Shape-shifter and Agenda Setter: The Influence of Emotion in Social Work Practice and Practice Education

Abstract

Abstract:As an interpersonal profession, operating within and between a myriad of nebulous psychosocial worlds, a significant proportion of social work's currency resides in emotion, providing impetus for action or omission. This paper asserts that due diligence must be exercised towards emotion within social work training and practice, giving consideration to the journey towards qualification, fraught as it can be; emphasising the need to bring emotion out of the shadows and into the light. This is not simply a 'how did that make you feel?' task, rather one of acknowledgement and acceptance, which lends itself to an exploration of the layered interface where emotion comes into being, prodded and poked, twisted and contorted, by the powerful forces of politics, sensationalism and reductionism, which seek to orchestrate simplicity and control.

Talking about emotion: how are conversations about emotion enabled in the context of social work practice education?

“…Given that rigor 'also includes the completeness of the interpretation' (Yardley, 2000, p. 222), the coding phase involved two processes, with data being coded in terms of both semantic analysis, accepting the explicit or surface meaning of the data, and latent analysis, where the researcher interpreted meaning in order to arrive at an explicit theme categorisation (see Braun & Clarke, 2006). Like Hair (2013), during this part of the process I was mindful of my own conceptions of supervision, along with those associated with the role of Practice Educator, expectations of qualifying students and the importance of emotion -something which is, for me, a powerful component of practice (see Dore, 2016).…”

“…Essentially, the integrated self is one that is emotionally intelligent, emotional intelligence itself a prerequisite for effective practice (see Dore, 2016). From the content of the interviews, particularly in relation to this theme of an integrated professional identity, it is evident that fostering the development of this attribute was a clear feature in the discussions of emotion: the students were encouraged to monitor their own and other's feelings, to learn to discriminate between them and to then use that information to guide their thinking and action (Morrison, 2007).…”

“…Emotion plays a significant role in social work practice and practice education (Dore, 2016), perhaps most notably influencing decision making and professional judgement (Kirkman and Melrose, 2014;Morrison, 2007). Combine this with the knowledge that social workers and other professionals working in the 'helping professions' face higher levels of stress than other occupation groups (see Grant & Kinman, 2013) and it is easy to see why there is widespread agreement about the 'importance and value of supervision' (Wilkins & Jones, 2018, p. 454).…”

Navigating relationships in practice learning: voices from practice educators

“…Supervision provides a safe space for student and PE to explore how personal beliefs, values, biases and assumptions may impact on practice and how to resolve conflicts and to find a common ground (Dore, 2016).…”

Social work on the edge: not knowing, singularity and acceptance

“…In the UK this has been supported and encouraged by a welfare state espousing choice as a means to secure wellbeing (for example Department of Health, 2005;2016), supported by a 'what works' approach to welfare provision. While this paper does not seek to revisit past discussions about such an approach (Dore, 2006), it is helpful to situate debate within the prevailing context of individualisation, promoted through notions of choice and the ability to select, where responsibility lies at the door of the individual (Beck, 2006).…”