Let me begin with a bold assertion, but one which I believe expresses a widely held view by those seeking to raise the profile and effectiveness of mental health social work: Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) are mostly invisible. I’ll …
Regular readers of my blog will know that I am keen to highlight the significant contribution that social work can make in different settings and contexts. Working with other professions to support and assist people with mental ill health is …
As someone of Italian heritage, supporting and caring for immediate and wider family members has always been a part of my life and, no doubt because it is Carers Week, it’s been at the forefront of my mind more than …
‘Assessment’ – it can seem such a loaded term. When it comes to issues of health and wellbeing, often the process feels like something that is done to us, not with us. As social workers, we actively avoid such polarised …
In response to Dr Ruth Allen's recent guest blog on the merits of strengths based practice, Colin Slasberg, an independent consultant in social care, says she is absolutely right to consider how we might sweep away old thinking, practices and bureaucracies …
The Department of Health, in partnership with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the Principal Social Worker (PSW) Network, has published a joint social work integration advice note. Integration has many different interpretations. Sometimes it is about …
I was delighted recently when Dr Ruth Allen joined me and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) for a workshop focusing on ‘strengths based social work with adults’. The former Director of Social Work at South West London and …
At the end of last year, I announced in my blog that the Department of Health would be funding six local authorities across England to pilot deployment of a ‘named social worker’ programme for people with learning disabilities, mental health …
Regular readers of my blog will know that I am committed to social work playing a more influential role in improving relational and systemic family approaches to working with people in mental distress, their families and carers. The peer supported …
Social work is all about human rights. If we fail to recognise our shared humanity, individual worth and right to equality, we fail - not just as social workers – but as members of society. On the eve of this …