Shake it off!

In preparation for our reflective supervision training series, I thought about reflection (reflection on reflection! Meta reflection?) and how the word is often used in social work but not at all acted upon enough. It is commonly accepted that reflection makes us better social workers. Personally, I’m convinced it enhances the quality of our interventions/interactions with others as it provides insight, enhances self-awareness, allows for creative thinking and better understanding of others. 

On the topic of reflective supervision social workers often tell me how amazing their supervision sessions currently are in comparison to those they had from former line managers simply because the supervisor starts with the question: how are you?

I would call that decency and not reflection as this is where ‘reflection’ often ends and continues with a dive into case management: keeping line managers up-to-date and allocating and/or closing cases. Sound familiar?

We are not immune to other people’s distress and are at risk of carrying that distress with us if not given the space to process it. We are rarely able to just say - going with Taylor Swift who has just been here in Edinburgh: ‘I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, I shake it off, I shake it off....’

Consequently, we focused our reflective supervision training solely on the reflective part. Reflection on inter personal dynamics (colleagues/line manager relationships, social worker to individual and individuals within their networks), analysis of our judgements and beliefs, emotions and reactions (what emotions am I experiencing before a home visit/meeting, during and after, vicarious trauma etc), how can we make sense of those experiences, how can we help individuals to make sense of their experiences and what are the barriers to change of which we are supposed to be its agent.

As a social worker it is difficult to find that space for reflection and we often struggle to see the wood for the trees due to the pace our workloads demand of us.

We recently held a focus group with social workers who had used our Social Work Professional Support Service (SWPSS). All our coaches are social workers trained in coaching. The service is free to use for all social workers (including students) in Scotland – thanks to funding from the Scottish Government. 

The practitioners in our focus group all shared their struggle to find that ‘thinking space’ in their day-to-day work and commented that they were using our coaching service, SWPSS, to create that space. One of them stated: ‘Having someone who can respond, affirm and not provide advice but having a professional colleague /peer who sits and enables a truly reflective process through prompting and conversation is invaluable.’

Another shared: [the coaching session] helped me come out of ‘feeling so bogged down. It felt like an outsider ‘switching the light on for me.’ 

Apart from talking about the importance of reflection in social work we also like to teach others that you can’t pour from an empty cup whilst not actually applying the same logic to ourselves.

One of the social workers commented: ‘I think it would be great if we could be better at seeking some support or encouraging others to do so. I think we often having to focus on supporting others and don’t always prioritise our own need for space.’ 

Let’s take some time to reflect on how we can make space for thinking and reflection. A coach can help us find ways to integrate thinking space into our daily lives. Like the individuals we work with, everybody is different and what might work for me doesn’t necessarily need to work for you.

Another way of letting in more light is exchange with others. By simply stewing in our own juice - so to speak - we can find it difficult to ‘grow’. Exchanges with peers can widen our thinking space by letting others contribute which will consequently increase our learning and development. Group supervision can be a useful tool for that. Engaging with wider networks by attending conferences and other events (for example Social Work Policy Panel, SASW’s Knowledge and Skills sessions or forums) can also help to widen our horizon and allowing us to take that step back and look at our own practice with the required distance for constructive critical thinking.

Obviously, we at BASW/SASW firmly believe that it’s not just down to the individual social worker to make space for reflection but working conditions need to allow and even encourage that which is why we will continue to campaign for better working conditions on your behalf. Help us doing that by signing our petition.

The Social Workers Union (SWU) in cooperation with Bath University will launch their supervision guidance on 16th June which may help you negotiate the supervision you deserve, so keep your eyes peeled for that (we’ve got you covered: it’ll be in our newsletters).

In the meantime, I wish us all happy reflecting!

A blog by Karin Heber, Professional Officer SASW