In the COVID Vaccine trails boffins at Oxford gathered 40,000 people (80,0000 arms) and split them into two groups. One would get the vaccine jab and the other a harmless placebo. The placebo is used in what is know as a “double blind” trial as it provides the gold standard to set the vaccine against.... Read More

Commentary, Practice

October 28, 2020

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Getting to grips with theory: Social Constructionism

In order to explore Social Constructionism, I feel we need to take a step back and we’ll do that by having a think about how we know what we know. Let’s start with positivism. Positivism is a Philosophical position about knowledge – the how we know what we know bit. It’s a belief that it... Read More

Practice, Theory

foucault, social constructionism, social work, theory

October 24, 2020

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Getting to grips with theory: Social Learning Theory

I can’t help but think of this poem when I think about Social Learning Theory because I think it says what it is perfectly…. From the immense poet Philip Larkin – This Be The Verse (That’s the name of the poem – I haven’t just turned into a pirate!!) They fuck you up, your mum... Read More

Practice, Theory

bandura, bobo doll, social learning theory, social work, theory

August 7, 2020

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Beers and Ideas – Philosophy for Social Workers

So excited to be launching this new idea today with fellow Social Work Shorts Writers Jamie Scorer and George Bull! Beers and Ideas – Descartes and the Barrel of Apples In Beers and Ideas Three friends delve into some philosophical ideas and think about their impact on them as social workers and on social work... Read More

Commentary, Practice

apples, descartes, philosophy, social work

June 3, 2020

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Social Care, Risk, COVID and True Uncertainty

The understanding and assessment of risk for social workers is as important as it is challenging. The current COVID pandemic has brought risk into the public spotlight with social care (and everyone else) facing an array of risk-based judgment calls. One example from my Connected Carers team is should the children of a 70 year... Read More

Commentary, In the News, Practice

risk, social work

February 7, 2020

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Dr Dan Siegel’s Hand Model of the Brain

George Bull, Social Worker at the Connected Carers Team South Tyneside, explores Dr. Dan Siegal’s hand model of the brain and its use in social work practice. In the Solution Focussed Therapy model of social work practice the core goal is to nurture the innate self-capacity for change and repair in individuals and families. I... Read More

Communication, Practice

hand brain model, social work, solution focussed, therapy

February 5, 2019

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Liam Neeson, ethnicity, and oppression

Liam Neeson is in the press today (Tuesday 5th February 2019). You may have seen that he has told a reporter that during a difficult time in his life he had walked the streets for a week with a knife hoping, he says, to take his anger out on any black man who approached him.... Read More

Commentary, In the News, Practice

discrimination, liam neeson, oppression, practice, racism, social work

November 4, 2018

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Part of the problem or part of the solution…..?

When I was a practitioner and then a social work manager I was fond, when times were difficult, of asking myself, “Do I want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?” I remember this acutely during the time the local authority I was working in were ‘rolling out’ new processes to... Read More

Commentary, Practice

3 conversations, conversation, model, practice, problem, social work, solution

May 2, 2018

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Cicero, self, and Social Work

Just what does the Roman philosopher, politician and orator Cicero have to do with social work in 2017!? What can the musings of someone from 107 – 44 BCE tell us about life in the 21st century? Well, Cicero’s philosophical writings on the nature of the person and existence have contributed to humanism and this... Read More

Practice

cicero, personalisation, self, social work

November 4, 2017

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How delivering good practice is adding to the DoLS assessment backlog problem.

Ongoing increase in outstanding assessments The annual review of deprivation of liberty safeguards has revealed an on going increase in situations that still require attention through assessment. The safeguards ensure that those deprived of their liberty in a care home or hospital in England and Wales, who do not have the capacity to consent to being accommodated,... Read More

In the News, Practice

best interests, deprivation, DoLs, practice, social work

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