Common student questions answered
As we come to the end of the academic year and another group of social work students are set to graduate, I’ve been thinking about common questions I’ve been asked over the...
Category: Communication
Difficult Conversations – Dealing with anger
In the final part of this ‘trilogy’ of difficult conversations articles I want to look at anger. Firstly, it’s worth saying that this may not just be the anger of the other...
Difficult Conversations – Advanced Skills
In the previous article we considered some initial thoughts about what to bear in mind when approaching a difficult conversation. Always be mindful as I said that good relationships are the foundation of...
Difficult Conversations – some initial thoughts
When it comes to conversations in Social Work practice, particularly difficult ones, we have to start with the question “What are we trying to achieve?” What is the problem we are trying...
Language and Power in Social Work, a fresh perspective from the Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein
Social work can be seen as an endeavour of attempting to grasp at another person’s reality. We assess people and families striving to be as faithful as possible. In this article I...
Motivational Interviewing – be like Columbo
Remember the television show Columbo starring Peter Falk? The fictional Columbo was a detective who solved murder mysteries – hugely popular in the 1970’s. Having recently used this analogy with a group...
Getting to grips with theory: Transactional analysis
I honestly don’t know why but I’m a huge fan of ideas and theories that emerged in the late 50’s and 60’s. It was certainly a time when ideas about the importance...
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...
Stop talking, start listening!
As social workers and social work students we understand, I suspect, the importance of effective communication and spend a lot of time thinking about what we should say and how we should...
Communication – The Impact of Context
Communication is absolutely fundamental to social work practice. As well as communication taking place between individuals it also takes place within specific contexts. This is about environment but also the contextual framework...