This seminar is a collaboration between the IASW and BASW Northern Ireland.

Social work has people and relationships at its heart but the rise of a ‘managerialist’ culture within the profession can seem at odds with this. The rhetoric becomes one of efficiency, targets and performance indicators amid which the importance of humanity, emotion and connection can be lost.

This workshop will explore some of the tensions in the current day culture of social work and consider:

• The place of relationship-based and person-centred practice in a target and efficiency focused culture.
• The relationship between emotion and professionalism, and the importance of the ‘soft’ skills of social work.
• The need for social workers to feel personally valued in the workplace rather than a ‘cog in the wheel’.
• The scope for creative and innovative practice within the constraints of bureaucracy and procedure.
• The ways in which positive identity may be supported within the culture of social work and enhance a sense of professional integrity.

There will be opportunities to break into small groups to discuss some of the issues raised in the webinar presentation and to consider how they apply to your own workplace culture.

The workshop will end with a 15 minute Q&A.

Go to  https://www.iriss.org.uk/resources/insights/creating-culture-resilience-social-workers to access an article by Sarah Rose on creating a culture of resilience for social workers

Speaker Biography

Sarah Rose is a former social worker in adult services in Scotland and an independent practice educator. She is currently a Teaching Fellow in Social Work at the University of Edinburgh alongside her doctoral research into the emotional resilience of social workers.