Being a service user and a social work academic: balancing expert identities

Fox, Joanna

doi:10.4324/9781351232630-10

Cited by 9 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…As my reflection shows, occupying a valued social role and beginning to follow my dreams enabled me to begin to reconstruct my brittle self-esteem and self-efficacy. Little by little, building on confidence and true friendship, I was enabled to take on a responsible role as an academic and increase my capacity to perform[ 32 , 33 ]. Recovery was at the centre of my empowerment and led me to a place of increased confidence and self-esteem[ 32 , 33 ] where I was able to combat my own sense of self-stigma and challenge the public stigma of being a person with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exorcising memories of internalised stigma: The demons of lived experience

Fox¹

2021

WJP

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Public stigma and self-stigma impact negatively on the lives of people with mental health issues. Many people in society stereotype and discriminate against people with mental ill-health, and often this negative process of marginalisation is internalised by people with lived experiences. Thus, this negative internalisation leads to the development of self-stigma. In this article, I reflect on my own experiences of shame and self-stigma as a person with mental ill-health socially bullied by peers from my community and social groups. I present a personal narrative of both public and self-stigmatisation which I hope will enable me to exorcise memories of internalised stigma, which are encountered as my demons of lived experience. Using reflexivity, a process used widely in health and social care fields, I consider how social bullying shattered my fragile confidence, self-esteem, and self-efficacy in the early days of my recovery; the impact of associative stigma on family members is also explored. Following this, the potential to empower people who experience shame and stigma is explored alongside effective anti-stigma processes which challenge discrimination. I connect the concept of recovery with the notion of empowerment, both of which emphasise the importance of agency and self-efficacy for people with mental ill-health. Finally, I consider how the concepts of empowerment and recovery can challenge both the public stigma held by peers in the community and the self-stigma of those with lived experiences.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exorcising memories of internalised stigma: The demons of lived experience

Fox¹

2021

WJP

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“…The role of peer providers ideally brings about a change in power relationships between service-users and professionals, and sharing of control over decisions (Faulkner, 2017;Fox, 2016). Sarah Banks (2012, p. 145) envisions that 'expertise by experience' should go beyond the more common forms of involvement: 'This expertise is not just the insights, skills and knowledge of consumers, who know what they want.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is a more radical version of the coproduction of knowledge and welfare services. ' Fox (2016) notices, however, that service users 'telling their story' as part of the social work curriculum 'often points to tokenism rather than partnership working'. (p. 967).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the current practice, we see peer providers bringing in their personal experiences, but professionals with relevant experiences are still not allowed to use these and expected to stay distant (Fox, 2016). This reproduces the duality of knowledge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This gave rise to a whole new set of questions such as how social work professionals can reflexively use their experiential expertise, what self-disclosure means for one's personal and professional identity and relationships with service-users, and whether or not stories reproduce or challenge stigma. Fox (2016) addressed some of these issues after revealing herself as lecturer social work with experiential knowledge. She noticed that her status as an academic located in a university institution which values academic knowledge was intersecting with the powerlessness and stigma of being a service-user in a discriminatory society.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social work students learning to use their experiential knowledge of recovery. An existential and emancipatory perspective

Weerman

Abma

2018

Social Work Education

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Aims: To understand the features of experiential knowledge with recovery and the process of social work students learning to use their experiential knowledge of recovery from an existential and emancipatory perspective. Methods: A participatory action research design was used in an applied university social work department in the Netherlands to develop a new curriculum for students using their experiential knowledge. Students were invited to disclose and share their personal experiences of recovery in the classroom and practice. Results: Experiential knowledge of recovery can be articulated as knowledge of finding a new balance in dualities of several existential themes. Social work students shared their experiences in a reflexive way and transcended their individual experiences to develop a critical subjectivity. They experienced their learning process as emancipatory and destigmatizing, but shame came up as a recurring theme. Making use of experiential knowledge sometimes conflicted with expectations of the social worker as a detached professional expert. Conclusion: Experiential knowledge of recovery can be articulated as knowledge of living with existential dualities. Profiling oneself as a social worker with existential knowledge of recovery has paradoxical aspects: it may weaken shame and combat stigmatization, but may reinforce stigma as well.

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‘Navigating’ the Value of Lived Experience in Support Work with Multiply Disadvantaged Adults

Parr

2022

J. Soc. Pol.

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This article furthers understanding of the value of experiential knowledge for social policy and practice. It draws on new empirical material to critically explore the opportunities and challenges inherent in lived experience support work with multiply disadvantaged adults. Reflecting on the experiences of those delivering a ‘navigator’ service, particular attention is paid to an ambiguity around the ways in which experiential knowledge might generate more productive models of relationship-based work, the positioning of lived experience in relation to ‘expert’ ways of knowing as well as the potential risks that the navigator role poses to those employed in the position. The discussion is situated within a wider body of literature that helps us to understand these practical, ideological and political tensions within the wider context of neoliberal welfare reforms.

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Being a service user and a social work academic: balancing expert identities

Cited by 9 publications

References 1 publication

Exorcising memories of internalised stigma: The demons of lived experience

Exorcising memories of internalised stigma: The demons of lived experience

Social work students learning to use their experiential knowledge of recovery. An existential and emancipatory perspective

‘Navigating’ the Value of Lived Experience in Support Work with Multiply Disadvantaged Adults

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