SAFELY NEGOTIATING THE INTERSECTION
MANAGING THE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DIMENSIONS OF LIFE IN SOCIAL WORK
EDUCATION
Peter Matthewson Senior Lecturer, Social Practice Unitec – part of Te Pūkenga
Auckland
Abstract
Social workers and social work students come with their own personal lives and histories, that have grown in diverse social and cultural contexts. Students come into social work education with their own experiences of vulnerability, discrimination and oppression and / or privilege, that may be very similar to, or different from, the lives of people they will eventually serve in the social work profession. Many students also carry personal trauma, and personal experience of some if the issues that social work addresses. How can students be supported to process their own personal experiences, including past trauma, to ensure that they can be safe in the face of the demands and potential exposure to trauma of social work practice? It has been a common feature of counselling and psychotherapy education programmes for students to be required to undergo their own process of therapy while in training. However this has not been common in social work education programmes in Aotearoa New Zealand. This presentation will examine one attempt to address this need, through a written reflection and individual interview process, in a Professional Practice course in the second year of a four-year social work degree programme in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Instruments / Tools of Profession / Trade
What about Social Work?
• You are the instrument of your profession!
• Conscious use of the self
• skill of purposefully and intentionally using "his or her motivation and capacity to communicate and interact with others in ways that facilitate change“
(Sheafor & Horejsi, 2003, as cited in Heydt & Sherman, 2005, p.26)
However danger . . .
Because social work practice involves the conscious and deliberate use of oneself, you become the medium through which knowledge, attitudes, and skill are conveyed. .. . You might have the most noble and idealistic of motives, intending only to serve others. Nonetheless, if you lack self- awareness, you may unwittingly enact emotional or behavioral patterns that harm the very people you hope to help.
(Cournoyer, 2000, as cited in Heydt & Sherman, 2005, p.27)
Use of Self – A Snapshot of Literature
•
Concept somewhat ambiguous, difficult to define precisely (Gordon & Dunworth, 2016;Koh & Boisen, 2018)
•
In social work tends to be associated with psychodynamic theory, or at least micro level, clinical social work, rather than macro level, radical / critical / structural practice (Koh & Boisen, 2018)•
Shifts over time (Gordon & Dunworth, 2016):•
Particularly prevalent in social work education in mid 20th century•
De-emphasised in later 20th and early 21st centuries with critiques of psychodynamic approaches from both radical / critical perspectives and emphasis on short-term, measurable interventions and managerialism•
Some recent re-emphasisPersonal and Professional Self – 2 Perspectives
(Newcomb, Burton & Edwards, 2020)
•
“Traditional” dichotomous assumption:•
Professional – engaged in relationships in social service setting, guided by organisational roles and requirements, professional ethics•
Personal – exists outside work context, in family and community•
Alternative relational model – “created through the merging of multiple identities, which are continually being co-constructed in relationship with others” (p.339)Life Experiences: Challenges
Studies have found that significant proportions of social work students have experienced significant personal challenges
• Living in sole parent family (as child or parent)
• Childhood sexual abuse
• Violent / abusive relationships
• Relationship breakdown
• Loss / grief
• Racism / discrimination
• Poverty / unemployment – both a structural issue and personal traumatic experience
(Krumer-Nevo, 2020)(Christie & Weeks, 1998; Newcomb, Burton & Edwards, 2020)
Life Experience: Privilege or Lack of Privilege
• Pākehā / Māori
• White / coloured
• Rich / poor
• Male / female
• Christian / other religion
• Straight / rainbow
• Cisgender / transgender or nonbinary /intersex
• NB intersectionality
• How might this relate to the people and communities
social workers serve?
Experiences of Social Workers
Positive or negative
• ‘a social worker ... helped me come to terms with my childhood experiences of child abuse’
• ‘I had, along with my parents, had a bad
experience and relation to social services and I
would like to undertake social work training
myself because I do not believe what happened
in our circumstances was the best option
available’
(Christie & Weeks, 1998, p.59)Impact for Professional Role
•
Self awareness crucial for understanding others•
Negative personal experiences can become a resource that informs practice skills Given that in their role as social workers, they will come into contact with people at some of the most vulnerable points in their lives, students’ own experiences of what it is to be incompetent, provides both themselves and clients with a most valuable range of resources (Christie & Weeks, 1998, p.65)•
Howevernegative experiences may have negative effects on practice and that the appropriate and critical use of life experience cannot simply be assumed . . . it is the quality of critical awareness which ‘distinguishes mere experience from its intelligent use’ (Christie & Weeks, 1998, p.66)
Personal Therapy in Education??
•
Common for counselling and psychotherapy students to be required to engage in personal therapy as part of their education•
Assumed benefits:•
Resolving personal issues•
Developing resilience•
Experiential learning of therapeutic skills (and what not to do!!)•
Learning client experience•
Screening for safety in practice•
Although this is contested:•
Not required in other professions•
How much?? Eg requirement for 40 hours•
Cost(Corey, 2013; Davy, 2001; Feltham, 2010)
What about in Social Work Education??
•
Has not been so common•
Data base search of “personal therapy” AND “social work education” found two articles (Probst, 2015; Strozier & Stacey, 2001)•
Both in the Clinical Social Work Journal, from the United States, reflected a psychodynamic perspective“Lived Experience” and Social Work Education
•
Some attention to students learning from people particularly with lived experience of mental illness (Ridley,Martin & Mahboub, 2017)
•
Seems often associated with people who have lived experience taking consumer advisor roles in services, or adjunct “lived experience academics” in training programmes•
What about students, practising social workers, general academic staff’s own “lived experience”???•
One recent study (Newcomb, Burton & Edwards, 2020) found significant reluctance among social work students to disclose their own experience:•
Fear of stigma•
Fear of being regarded as unfit for practiceOne Attempt to Address this in a Social Work Degree Programme
•
Unitec Auckland, four-year Bachelor of Social Practice•
Second year Professional Practice Course•
Teaching on use of self•
Written Reflection Assessment implemented in 2021•
Completed in three parts:1.
Initial draft submitted2.
Individual interview (15 minutes) with lecturer on key aspects3.
Submission of final versionStudents Asked to Reflect on . . .
•
Analysis of the nature and values of social work and community development (NB needed to be referenced to professional documents eg Code of Ethics, and literature)•
Culture, and how this influences your life and choices.•
Personal values:•
Include any faith perspective and/or political viewpoint you may hold to, and how this influences your values.•
How do your personal values align with the values of social work?Are there any possible tensions you will need to work through? If so how will you process this?
•
Something of your personal life story:•
What has led, or motivated you to pursue a career in social work?•
Any particularly relevant personal life experiences?•
Your experience of privilege, or the lack of privilege•
How do these enhance what you personally bring to this profession?•
Are there any personal factors that could potentially undermine your work in this profession?•
In particular is there any past trauma that you are working through? If so what do you need to do to build the resilience needed for practice? How will you do this?•
Students were invited to discuss this in the individual interview if they wished, but this was not intrusive•
Identify one social work or community development theory or model that resonates with you from your study so far. In 2 or 3 sentences explain what this is, and why it resonates with you.•
Who is your support network for personal and professional life?•
You may also include any other factor that you think is especially significant for you in the intersection of your personal life and professional roleRisks and Questions
• Where are you at in a healing / recovery journey?
• Risk of being emotionally triggered by situations you will encounter in social work?
• Seeing client situations through the lens of your own experience rather than objective assessment?
• What do you need to do to build resilience?
• Discuss in individual interview if you feel comfortable
• Counselling / therapy NB Unitec free counselling service
• Other forms of self care and support
Survey Following Process
As this was a new innovation and potentially sensitive for students, Unitec’s teaching support service Te Puna Ako was asked to confidentially survey the students on their experience of this. Students were asked to rate these items on a 1-5 scale with space for brief further comment:
•
I understand the need for reflection on the intersection of personal life and experience, and one’s professional role in social practice, including potentially sensitive material•
The need for this reflection was communicated appropriately•
The requirements for the written reflection assessment were clear•
The teaching of this through the course, including on values and ethics, the personal/professional intersection, and faith and spirituality, was helpful in reflecting on this and completing the assessment•
Resources provided on the course Moodle page, particularly under the Intersection: Personal Professional tab, were useful•
The individual interview component was supportive•
The management of this process despite being online due to the Covid-19 lockdown, was supportive•
Feedback was appropriate and helpfulResults •
Overall very positive, 10 responses, 9 either strongly agreed or agreed with all statements•
Some comments•
I never liked the process of self-reflecting, however the paper has helped changed that view. The one on one interview session with Peter was enjoyable and I was able to reflect on a lot of things that relate to both personal and professional life.•
I don’t think I had any issues or barriers.•
I felt well supported throughout the semester. The assessments and content were well directed towards the learning outcomes.•
Some suggested longer interview•
No comments that objected to the processChallenges
•
It is both a personal reflection and a piece of academic writing – possible tension•
Marking:•
Hard to give numerical mark to something so personal•
Nevertheless some were better than others•
Grammatical issues•
Individual interview:•
15 minutes maximum manageable although some student feedback was they would have liked longer•
Responding to trauma:•
Are we students’ social workers or only their educators? Part of how I teach social work is what I do when students come with various crises etc. However there are limits and boundaries to this.Further Challenges
• Ethical question of whether students should be required to have some therapy??
• If we identify student has issues but they are
not willing to address these, can they be
regarded as “fit and proper”??
References
Christie, A. & Weeks, J. (1998) Life experience: A neglected form of knowledge in social work education and practice.
Practice: Social Work in Action, 10(1), 55-68. DOI: 10.1080/09503159808411477
Gordon, J. & Dunworth, M. (2016). The fall and rise of ‘use of self’? An exploration of the positioning of use of self in social work education. Social Work Education, 36(5), 591-603. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2016.1267722
Heydt, M.J. & Sherman, N.E. (2005). Conscious use of self: Tuning the instrument of social work practice with cultural competence. The Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work, 10(2), 25-40.
Koh, B.D. & Boisen, L.S. (2019). The use-of-selves interdependent model: A pedagogical model for reflective practice.
Journal of Social Work Education, 55(2), 338-350. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2018.1513880
Krumer-Nevo, M . (2020). Radical hope: Poverty aware practice for social work. Policy Press.
Newcomb, M., Burton, J & Edwards, N. (2020). How to be yourself: Student perspectives of learning use of self. Clinical Social Work Journal, 50(4),337-346. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-020-00766-9
Probst, B. (2015). The other chair: Portability and translation from personal therapy to clinical practice. Clinical Social Work Journal, 43(1), 50-61. doi 10.1007/s10615-014-0485-2
Ridley, S., Martin, R. & Mahboub, L. (2017). Learning from mental health lived experience and the influence on students’
practice.Australian Social Work, 70(3), 372-380.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2016.1235718
Strozier, A.L. & Stacey, L. (2001). The relevance of personal therapy to the education of MSW students. Clinical Social Work Journal, 29(2), 181-195.