Social Work: We Like Us! We Really, Really Like Us!

Short rant or long, there is yet again a thorn in me side, with a twist. Arr! That’s right. Arr. I am not waiting for International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I gots me reasons. And don’t go confusin’ a rant with a graduate thesis. Allow me a few generalizations, ’cause my point is still valid in the end.

It seems to me that whenever the social work profession seeks to take a deeper look at themselves and why they have an image problem, it somehow turns in to a love-fest. With certificate programs, extra word salad options, seminars and awards, the “professions” looks like Hollywood. The image problems seem to get thrown under the bus, as over and over I see studies that amount to this:

Pay no attention to the broken system, even though we pointed it out. We need to focus on programs and campaigns and marketing to improve our image

Is that an exaggeration? I wish it was and backing up that claim with some recent articles was my first thought, then today’s news gave me the twist and put more run in my rant:

Social workers and GPs will be at the heart of bringing integration to life

As the NHS England chief executive, Simon Stevens, commented: “No one should pretend just combining two financially leaky buckets will magically create a watertight funding solution.” But the preoccupation with structure and funding omits a key piece of the integration puzzle: culture. Without attention to the way that professionals and systems “talk”, relate, prioritise and generally see their worlds and those of others, we reduce the chance of realising integration aspirations. Culture is the essential glue for making integration happen.

When not telling each other how great we are in order to cope with people taking issue with their children being taken, for example, we seek ways to get our hands on some of those leaky buckets (what image problem?). Note also that these studies perpetuate the profession, itself.

I need to return to the topic of our appreciation festival, but the arrogance of the entire thing here really put me off, including the way they presented the study with all of their seals and basically being their own reference to their greatness. After all, one of the colleges has the word “royal” in it, so you should be on your knees and thanking them for doing this.

How can we take a deeper look at the very role of government and government programs as possibly (most likely) being the problem, without resorting to sedating ourselves with praise and more programs/programming?

In the study mentioned in the above article, they state: “A recent report from my organisation, the College of Social Work, produced in partnership with the Royal College of General Practitioners, explores how GPs and social workers can work to change culture.”

Surprise, surprise. The professionals doing the study have come to the conclusion that if the buckets be a leakin’ and shaping culture is the solution, they should at least be in charge. Arr

One of the big questions hanging over the NHS and adult social care is how and whether they can be integrated so as to serve people better and save money at the same time. Our view as professional colleges is that the answer is “Yes,” providing that GPs and social workers are in the driving seat.

AGH! Oh, wait. ARR! Me hide be chapped (Okay, I admit I have not read the speaking guidelines for pirate day – I only learned of it, recently).

Until the next time, folks. Thanks for stopping by. I need to start collecting more examples. The Guardian provides a lot of them. Marching orders from London. Nothing to see here, as their study shows that none of this concerns you.

In the meantime, did I find some hope?: Social workers and journalists are hindered by mutual suspicion

David Niven Sharing positive social work stories with the public will help understanding and improve the image of the profession

What is the image of social work in the media? How long will social workers be the targets for allowing children to be abused or the elderly to be dehumanised? Probably as long as we avoid looking too closely at ourselves and demand scapegoats. We do love to cultivate our blame culture.

Edit 3Pm Pacific: My tweet summarizing my position after reading the above article: “Social workers tend to deal with the image problem by focusing on promoting the positive, without considering ending the negative.”

Here is an article that seemingly deals with the problems of working with CPS while dodging around some of the systemic issues.

I had to leave child protection, but I wanted to write about how hard it is

The author did write about it, via fiction. While she gives a nod to the problems of working within the system, it seems that she is saying she wished she could have taken more kids from their homes. I am not saying that there are not children who should not be left with their parents, but again, there is nothing here that really deals with something nobody wants to face and that is far beyond the scope of this post: Getting rid of the system, rather than trying to fix it or work with it.