Louise Jane Grant

Enhancing Wellbeing in Social Work Students: Building Resilience in the Next Generation

The need for social workers to be resilient is widely emphasised. Although enhancing resilience in social work trainees presents a challenge to educators, they are nonetheless responsible for developing professionals who are able to cope with the emotional demands of the job. This paper argues that building resilience in the future workforce should be a key element of social work education. However, as little is known about the competencies and support structures that underpin resilience or the extent to which resilience protects the wellbeing of trainees, an evidence-based approach is required to inform curriculum development. Recent research conducted by the authors of this paper has highlighted the protective nature of resilience in social work trainees. Emotional intelligence and associated competencies, such as reflective ability, aspects of empathy and social confidence, were found to be key predictors of this important quality. The important role played by social support from various sources was also emphasised. The present paper summarises this research, and presents interventions based on the findings that have the potential to promote resilience and wellbeing in social work trainees. Also considered are ways in which the curriculum might be further enhanced to provide trainees with an internal ‘tool-box’ of strategies that will help them manage their wellbeing more effectively in their future career.

‘Bouncing Back?’ Personal Representations of Resilience of Student and Experienced Social Workers

Although organisations have a duty of care to protect the well-being of employees, it is acknowledged that social workers need to enhance their personal resilience to survive in an increasingly stressful profession. The term ‘resilience’ is widely used in social work education and practice, but there is little consensus about its meaning. This study utilises a psychological perspective to explore the personal representations of resilience held by 200 social work students and 100 experienced social workers in England. Participants’ perceptions of why social workers need to be personally resilient and the means by which this quality may be enhanced are also considered. Thematic content analysis is utilised to explore the data, and similarities and differences between representations of resilience provided by students and qualified staff are investigated through the use of template analysis. The extent to which representations of resilience expressed by participants correspond with ‘academic’ definitions is also examined. Considerable variation in personal meanings of the resilience construct emerged. In general, representations of resilience articulated by experienced social workers were more complex and multi-faceted than those expressed by students. The implications of the findings for the development of interventions to enhance resilience in student and qualified social workers are considered.

What's All this Talk About Emotion? Developing Emotional Intelligence in Social Work Students

The capacity to manage emotional reactions effectively, frequently in complex care settings, is central to the role of a social worker. Nonetheless, there is evidence that social work students frequently find their placements emotionally demanding and stressful. It is proposed that emotional intelligence may help students manage their emotional reactions more effectively during placements and their subsequent career. To date, however, little systematic research has explored whether emotional intelligence and associated competencies can be enhanced during social work training and the implications for wellbeing. This paper presents a mixed-methods two-stage study which aimed to increase emotional competencies in social work students during the first year of training. More specifically, it assesses the impact of a workshop designed to enhance emotional competencies and an emotional writing task on levels of emotional intelligence, reflective ability and empathy which were assessed via questionnaire and reflective logs pre- and post-intervention (Times 1 and 2). Levels of reflective ability and empathy increased significantly between Times 1 and 2 and psychological distress decreased. Content analysis of reflective logs found evidence that reflective ability, empathy and emotional intelligence were enhanced following the interventions. The implications of the findings for the development of the curriculum are considered.

Emotional Resilience in the Helping Professions and how it can be Enhanced

Abstract This paper provides an overview of research that has examined the benefits of emotional resilience for the wellbeing and employability of helping professionals such as social workers, nurses and midwives. It outlines the competencies that have been associated with emotional resilience (such as emotional literacy, reflective ability, appropriate empathy and social competence) and considers how they have the potential to help people to cope with the emotional demands inherent in the helping professions. Some evidence-based strategies are highlighted to help academic staff develop an ‘emotional curriculum’ to foster emotional resilience in students training for the helping professions.

What happens in child and family social work supervision

Supervision is fundamental to the social work profession. However, increasing concern has been expressed over the managerial capture of local authority social work and the use of supervision as a way of enabling management oversight (or surveillance) of practice. Despite the importance of supervision, we have little evidence about what happens when managers and child and family social workers meet to discuss casework and less about how supervision influences practice. In this study, 34 supervision case discussions were recorded. Detailed descriptions are given of what happens in supervision. Overall, case discussions operated primarily as a mechanism for management oversight and provided limited opportunity for reflection, emotional support or critical thinking. With reference to organizational context, it is suggested that these deficits result from a system that focuses too much on ‘what and when’ things happen and not enough on ‘how and why’.

Developing resilience for social work practice

PART I: THE PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT 1. Social Work and Wellbeing: Setting the Scene Louse Grant, Gail Kinman and Richard Fountain 2. What is Resilience? Louise Grant and Gail Kinman PART II: DEVELOPING TECHNIQUES TO BUILD RESILIENCE 3. The Work/Home Interface: Building Effective Boundaries Gail Kinman, Almuth McDowall and Mariette Uys 4. Critical Reflection and Reflective Supervision Louise Grant and Becky Brewer 5. Personal Organisation and Time Mangagement Siobhan Wray and Sacha Rymell 6. Cognitive Behavioural-Based Strategies Kelly Alexander, Sara Henley and Kay Newman 7. Mindfulness for Resilience in Social Work Rose Parkes and Susan Kelly 8. Peer Support and Peer Coaching Sarah Baker and Kathryn Jones 9. Enhancing Self Knowledge, Coping Skills and Stress Resistance Gail Kinman, Isabella McMurray and Jo Williams 10. Resilient Individuals and Organisations: an Integrated Approach Gail Kinman and Louise Grant