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Session 11: 27th April, ARP and assessment follow up, review of learning and module review (Rachel Burr)

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Session 11: 27th April, ARP and assessment follow up, review of learning and module review (Rachel Burr)

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Independent Learning & Professional Development Final Presentation

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Independent Learning & Professional Development Evaluation Form

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Session 10: 6th April, Staying well in practice, Assessment briefing (Rachel Burr)

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Session 10: 6th April, Staying well in practice, Assessment briefing (Rachel Burr)

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Assessment of Readiness for Practice Guidance

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Readiness for Practice Learning Outcomes

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Session 9: 30th March Emotional Intelligence (Gemma), Staying Safe and Well in Practice with Rachel Burr

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Session 9: 30th March Emotional Intelligence (Gemma), Staying Safe and Well in Practice with Rachel Burr

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The Guardian. I Loved Social Work, Until Stories of Despair and Addiction Got to Me

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The Guardian. I Loved Social Work, Until Stories of Despair and Addiction Got to Me

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I loved social work, until stories of despair and addiction got to me

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A client invited me into his house while holding a bloody carving knife. My lack of concern for my safety was a sign of burnout

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Community Care: Mother Who Killed Son with Bleach Intimidated Social Workers

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Community Care: Mother Who Killed Son with Bleach Intimidated Social Workers

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Social workers were repeatedly intimidated by a mother who killed her 12-year-old learning-disabled son by forcing him to drink bleach. However, they could not have predicted his death a serious case review (SCR) has concluded.

The review found that agencies, including social workers, doctors and teachers, had missed numerous warning signs that Child T was suffering harm including inconsistent school attendance, the mother's refusal to co-operate with agencies and repeated reports of domestic violence between the mother and father.

"It is clear from the narrative provided that the children had suffered significant harm through many phases of their lives," the SCR said. "There were missed opportunities to intervene more decisively at a number of points.

"However, the nature of the circumstance in which Child T was killed by his mother could not have been anticipated by the professionals involved. There was no evidence in the case history to indicate that the mother might seriously harm or kill [the child]."

One key element highlighted in the case was that practitioners allowed themselves to be intimidated by the mother.

The mother repeatedly argued with social workers and teachers, often accusing them of being racist or culturally insensitive to her and her husband's Indian background.

The review pointed out that religion, ethnicity and immigration status had all had "a significant influence" on the case history and on the care provided to the children. Cultural factors may have heightened the mother's mistrust of services, the SCR said.

The review recommended that all local agencies with safeguarding responsibilities needed to ensure that staff and managers are knowledgeable about the cultural and religious factors that can affect service provision.

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Related articles Facing up to obstructive parents Khyra Ishaq death due to lack of information sharing, says SCR Inform subscribers Guide to how to deal with hostile and aggressive adults or young people and how to manage intimidating situations - a guide for workers

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Mother who killed son with bleach intimidated social workers

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Social workers were repeatedly intimidated by a mother who killed her 12-year-old learning-disabled son by forcing him to drink bleach. However, they could not have predicted his death a serious case review (SCR) has concluded.

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Session 8: 23rd March Observation (Russell Whiting) followed by Emotional Intelligence with Gemma

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Session 8: 23rd March Observation (Russell Whiting) followed by Emotional Intelligence with Gemma

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Morrison, T (2007). Emotional Intelligence, Emotions & Social Work. Context, Characteristics, Complications & Contribution

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BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Late Night Woman's Hour: Instinct

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Lauren Laverne discusses instinct and intuition with guests including Hilary Devey.

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Originally developed as an extension of Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies, mindfulness meditation cultivates awareness of thoughts, emotions and sensations in the here and now. Instead of rehashing the past or projecting into the future, a person who is practicing mindfulness focuses on the present moment and is open and receptive to self, others and the surrounding world.

This modern practice of ancient techniques can be useful to social workers in helping their clients and also helping themselves become better social workers. Therapists and psychologists also use mindfulness for treatment purposes and in their personal lives.

Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program, defines the practice of mindfulness as "paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally." Kabat-Zinn has also called mindfulness "the art of conscious living."

Mindfulness as a Therapeutic Tool

The emergence of mindfulness as an evidence-based tool for enhancing well-being is partly the result of Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program, which combines mindfulness meditation and yoga. Since the program's development at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979, thousands of studies have documented the physical and mental benefits of this form of therapy.

As a result, mindfulness meditation has been incorporated into other modes of therapy, including Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Developed in the 1980s by Dr. Marsha Linehan, a clinical psychologist at the University of Washington, Dialectical Behavior Therapy is used as a treatment for borderline personality disorder, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and a variety of other mental health conditions.

The treatment of borderline personality disorder can be one of the greatest challenges faced by a therapist or mental health social worker. The condition is marked by impulsivity, emotional instability, intense fears of abandonment and equally intense anger that often leads to suicidal behavior and self-harm.

Clients who suffer from this condition typically present a constant stream of emotional outbursts, demands and crises that can lead to therapist frustration and burnout. Sensing this frustration can increase the client's feelings of abandonment and sabotage the therapist's efforts.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy uses the concept of dialectics, which is the examination of opposing ideas, to help people with borderline personality disorder develop skills for coping with modes of thinking that lead to mood fluctuations and self-harming behaviors. Mindfulness meditation is incorporated to help clients become aware of negative thought patterns and accept them for what they are, with the goal of allowing these thoughts to recede on their own.

Mindfulness Benefits for Social Workers

Proponents of mindfulness praise the personal and professional benefits of mindfulness for social workers, therapists and counselors. It can help them develop greater compassion and understanding along with a more acute awareness of a client's mental state. Greater self-awareness allows treatment professionals to stay grounded and composed, even when faced with a client's emotional turmoil. Mindfulness is also said to foster a healthy, accepting attitude about therapeutic outcomes.

Chronic exposure to human suffering can leave social workers and other health care professionals vulnerable to emotional exhaustion and professional burnout. By practicing mindfulness and other stress-reduction techniques, professionals can improve self-compassion and quality of life while maintaining the desire to provide much-needed services for people in need.

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Originally developed as an extension of Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies, mindfulness meditation cultivates awareness of thoughts, emotions and sensations in the here and now. Instead of rehashing the past or projecting into the future, a person who is practicing mindfulness focuses on the present moment and is open and receptive to self, others and the surrounding world.

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Are you tuned in to the emotions of others? Or have you been accused of being insensitive?

If you are among those people who are mystified by moods, new research offers hope. A new study shows that certain types of reading can actually help us improve our sensitivity IQ. To find out how well you read the emotions of others, take the Well quiz, which is based on an assessment tool developed by University of Cambridge professor Simon Baron-Cohen.

For each photo, choose the word that best describes what you think the person depicted is thinking or feeling.

Understanding Your Score
The average score for this test is in the range of 22 to 30 correct responses. If you scored above 30, you may be quite good at understanding someone's mental state based on facial cues. If you scored below 22, you may find it difficult to understand a person's mental state based on their appearance.

(If no final score appeared, please double check to be sure you didn't skip a question.)

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Are you tuned in to the emotions of others? Or have you been accused of being insensitive? If you are among those people who are mystified by moods, new research offers hope. A new study shows that certain types of reading can actually help us improve our sensitivity IQ.

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Child protection: Try Walking in the Social Worker's Shoes

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Child protection: Try Walking in the Social Worker's Shoes

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Child protection: try walking in the social worker's shoes

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This week's social life blogger explores the damned if you do, damned if you don't attitude that social workers find themselves confronted by

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Session 6: 9th March. Professional Boundaries (Rachel Burr) followed by Giving and Receiving Feedback (Anna)

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Session 6: 9th March. Professional Boundaries (Rachel Burr) followed by Giving and Receiving Feedback (Anna)

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Department of Health. Making the Difference Together

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Department of Education. Skills for Care

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Useful Tips for Managing Difficult Situations

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What You Need to Know about Feedback (Handout for GP Trainees)

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We asked delegates at Community Care Live 2013 how they would define "good supervision".

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Personal/Professional Development Plan (1) - RDP Level

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Personal/Professional Development Plan (1) - RDP Level

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Personal Professional Development Plan 1 – RDP Level

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Social Care Institute for Excellence: Supervision: Supporting Staff and Improving Care

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Social Care Institute for Excellence: Supervision: Supporting Staff and Improving Care

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Supervision: supporting staff and improving care

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This film for social care supervisors and staff shows how the effective supervision of staff can improve the quality of care and outcomes for people in a supported living setting.

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Community Care: Rethinking Supervision: How Cafcass Fixed its Supervision

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Community Care: Rethinking Supervision: How Cafcass Fixed its Supervision

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The State of Supervision 2014 report is sponsored by:

Editorial content is independent of sponsor
By Christine Banim, national service director, Cafcass
Cafcass historically suffered from the typical problems associated with traditional social work supervision.

An Ofsted report from 2009 for the South East of England found that from a supervision completion target of 95% per quarter, just 22% of staff had actually had one.

Furthermore, the supervisions were of a low quality, not accounting for staff wellbeing or development and with too much time spent on cases pre-selected by practitioners.

We had to change our approach to supervisions for benefit of both our staff and, most importantly, the children we represent.

In 2012 we introduced a new approach to supervision: the Performance and Learning Review (PLR).

This abolished routine discussion at set points through the year and instead provided situational supervision delivered at the point of need, harnessing new technologies to provide a better analysis of the social workers' strengths, weaknesses and development goals.

Under this approach no case discussion is to be saved for a 'formal' supervision. If a case needs to be reviewed, it is done so immediately, rather than at a routine meeting in the future.

PLRs are set according to need - for new starters this may be weekly or, for our most talented social workers, up to every three months.

We use information from a range of sources to inform the PLR process.

Individual cases are still discussed, but this is boosted by '360º feedback', collected from service users, colleagues, managers and other stakeholders.

Practice observations, quality assured against national standards, ensure that contact time with children is also assessed, not just the quality of written work.

Cafcass also utilises myWork, a self-regulation tool that provides staff a range of personal information relating to throughput, efficiency, supervision, sickness and customer feedback, benchmarked against the local team and wider organisation as part of our approach to supervision.

This ensures that all information related to the individual is available and discussed in the PLR.

It means we can challenge staff in an evidence-based way; to reflect, coach, and ultimately set development targets, ensuring there is on-going improvement in the quality of work for all practitioners.

Action points from PLRs are saved in Cafcass' online people-administration software, iTrent.

This allows both our managers and practitioners to monitor the progress of development goals between discussions, and provides management information on performance that previously was not available.

More recently, managers are sent on a monthly basis automated emails informing them of the last time their staff have had a PLR.

This has been highly effective in reminding managers, often who are very busy, if they haven't completed a PLR with a particular member of staff recently, allowing them to remedy this.

Classroom and video training was provided to all managers and staff on the new process, ensuring that there was both awareness and buy-in throughout the organisation.

Evidence suggests that our approach to supervision works in practice.

In a recent staff survey 84% said that they agreed that PLRs help improve their performance, and 85% said that they agreed they provide the right level of challenge in their career.

The less formalised process has also ensured more discussions have taken place - between October 2013 to January 2014, 95.8% of social workers had completed at least one PLR.

Crucially, it's helping provide an improved standard of service for the children we work with.

My advice for other organisations struggling with their approach to supervision is that if your current process isn't working, try something different - the worst action any organisation can do is to do nothing if there is a problem.

Traditional supervisions for Cafcass weren't working for us.

By introducing a more responsive rather than rigid process, teamed with IT systems that let both managers and practitioners have quick and easy access to performance information, we now have a supervision system that meets the needs of our social workers and also ensures that at all levels of the organisation we have a clear understanding of the work they are carrying out with children and families in the family courts.
The state of social work supervision in 2014 - Replay our live chat

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Rethinking supervision: How Cafcass fixed its supervision

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The State of Supervision 2014 report is sponsored by: Editorial content is independent of sponsor By Christine Banim, national service director, Cafcass Cafcass historically suffered from the typical problems associated with traditional social work supervision. An Ofsted report from 2009 for the South East of England found that from a supervision completion target of 95% per quarter, just 22% of staff had actually had one.

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Social Care Institute for Excellence: Effective Supervision in a Variety of Settings

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Social Care Institute for Excellence: Effective Supervision in a Variety of Settings

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Effective supervision in a variety of settings - The foundations of effective supervision practice

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The Skills for Care/Children's Workforce Development Council guide [ 17] was the first national guide for supervisors in social care and sets out, on the basis of practice knowledge, the competencies required for effective supervisors.

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Session 5: 2nd March, Seminar & Lecture with Rachel Burr

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Session 5: 2nd March, Seminar & Lecture with Rachel Burr

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Stanford, S (2010. 'Speaking Back' to Fear. Responding to the Moral Dilemmas of Risk in Social Work Practice

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Trimberger, G.E (2012). An Exploration for the Development of Professional Boundaries

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Gilbert, T & Powell, J (2010). Power and Social Work in the United Kingdom  A Foucauldian Excursion

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General Social Care Council (2001-2012). Regulating Social Workers

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Professional Boundaries for Registered Nurses. Guidelines for the Nurse-Client Relationship

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Community Care: New body to take responsibility for social work standards and regulation

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Community Care: New body to take responsibility for social work standards and regulation

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All children's social workers will be assessed against the knowledge and skills statement developed by chief social worker Isabelle Trowler by the end of this parliament (2020) the government has announced.

The assessment and accreditation process of children's social workers will be overseen by a new body that will be set up to take responsibility for all social work standards, training and regulation of the profession, including adult social work, education secretary Nicky Morgan stated.

In a speech about reforming children's social work, Morgan announced plans for the new body which would have "a relentless focus on raising the quality of social work, education, training and practice in both children's and adult's social work".

A statement said the new body "will also set standards for training and oversee the roll out of a new assessment and accreditation system for children and family social workers". It will eventually replace the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as the regulator for social work.

Knowledge and skills statement

Trowler said: "Today's announcements form the springboard for social work to become recognised as one of the most highly regarded and expert professions in the public service landscape. Such high ambition will be achieved through a dedicated and focused partnership with government so together we provide practice excellence everywhere for the children, families and communities we serve."

Lyn Romeo, chief social worker for adults, also welcomed the news of the new body, and called it "significant for the entire profession".

In a blog post, Romeo said: "It demonstrates support for social workers and the ambition to continue to drive up quality, status and regard for our practice, whilst recognising the vital role we play in improving lives of our most vulnerable children, families and adults."

"This will enhance a system of regulation which supports a single, unified profession, with an initial qualification giving social workers the freedom to work in many settings and contexts across England and the United Kingdom," she added.

Romeo also said that the new body will provide independent validation for the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment for social workers working with adults, "which complements the accreditation approach for statutory child and family frontline practitioners".

New arrangements to support a national accreditation for Best Interest Assessor and Approved Mental Health Professional roles should also be welcomed, Romeo added.

Not a voice for the profession

The announcement of the new body comes six months after The College of Social Work - an organisation set up to raise the standards and profile of social work - closed due to lack of funds, a move precipitated by the government's decision to stop funding it. The new body differs from the College in not having a remit to provide a voice for the profession and will take on functions that the College never held, such as regulation.

In a wide-ranging speech, Morgan said: "The new body will have a relentless focus on raising the quality of social work education, training and practice in both children's and adults' services.

"It will set standards for training as well as overseeing the rollout of the new assessment and accreditation system for children and family social workers. This will happen as soon as possible," she said.

She added: "And let me be clear, we don't need more quangos, or more bureaucracy - we need a body that will genuinely uphold rigorous professional standards."

Morgan, in a letter to Parliament, said the government would try "to bring forward any necessary legislation when parliamentary business allows".

HCPC

The HCPC, the current social work regulator, said it was "very surprised" by the announcement.

A spokesperson said: "We are an efficient and effective regulator with robust regulatory processes and standards for conduct, education and professional skills. We will continue to fulfil our primary aim of public protection by regulating the 16 health and care professions on our Register".

He added: "We look forward to seeing the detail of this decision and will work closely with Government as they bring forward any necessary legislation to facilitate this change."

Other measures announced today:

Funding for Frontline to expand its fast-track training programme for children's social workers and a further cohort of the Step Up to Social Work fast-track scheme, between them training 3,000 people over the next five years.

A new 'What Works Centre' for social workers, with up to £20 million available to help social workers learn from best practice.

An urgent review of local safeguarding children's boards, led by former Association of Directors of Children's Services president Alan Wood.

Three more councils - Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Islington - to receive "academy-style freedoms" to develop new systems of delivering social care and new ways of working with children and families.

More follows

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New body to take responsibility for social work standards and regulation

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All children's social workers will be assessed against the knowledge and skills statement developed by chief social worker Isabelle Trowler by the end of this parliament (2020) the government has announced.

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Session 4: 23rd February Seminar with Russell followed by Group work (Kristi)

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Session 4: 23rd February Seminar with Russell followed by Group work (Kristi)

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Group Work in the Social Work Profession

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Salmon, R & Steinberg, D (2007). Staying in the Mess. Teaching Students and Practitioners to Work Effectively in the Swamp of Important Problems

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Drumm, K (2016). The Essential Power of Group Work

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Session 3: 16th Feb Preparation for shadowing workshop (Karen Okefuma-Budd, Director of Practice-Learning)

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Session 3: 16th Feb Preparation for shadowing workshop (Karen Okefuma-Budd, Director of Practice-Learning)

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Session 2: 9th February. Small group work (Rachel) followed by The Social Work Role and Tasks (Russell)

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Session 2: 9th February. Small group work (Rachel) followed by The Social Work Role and Tasks (Russell)

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The Social Work Role. A Proud and Varied History

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Don't Mention the War. A Response to Reeves & McIvor on the Early Career of Clement Attlee

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General Social Care Council (2008). A Statment of Social Work Roles & Tasks for the 21st Century

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Knowledge and Skills Statement for Social Workers in Adult Services

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Knowledge and Skills Statement for Social Workers in Adult Services

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The Child and Family Social Work Knowledge and Skills Statement (2014)

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The Child and Family Social Work Knowledge and Skills Statement (2014)

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The Child and Family Social Work Knowledge and Skills Statement

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Session 1 (2nd February): Introduction to the Module, Assessment and Portfolio

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Session 1 (2nd February): Introduction to the Module, Assessment and Portfolio

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Introduction to the Module, Assessment and Portfolio

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Gitterman, A (2014). A Profession in Search of Its Identity

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Tope, D et al ( 2014). Othering Obama Racial Attitudes and Dubious Beliefs about the Nation's First Black President

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Understanding Unconscious Bias | The Royal Society

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Understanding Unconscious Bias | The Royal Society

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Understanding unconscious bias | The Royal Society

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Psychosis or Spiritual Awakening: Phil Borges at TEDxUMKC

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Psychosis or Spiritual Awakening: Phil Borges at TEDxUMKC

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Psychosis or Spiritual Awakening: Phil Borges at TEDxUMKC

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Phil Borges, filmmaker and photographer, has been documenting indigenous and tribal cultures for over 25 years. His work is exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide and his award winning books have been published in four languages. Phil's recent project, Inner Worlds, explores cultural differences with respect to consciousness and mental illness.

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To all appearances, Eleanor Longden was just like every other student, heading to college full of promise and without a care in the world. That was until the voices in her head started talking. Initially innocuous, these internal narrators became increasingly antagonistic and dictatorial, turning her life into a living nightmare.

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Independent Learning & Professional Development - Portfolio Contents

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Independent Learning & Professional Development (2) Workbook