When Norma Tracey AM started working in Sydney’s Children’s Hospital, the children were tied to their beds and their parents were allowed to visit for an hour in the evening.  Norma was already drawing on the psychotherapeutic insights of John Bowlby and attempting to make changes to the way that the children were cared for.  So she was excited and honoured to be given the opportunity to meet him and to discuss her plans to reform the whole hospital.

The discussion did not go as Norma had planned.  Instead of encouraging her, he told her that the most that anyone could hope to achieve was to add one good brick into the edifice of life.

That was more than 50 years ago, and Norma has been applying her understanding of attachment theory ever since.  She is currently the CEO of “Strong Mothers”, an organisation supporting marginalized women and their children.  Now that she has been recognized with an Order of Australia, we can ask whether Bowlby was right, or did he underestimate her?

 

SHOWNOTES

A more detailed version of Norma’s story was published in Social Work Focus, Autumn 2021

Strong Mothers website

 

ATTACHMENT THEORY:

The original text:

Bowlby J., 1965 Child Care and the Growth of Love , London, Penguin Books

 

A general introduction:

The School of Life: Psychotherapy,& John Bowlby

https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/the-great-psychoanalysts-john-bowlby/

 

How it applies to social work education and practice:

Harlow, E. 2021 Attachment theory: developments, debates and recent applications in social work, social care and education, Journal of Social Work Practice, 35:1, 79-91

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02650533.2019.1700493

 

ALSO MENTIONED BY NORMA:

Dr T. B. Brazelton

Phenylketonuria

Coeliac disease

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The AASW respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and on-going custodians of the lands on which this podcast was recorded.  We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening.

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