Helpful Social Work Podcast

In this podcast we consider how austerity policies impact on society, and how we social workers can respond helpfully and hopefully.

Social work is rarely the only agency involved in a child's, adult's or family's life. In this podcast we start to look at how social workers can work well with other agencies. We consider how professional identities interact, and the expertise of social workers as 'specialist generalists.'

In the second podcast of series 2, we have a reflective conversation about social work training. We look at what helps social workers to learn and develop, and conclude that the word 'training' should be banned. We should provide support for practitioners that is as high as our expectations.

In the first podcast of series 2, we discuss the importance of leadership at all levels of social work. We look at what makes a good leader and particularly how leaders can support people through change.

This podcast explains who we are, why we are doing this podcast on Helpful Social Work and what each podcast will cover in series 2.

As our podcast, comes up to a year old, we look back on the last twelve months in social work.

We try and avoid thinking just about what’s different (change), and look for where things have got better (progress). We talk about practice, research, education and social work policy. There are positives, despite the difficult context, but a lot still to do.

This podcast examines the way social work organisations respond to uncertainty and the importance of supporting social workers to remain curious.

We unpick the idea that we can keep doing more with less, and look at how we can work sustainably and helpfully in social work with fewer resources. We consider social workers' wellbeing and workload, accountability and prioritising, and how we can lobby for good social care.

We consider how social workers can supportively and ethically challenge one another.

We talk about how social workers can ensure that they get helpful, supportive supervision.