's 'First, do no harm!'
Simeon - Do I still get a mug.................................. Sorry wrong thread.
Hi farquhar.
Your view is one I have been hearing more frequently in recent years - it would seem you are not alone in questioning the training received by social workers. In response, my organisation has developed a course that specifically offers practicing social workers and social care workers / teachers with essential understanding in the theory of therapeutic principles, combined with developing skills and ability in reflective practice. If this is something you would like to explore further, please visit www.lioncare.co.uk and click on Training - there is a page that explains the course we offer. Do feel free to use the e-mail link if you would like further information.
My view is that anyone working with children and families should have a basic knowledge of therapeutic concepts as this can prove invaluable in assisting not only in understanding the emotions that underly and energise behaviours and actions, but also assist the worker themselves in understanding their own responses and reactions to the extremely challenging and difficult situations they face.
I agree that confidence in 'working directly' with children (and their families) can and does only come with time, practice and experience. This, however, is not quite the same as 'direct work', in which we spend time reflecting on a case and using specific, well chosen techniques to empower those people to change (be it behaviour, self-perception, etc.). Training in such interventions is something that is woefully lacking on Social Work courses - in both the academic and (in many cases) the practical setting. I can only assume this is because Social Work, like policing, teaching, nursing and many other public sector jobs, has evolved out of all recognition.
I view my role as a co-ordinator - of people, meetings and information. I contact the family, I contact the school, or probation, and the midwife, health visitor, and... Well, as you know, I could go on, but the upshot of all of this is that I gather together everything that everyone has said, mull it all over, then chain myself to a desk using cumbersome bureaucratic systems to record it all, then record it differently for another purpose, perhaps a conference report, then perhaps repeat it in a court report, and a core assessment, and put some of it into the care plan, then the additional reports and care plans, then repeat much of it for permanence panel, and cut and paste it all into a placement report, and then a little while down the line, I have to do it all over again for the adoption report, and - phew - I've finally reached the end! And heaven forbid that you should have a family of siblings and have to write many of the reports several times, one for each child!
This might sound ridiculous to some but actually it isn't that far fetched. Some time ago, my line manager calculated the time it took me to take one child into care, including the child protection medical, LAC docs, transport to placement, arranging contact and beginning proceedings with a legal meeting, initial statement and chronology. She reckoned it was about 88 hours. That is about 2.5 weeks' work. Now ask yourself what happens to the rest of your caseload during such a period? Don't forget the next 40+ weeks with all the future reports, viability assessments, etc. I am reminded of a hamster on a wheel.
Paperwork takes up a massive amount of a Social Worker's time these days, and I know very few who are on top of their paperwork and can claim to actually do a good (i.e. better than bare minimum) job. Direct work? Haven't done any since leaving the voluntary sector and I know I'm not expected to in my Local Authority post.
The main thing that the social work degree taught me was how to write assignments, no ammount of years at uni can prepare you for working directly with vulnerable people, and like many others I relied heavily on my own life experiences and my own experiences as a parent.
I dont know how these young un's who've got no life experiences cope with this extremeley demanding and challening job
Although the social work degree is generic I would have no idea how to be a social worker in an adults team, even though I did one of my placements in an adults team, I hardly did anything, did a lot of donkey work, and a couple of assessments