Share - A New Model for Social Work

By Siobhan Maclean, Jo Finch and Prospera Tedam

This book is written by three social work educators with over 70 years' experience of social work practice and education between them. Concerned about the profession of social work in the UK, the authors have devised a new model of social work called 'SHARE'. As the book discusses, one of the key drivers in developing the SHARE model was ensuring that the diversity of voices in social work are heard, including practitioners, service users and carers, experts by experience, managers, academics and many others. Unusually, the book contains the voices of over 40 social work stakeholders and the authors 'share' their own experiences. The SHARE model, as the book explores, aims at re-orientating social work back to a more emancipatory and shared position. The SHARE model is designed around five distinct yet connected components, which the book explores: SEEING HEARING ACTION READING EVAUATION The SHARE model can be applied in any social work (and indeed comparator) practice and education setting and the final chapter illustrates the way that the SHARE model can be used in social work practice, supervision and practice education. The book is written in an engaging and highly accessible way, whilst ensuring that the issues covered are given the necessary depth of exploration. The book is research informed and utilises a wide range of theory. As visual learners and proponents of creative methods in social work practice and education, the authors have ensured the book is creative and participatory. The book is intended to be written in!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kirwin Maclean Associates Ltd
• Release date: Jan 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781912130634

Siobhan Maclean

Siobhan Maclean BA CQSW PQSW (Company Director). I am a registered social worker and have a passion for our profession. I qualified in 1990 and have held various social work positions

Book preview

Chapter 1: INTRODUCING

THE SHARE MODEL

We are proud to be able to share a new model of practice for social work in this book. In recent years, we have come together to discuss our work and our experiences, and we have begun to recognise that as three very different women with diverse experiences, we share a number of things in common. As part of our common understanding about contemporary social work, we wanted to develop a new model for social work which would have applications to both direct practice and to social work education.

This chapter provides a brief introduction to the model and its individual but ultimately interconnecting components.

The components

At its heart, the SHARE model is straightforward, but that does not mean it lacks sophistication. As we go on to discuss, SHARE is a model that is rich in theory and research; based around a reflexive approach, it promotes in-depth critical reflection and analysis. The model is based around five key components which make up the acronym SHARE.

In social work, models provide a framework for intervention. Essentially, they are about what we ‘do’. Each of the individual aspects of the SHARE model is about ‘doing’. In fact, each component of the model is a relatively uncomplicated thing that we all do on a daily basis. SHARE brings the five components together to create a holistic model building on the value of the interconnections between each individual component. The word SHARE is not accidental, it has been specifically chosen for a number of reasons - which we explore in Chapter 2.

Sensory aspects of SHARE

The SHARE model builds on aspects of human senses. This partly relates to the humanistic stance of the model; it is based on human capabilities (much like social work) so computers, assistive technology and robots cannot do it.

Humans have five traditionally recognised senses:

•Sight (vision)

•Hearing (audition)

•Taste (gustation)

•Smell (olfaction)

•Touch (somatosensation)

Increasingly, spatial awareness is also being referred to as a sense, although for many years the ‘sixth sense’ has been used to describe extrasensory perception (ESP). The use of the human senses in social work is receiving more attention in contemporary literature. Lisa Morriss has undertaken a great deal of work in this area and she explains the value of the senses in the first stakeholder voice.

We have been excited by the increased acknowledgement of the value of sensory practice in social work and have drawn on this in the development of the SHARE model. The SHARE model draws explicitly on the two senses of seeing and hearing. However, we see the model as multi-sensory in that smell, touch and taste are embodied within the connections.

What we want to be very clear about is that the seeing and hearing aspects of the model are about much more than the physicality of sight and hearing. These components are about drawing on the fullest range of senses as we clarify in Chapters 5 and 6.

In recent years there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of the human senses in social work, as our first stakeholder voice from Lisa discusses. At the same time there has been an increasing interest in the use of the senses in learning and education. In fact, Doyle and Zakrajsek (2013) assert that the way in which senses work in co-operation with each other is being increasingly recognised in education, arguing that when two or more senses are used together then learning is more effective and memory is boosted. The SHARE model is multi-sensory and as such we hope that it will support the development of both social work practice and social work education as each of the components is inter-connected.

Lisa Morriss is a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Birmingham. She qualified as a social worker in 1995 and worked in Community Mental Health teams for over 10 years.

Social work practice takes place in affective and atmospheric encounters; both in the office and on home visits. Social work is sensory work (Morriss, 2017). Sensory ethnography is an interdisciplinary critical methodology which - unlike a classic observational approach - situates ethnography as a reflexive and experiential process in which the researcher closely attends to the senses throughout the research process. Thus, there is a deep resonance between sensory ethnography and social work. To illustrate, here is an extract from an adoptive parent, F, talking about links to their child’s past:

R, at three, she came with a tiny little white, like Snoopy dog and that was from, that was from birth mother era and that has a cigarette burn on it, the same as she has a cigarette burn, she has, um, and then she paid no attention to it whatsoever. You know, they accumulate so many toys and things. I’ve always kept that in her room but it’s hidden at the back of the pile. (Brown et al., 2014 p.179)

The Snoopy dog has a visceral quality: the size, colour, and the cigarette burn in the fur invoke a multisensorial response. F appears to distance themselves from their child’s past life by referring to the ‘birth mother era’. S/he makes a physical connection between the toy and the little girl: both share a cigarette burn inflicted in this former life. The Snoopy dog is a powerful symbol of a time when F’s daughter lived with her birth family; a time when she was either intentionally or accidentally harmed. F cannot simply throw this toy away as it is a direct connection with their daughter’s history; at the same time, the material presence of this toy is seemingly unbearable. Moreover, although the child may pay no attention to the Snoopy dog at the moment, there is also a sense of an anticipated future when she may wish to reconnect with her past. To manage this ambivalence, F keeps the toy in the daughter’s bedroom, but it is deliberately hidden at the back of the pile of other toys. The Snoopy dog is there but not there; secret but discoverable; connected to the past but also to a possible future. Thus, sensory ethnography is a means of exploring such unspoken, felt or sensed elements of everyday experiences (Pink, 2015). Social work practice is a deeply embodied, sensory and mobile experience and by attending to the sensory, social work researchers can evoke this lived experience in their accounts.

© Lisa Morriss

Emotional context of SHARE

We recognise the vital importance of emotions in social work and feel that the emotional context of practice is often missing from academic and theoretical discussions about practice. We have debated whether the E of SHARE should relate specifically to emotions but have concluded that the evaluation component of the model is vital. We hope that when the model is used, emotions will be fully explored as part of the evaluation component. Certainly, the emotional context of practice is considered in Chapter 9 where we explore evaluation in more detail.

Human emotions are often expressed through sensory means and what we experience through our senses certainly impacts on feelings. We therefore see the SHARE model as encompassing the emotional context of practice, which is regularly demonstrated in the stakeholder voices throughout this book.

Stakeholders

We come from the position that certain people in our professional world hold significantly more power than others and that often only a few privileged stakeholders are consulted about the development of social work policy and new approaches to practice. We recognise that there are many stakeholders in social work and want to ensure that our model is inclusive of everyone with an interest in social work.

Building on the ideas of Tony Morrison (2005) and his inclusion of four key stakeholders in an integrated model of supervision, we recognise a wider range of stakeholders, as:

•Service users and their families

•Social workers

•Students

•Practice educators

•Managers

•Employers

•Higher Education Institutions (Universities and Colleges)

•Lecturers

•Other professionals

•The general public

•Politicians and civil servants

Our view is that everyone should have a stake in the provision of good quality social work. Our observations over the years suggest that whilst there have been a number of very positive developments, for example, the involvement of experts by experience (sometimes referred to as service users and carers) in social work programmes, there remains a need for a more participatory and broader approach in considerations of what is, and should be ‘good’ social work practice. We remain concerned, that we continue to see practice, as well as social work literature which creates a distinct ‘us and them’ approach to the development of social work. Our hope is that the SHARE model can be used in a way which recognises that we all have a stake in the development and practice of our profession.

The model proposes that each individual SHARE component should be considered from the perspective of all the stakeholders involved in any situation being considered. As such, we have included the full range of ‘stakeholder voices’ throughout this book, to explore diverse experiences of social work. We feel it is important that the very development and writing of this book, should be congruent with the SHARE model and the values that underpin our approach. Of course, each of the different stakeholders identified has a different level of interest in the various aspects of social work policy, practice and education covered in this book.

We have included 43 stakeholder voices in this book. One of the things that is really interesting about the different stakeholder voices is that they each have a different style and tone. Some, for example link their voice to academic references, therefore connecting their voice to that of others. Other voices draw essentially on their own personal experience. This in itself demonstrates the different perspectives of each stakeholder. Our aim here is to present a variety of ‘voices’ and not privilege a particular voice over another. To that end, stakeholders were given a very open brief, to write about what was important to them. We have placed the stakeholder voices into the chapters that we think they most complement, but one aspect of the stakeholder voices is that they each demonstrate the ways in which the five components of the SHARE model interconnect, so they could just as easily fit into one of the other chapters.

Different dimensions

Bringing the components of the model and the key stakeholders together creates a range of different dimensions. The SHARE model is about not just what you see, hear, do, read and how you evaluate this, but it is also about how all the other stakeholders evaluate what they see, hear, do and read. Different stakeholders will inevitably see different things in the same situation and may hear what is said differently. This is clearly illustrated in the stakeholder voices included throughout this book, where a range of stakeholders share their very different perspectives. As you explore the different aspects of the SHARE model in this book, it is important to acknowledge that it is a model which promotes the recognition of the whole, in light of the parts. So, everything should be considered from the perspective of each stakeholder involved in any given situation.

Connecting components and dimensions in a dynamic, non-linear manner

The most important aspect of the SHARE model is that it should not be used in a linear way. It is dynamic in that it recognises the connections between each component. For example, what we read may well impact on what we see and hear in a situation. What a person does may well be influenced by what they have taken (evaluated) from what they have seen and heard. The components do not need to be taken in any particular order.

It is also inevitable that in some situations or at key times, it may be more important or useful to focus on one component; or because of various priorities, there may be clearer and more obvious connections between two or three of the components than others. There are also interconnections between what each stakeholder sees and how this relates, or not, to what other stakeholders identify.

Thus, within SHARE, the connections are of equal importance to the individual components. The processes and the shifts and changes in the connections, are an important way to fully take account of the complexities of peoples’ lives, their interactions with a range of professionals as well as wider societal interactions with people and institutions. We are therefore somewhat suspicious of linear models, which in our view, are overly simplistic, prescriptive and do not adequately portray the complexities of human lives.

Research

The development of the SHARE model has been influenced by research in two main ways. Our own research experiences have taught us much about holistic anti-oppressive approaches to social work and what we sadly see as the growing divide between social work practice and social work education. We come from a position which embraces the International Federation of Social Worker’s definition of social work, namely that social work is both a practice based profession and an academic discipline. To that end, we value and embrace the contribution that research makes in social work policy and practice, and actively seek to promote research mindedness. Practice that is not informed through reference to theory and research, is in our view, dangerous practice. The model thus draws on a wide range of research relevant to social work practice and education and to that end, we have included messages from research in each chapter.

Why now?

As we have documented earlier, we have over 70 years of social work practice and education experience behind us, working in different counties, countries and continents. We felt that the time was right to develop something new and innovative. We have some frustrations with existing models of social work which are to some extent outdated and reinforce a particular view of the world. We feel very privileged indeed that many different stakeholders have shared with us some of the current movements and happenings related to contemporary practice which truly challenge many of these outdated (often linear) models.

There is also an overt political motivation, linked to our concerns about how social work services, in England at least, are being shaped along very neoliberal lines. We also wanted to overtly acknowledge that the many hundreds if not thousands of social workers and practice educators we have worked with over the years, come from increasingly diverse backgrounds in terms of countries of origin, age, gender, sexuality, disability and class. We remain concerned about the narrowing of diversity of students on some newer approaches to social work education. The SHARE model was thus developed with an explicit acknowledgement of the increasingly globalised world we all live in.

We also feel, that social work in England, has to some extent lost its way. The time it seemed, was right to develop something new: something underpinned by research, theory, social work values as well as practice experience, and, perhaps most importantly, something which recognises the vital importance of all stakeholder voices. We also wanted to develop something that could have relevance and applicability beyond the UK, so the model is adaptable to social work policies and practices in other countries, and indeed, we also feel that the model could be applied to a wide range of comparator professions, for example youth work, social care, nursing and many other allied health professions.

The scope of this book

This introductory chapter has just given you a brief overview of the model and provided a ‘flavour’ of the values that underpin the model. The next chapter discusses the development of the model, as this is the first step in understanding SHARE and being able to use it in practice. Chapters 3 and 4 explain the theories which have influenced the development of the SHARE model and Chapters 5 to 9, provide an account of each of the components of the model, highlighting some key aspects of each component. Whilst each component is individually valuable it is vital to recognise that the strength of the SHARE model lies in the relationships between the components. We therefore conclude in Chapter 10 with some examples of the application of the model.

Key points

•The time is right for a new model for social work practice.

•The basic premise of the SHARE model is straightforward, but there is complexity in the interconnections between the parts.

•The model has an extended range of applicability.

•SHARE seeks to include all stakeholders.

Reflective Questions

What does the word share mean to you?

In what ways is social work sensory work?

In what ways is social work emotional work?

What do you do to ensure you are in touch with your senses and emotions?

The development of the SHARE model has been very organic and we have drawn on a range of voices. We very much want you to be a part of the development of this new model for social work. To this effect we have included a range of doodle pages in the book which we would encourage you to use to develop your share. Take a photo of the pages you doodle on, tweet it, get involved with the wider social work community as the model develops. These pages may also be useful to you as CPD evidence. If you are a student take these pages to supervision. Use this book in any way that works for you.

Chapter 2: THE DEVELOPMENT

OF THE MODEL

A number of key ideas have influenced us in the development of the SHARE model. This chapter will explore the way that the model was developed and provide some background to our rationale. We begin with an exploration of the word share.

Why the word share?

The word share is used in a range of ways - each of which has influenced the development of our model.

Sharing is about both giving and receiving. Early years professionals often concentrate on helping children learn how to share, and parents encourage their children to share from an early age - for example, sharing toys and sharing attention. This focus on sharing from an early age is culturally universal and is considered important across the lifespan, through adolescence and into adulthood. Indeed, in some societies sharing is essential for survival and a focus on individualism is frowned upon. We wanted to develop a model for social work which came from this perspective, namely a global and collective view of the word, and one that challenged, what we see as an individualised focus which is, in our view, impacting negatively and divisively on contemporary social work policy and practice in the UK. Indeed, we want to acknowledge here the influence of neoliberalism, which impacts on service users lives in adverse ways, and sets the agenda for the development of social policies, legislation and in turn, social work policy and practice. Whilst neoliberal governments are something we have to live with in the West, we want to instead emphasise the innate human good in sharing something. We also feel that the whole concept of sharing has very obvious resonance with social work values.

More in common

Sharing is also about what we have in common. Whilst a recognition and celebration of diversity is important for all of us, we work on the basis that we all share a common humanity. Whilst there are ways in which each and every individual is unique there are also many ways in which we share similarities and in some basic (biological) ways we are all the same.

Jo Cox was an MP for just 13 months when she was murdered in 2016. In her maiden speech (June 2015) she outlined the diversity of her constituency stating, We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us. We hope that the SHARE model will encourage people to concentrate more on what we have in common than on what divides us.

In addition to a common humanity, we also believe in the importance of a common profession. Whilst social workers are employed in a range of different settings and contexts, we all share a framework of values and ethics, and, all work within the international definition of our profession:

Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing.

(International Federation of Social Workers 2014)

In England, we see a significant move away from a common profession approach to social work. So that, for example, children’s and adult’s social work seems to be becoming more and more specialist with the two ‘strands’ often taking different directions. We feel strongly about the importance of ‘one profession’. Children live with adults and social workers need to understand issues across the lifespan. We hope that the SHARE model demonstrates what all social workers share in terms of their practice experiences and skills. The presentations and discussions at the recent Joint Conference for Principal Social Workers illustrated the importance of a shared profession (Wright and Pearson 2017). Ruth Stark, President of the International Federation of Social Workers has suggested that social workers need to be able to identify with a global profession in the way that lawyers or health professionals do. (Schraer 2014). We agree that a sense of belonging to a global profession is vital for social workers and hope that the SHARE model can be used to highlight what social workers around the world have in common.

The international definition of social work points to central themes around the idea of sharing. Every member of society has something to contribute to their own lives and the lives of others. Social workers become involved in people’s lives with the aim of understanding their situation and supporting them to regain control. Service users share the stories of how they got to where they are, and rely on social workers to use their professional knowledge and skills to assist them. The theme of ‘collective responsibility’ is very much in line with the ethos of the SHARE model. Being collectively responsible means that people will, in many ways, contribute to the overall outcomes of a community or society. It implies that people share in the positives and negatives and the challenges and opportunities. It minimises the potential to apportion blame to any one group of people, family or individual.

Share in contemporary practice

The word share comes from the Middle English word ‘shear’ which denotes the cutting or division of land. A share is therefore about the division of a resource. Social workers are involved in decisions about the sharing of resources, and are often asked by society to operationalise the division of resources in ways which they themselves may not agree with. Traditionally, social work has engaged with people who have not had an equal share when things have been divided. With the impact of the austerity era we believe that this situation is getting worse. The divide is getting wider and will continue to do so. We wanted to develop a model which recognises the inequality in society and comes from an anti-oppressive stance.

We don’t all get an equal share of the cake

In the business world, the word share has a very different connotation. Shares which are based on the principles of sharing in the profit and losses of a business are sold on the stock market. The current political climate is based on a neoliberal ideology which celebrates wealth creation and accumulation, and promotes an individualistic society. In this context, the worth of people is often valued in light of stocks and shares.

Currently, business models are being applied to the profession and to social work education in a variety of ways. We hope that the SHARE model can be used to reposition social work more explicitly with its foundations of social justice and human rights.

People are people, not commodities

The digital share

Digitally, the word share is used to describe giving people access to online content - particularly in relation to social media. Many social media settings have a ‘share’ option. Phrases ‘file-sharing’ software and ‘video-sharing’ sites are in common usage. Whilst we recognise the many benefits that social media can bring to our profession, we have been concerned by some of the things that we have seen posted and shared, which in our view perpetuate oppressive stereotypes about people who may use social work services.

There has long been a negative narrative of social work within the wider press which focuses on alleged failings in the profession, most notably when children known to social services die at the hands of their parents or carers (Finch and Schaub, 2015). Indeed, we discuss this in more detail in Chapter 7. The emergence, however, of a destructive narrative within social media, sadly some of which is propagated by some misguided individuals within the profession itself, rather than by journalists with limited understanding of our role, is even more alarming. We hope that the SHARE model will address some of the negative stereotypes of our profession and re-orientate social work to a more egalitarian relationship-focused position.

Warren is an advanced practitioner / social worker working in an adult’s service. @ermate

Social work has become very much part of my own identity; it’s a big part of my life and a part I have chosen to express like many others on social media. Writing blogs has enabled me to connect with people who either work or experience social work in some form.

My opening statement for a blog I wrote for World Social Work Day held in March 2017 attempted to identify what social work means to me:

Social work is and always will be about people, about the complexities of relationships, environments, the human condition, oppression, abuse by people towards other people, opportunity, empowerment, identity, human rights and enabling choice and control over one’s own life. My social work role enables to me focus on citizens whose lives require this support and understanding. I help with practical support to get things done and to help maintain or prevent poor situations developing outside of people’s own choices and control.

I have also written personal accounts about adult safeguarding, the challenges of social work process, practice education and the use of social media by social workers.

Writing down my own thoughts and feelings enables me to think about a profession I am immensely privileged to be part of and I hope has encouraged debate and thinking with others. I believe social work has a responsibility to reflect and think about what it actually is and where necessary to identify what works well and what is difficult. These thoughts can feel deeply personal and more private for some. If you do share your thoughts about social work via social media it’s important to be mindful that your contribution can also be influential. Social work must be truthful to itself; it must identify the positives but also not be afraid to frame the challenges in order to work towards solutions together. I have learnt through blogging and by my own social media comments that my own contribution is just a snapshot, a moment of comment and not necessarily a basis for anything else than what the reader wants it to be.

Public comments made by social workers are very visible, so such comment should be used to create a balance and to be accountable to both ourselves and to others. Public confidence must be based upon our profession’s ability to retain our values with careful yet honest balanced reflection. It is very easy for comments on social media to create confirmation bias or bandwagon effects leading to uncomfortable content. I try my best to write balanced blogs and make reasonable comments but it’s not necessarily easy. What is possible is not to create a situation, which can spiral quickly; it should always be possible not to cause individual distress for anyone concerned. Social media can cause defensive positions where original points can get lost within the process of negative and deeply personal language and argument. Social work is about people, so we must demonstrate to the public that we can converse appropriately with each other even within challenging debates and frustrations concerning our practice or conditions of practice.

When social work related topics are played out on wider social media platforms it naturally places social work under the microscope and I welcome this, as social work needs to be visible in order to be valued. However what social workers think they are looking at under such a microscope can be at risk of being viewed very differently by citizens and by influencers. The actual process of social work away from social media will always be based upon research, theories, skills, methods and of course politics. Social media enables commentators from all different areas to come together for respectful and stimulated debate to both embrace and challenge social work accordingly. However, it will always be our own experiences including our relationships with each other, which will impact on citizens and the communities we support. So, let’s keep blogging and discussing together, but with kindness and mindfulness because everyone matters, even when we might think differently.

© Warren Belcher

So as discussed by Warren, there is a further element to digital sharing that needs exploration as it can be a ‘double edged sword’. It is clear that technology can be used positively to connect people who might not meet in real life. We all use social media and have enjoyed the on-line connections we have made not only with social work academics, practitioners, users and carers but also people from a wide range of backgrounds, countries and professions; many of whom we have been able to approach about contributing to this book. We have enjoyed reading social work blogs that explore areas of practice we might not be so familiar with and also reading blogs from people outside of the profession which can be informative in a range of ways. Such blogs used well, can serve to breakdown some of the stereotypes and misunderstandings between various groups of people. Indeed, the use of social media in terms of knowledge sharing can be really positive.

The use of technology has become part and parcel of everyday life, which many of us could not do without. In the writing of this book, we have used online document sharing techniques as well as group texts to discuss and share our emerging ideas. However, we need to remember that many people cannot make use of the technology that most of us take for granted and are therefore excluded. For example, we note the use of online forms for many government departments which effectively exclude those who do not have internet access at home or cannot use computers. There is a scene in the film ‘I-Daniel Blake’, where we see the lead character struggle to use an online form and the member of staff from the employment office, is castigated for supporting him to use the computer. This illustrates the way that many people are being ‘left behind’ in the use of technology.

A further concern we have relates to those who use social media in destructive ways. For example, perpetuating on-line abuse and trolling. We note how women in the public eye are particularly vulnerable to online abuse and trolling. We recall the example in 2013, when Caroline Criado-Perez, campaigned to get the face of Jane Austen on the back of a £10 note. The online abuse and threats she received were shocking and resulted in her being advised by the police to leave her home (Philipson, 2013).

Regulatory bodies require practitioners to conduct themselves appropriately on social media and as we said at the outset of this section, we have been concerned at instances where we feel some peoples’ use of social media has not accorded with regulatory requirements and serve instead to perpetuate stereotypes about users of social work and health services. Unlike a conversation in real life, messages on social media are there in perpetuity for lots of people to see. Therefore ‘sharing’ by registered social workers has to be done within clear ethical and professional boundaries both online and in real life in our day to day interactions with users of social work services and other professionals.

During the final stages of writing of this book, the HCPC (which regulates social workers in England as well as other professional groups) has published new guidance on the use of social media by regulated professionals. This guidance discusses what professionals need to do in order to use social media safely, and demonstrates the benefits of social media use. Using the SHARE model to guide

Reviews for Share - A New Model for Social Work

[Latifa Salem · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

~Great asset for social workers , highly recommended for those who are looking for a holistic view of what social work is about.