You do not even need to turn on your TV these days or even read a news paper yourself, almost every other conversation associated with social work is about how we have failed children and vulnerable people or how our profession should be reshaped.

Unfortunately, headlines such as "Social workers took my baby for no reason", "A catalogue of failures...." and so on all lead to a powerful portrayal of " a body of evidence" which even social workers begin to believe as the only outcome of the services we provide.
We are all being heavily influenced by the reporting in the media and in our communities about how we do our job. Most social workers see these headline and cringe but get on and still do their jobs with the support of an aware public, who know about the difference we make to good outcomes for vulnerable people.

If you are a social worker in any setting and you feel your stress levels are increasing due to worry and anxiety about direct or indirect impact of the levels of responsibility you may have, these headlines will increase your worry. Some social workers are personally affected of this type of reporting and are experiencing increased anxiety, dread and fear. The consequences can have a heavy impact work, well-being and functioning.

Many social workers are however taking control of their needs by utilizing effective stress management techniques which offers them the ability to see past the scary headlines and achieve greater well-being levels in this time of insecurity. What they are learning is the importance of actively keeping their stress at appropriate levels and using resources to support them when they need them.

There will always be public outcry when things go wrong and there will always be stress; caring about how you deal with stress so that it doesn't actively ruin your career and your well-being is important, and will aid your aim of making a positive difference to those you work with.

For more Social Work Training and Foster Carer Training visit our portal for CPD - http://www.SocialWorkProcesses.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2193120

The realm of human welfare or social work has some particular specialties that include primarily children, family, education, public health, physical and psychological well-being and drug addiction. It has been seen that the scale of job prospects related to social welfare has only increased over the past years, this has even been validated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that a social worker had around 642,000 jobs in hand back in 2008. The graph has certainly aggravated presently.
Since majority of individuals working in the circle of social betterment has some concerns regarding the industry they wish to be associated with, it has even been evaluated that around 54% of individuals were then working in the health and human welfare industries while the remaining 31% worked in government sponsored agencies at various levels. With this entire report of job opportunities available for people working in the social development continuum, it explicitly indicates that job prospects are at no dearth, when it comes to looking for a stable and financially secure professional career.

The nature of a profession such as social welfare services is such that employees are assigned to work in cities as well as suburbs. It is expected for a social welfare employee to find a job in rural vicinities, as the space to exhibit their professional concerns and skills is more extensive as compared to an urban area, which is already quite developed. This indicates that social welfare is a profession, which comes with a lot of responsibilities and challenges.

Earlier, it was believed that not all specialist areas of social betterment thrived in terms of job opportunities, and not all offered the same amount of professional working security. However, today, all areas of social work are increasing job opportunities, particularly by the private social welfare organizations. In fact, the increase of employment in this industry has been around 22% which is promising. This is likely to increase with the time owing to the aging child boomer populace which will, over the span of time, demand better health and social services.

Apart from the physical stability, mental & psychological stability and drug addiction are areas which are rapidly augmenting with job prospects. An increase of 20% has also been predicted by specialists as there is going to be a strong demand of services to counter such deteriorating circumstances.
Last but not the least, children and family along with education are areas that are actually excelling areas in the field of human welfare and betterment. In order to bring about a change, an anchor lies in the hand of social services, augmenting the protection for children and their families while at the same time, emphasizing on the local prevalence of education is what is going to instigate a progressive developmental scale in the society. Some of the specialized areas elaborated on indicate the fields that can be explored by social welfare employees to bring a progressive change in the society.

If you're interested in Becoming a Social Worker [http://www.becomingasocialworker101.com] and would like Social Worker Salary [http://www.becomingasocialworker101.com/social-worker-salary-information/] information, we have more great tools and resources on our website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6558572

Uk Social work processes

Are you interested in social work? Do you want to bring about a positive change in the life of fellow human beings? Have you ever thought of spiritual and mental delight of helping others and do you want the same? If your answer to all of these questions is affirmative, then you must think of pursuing a career in social work.

Social workers are people striving to help us in bringing about slight, but positive changes in others lives. Their fundamental objective is not to earn money, but creating an environment, where the development is not centered to few people. They want social development, and justice, but their job is quite tough. Keep in mind that "Pursuit of Happiness" is never easy.

Pursuing a career in this field requires many things. First, you must understand the necessities and requirements of social work completely. You may not enjoy the revolving chairs and air conditioned rooms all the times. You may have to go into the field, on the long way from your town. However, this does not meant that your job is always to wander about.

A social worker is not only a project member, but he/she is also a counsel for the people. You can easily see that individuals and community groups seek his/her advice in many affairs, and they trust him/her. This thing really gives this profession a rare respect in the eyes of public. You not only earn money, but also respect and trust of fellow human beings when you are a social worker. Now, peep into your heart, think, and ask that whether pursuing a career in social work suits you?
There are certain requirements for this profession. The first is, of course, your attitude towards the job. If you are mentally and psychologically inclined towards this field, and you feel happy, when you help others and solve their problems, then you must think seriously about pursuing a career in this field.

Once you decide about your choice, and decide, future considerations will become easy for you. For entering the world of social work, you only need to have a graduate degree along with an optimistic attitude. In United States, with the increasing popularity of this field and NGOs, the discipline of social work has become among most taught ones. Many universities are offering the graduate, post-graduate and doctoral programs in social work, which is a clear indication of its importance and grace.

If you're interested in learning how to become a social worker [http://www.becomingasocialworker101.com], we have more great tools and resources on our website [http://www.becomingasocialworker101.com]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5779553

social worker online cpd training

Social work is defined as the organized work which is intended to improve or advance the social conditions of a society or community. Particularly, it pertains to the improvement of the disadvantaged or the poor, the mentally ill or those otherwise unable to care for one's self.
Social workers, or the professionals who try to improve the lot of the disadvantaged, provide psychological care through counselling, guidance and assistance, particularly in the form of social services. Social Workers are well trained for these roles and have a solid educational background either in a university for a BSW or MSW or at a community college for a diploma programme.
Social work is pervasive throughout modern society in the form of counselling at addiction centres, hospitals, clinics and offices. Trained social workers will talk with patients or clients who face difficulties in returning to society, offer them job training and career choices and guide them back into mainstream society. They will also assist the client in choosing to live back at home or in a group home with trained workers on site.

Social workers also work for the municipal and county governments and offer counselling, income assistance in the form of welfare and finally housing assistance when rent and securing jobs are too difficult to handle. The mentally ill and addicted will receive special treatment for their needs in the form of rehabilitation, group home living quarters and job-seeking assistance.

Social work is found in every public and private sector in which people, families and the destitute require assistance. Families can apply for assistance at the city level or be nominated by friends and neighbours when they are unable to seek help for themselves or their children. Children take a large proportion of a social worker's role in looking after those who have been abused, neglected, or exploited. Children are 80 per cent of the impoverished and ill-equipped to be at risk for sexual abuse, physical assault and death.

Teachers, police and church workers are under the obligation to report any suspicion of abuse of a child and a social worker will investigate the situation at the home or at the school. If the home life is found to be lacking in basic necessities, such as food or supervision and care for the child or his siblings is detrimental to their welfare, then the children become the ward of the government and the parents are charged. However, it is in the best interests of the family to remain together with counselling and assistance with the basics of life.

The homeless need the most help during the cold winter months, and soup kitchens have to be open to feed the hungry and destitute. Once again, volunteers and church people help the social workers to set up safe hostels and places to stay, food stamps and allowances and soup kitchens with meals for the families to stay healthy. Social work is available at every level and is readily able to assist the needy.

Sarah James works as a content writer for many web site, she is currently working on case management software for social workers. This software enables social workers to be better organized with their ever increasing case load.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2607324

Social worker cpd training online

I would like to provide Nadya Suleman, the women that just delivered 8 babies, as a single mother, after having 6 already at home, a bit of education about multiple births, and the impact of birth spacing on children.

I couldn't possibly comprehend the magnitude of what she has undertaken. I can share with her what its like being the eldest sibling of a group of five, born in three years and six months. And I believe I am the oldest person alive to share the story.

I happen to be a licensed clinical social worker. I am even trained as a family therapist. But my most unique offerings originate from understanding at a core level, what its like to grow up with four siblings born in one year, and yet only two years younger than I

My mother and my father had five children, born in three years. First a single birth, then a set of triplets, then another single birth born.

Dad immediately walked into the version of the "fertility clinic" in early 1961, and had a vascectomy at the young age of 25. I doubt they looked back. They had a handful, all basically, the same age.

I heard Mom had gained 75 pounds during the pregnancy of my triplet brothers. I don't remember. I was only two years 2 months when they came home. One year later, I had a sister, a single birth. Four babies were born after me, in one year and three months.

I was raised with two parents, and two parents that loved us, provided for us, and did the best they could with the resources that they had. I was the only one to attend college, and then graduate school the other four did not. None of the five of us have had children. None of us proclaim homosexuality.
My parents had five babies in three years naturally the old fashioned way. We came at the end of the baby boomer generation, but for our parents, it was the beginning.

We were followed on the news, and featured on the old television show "This is Your Life", The show awarded my parents diaper service for a year, and they hired high level mentally retarded adults to live in and care for us in the home. At the time of our birth, Mom had been a volunteer at one of the State hospitals that so frequently housed the mentally retarded back then, and we took one in, and she became a live in caretaker. It was what we could afford. Frankly it made pretty good use of both needs. She needed a job, and we needed help at a price we could afford.

I was expected to grow up fast. I have set high expectations for myself throughout my life, and feel as if I was pushed forward. I struggle with basic feelings of belonging and have my entire life. When I have looked back, I know that it originated from the birth of my siblings. I am not sure how to change it. I have not seen another birth order like my own.

Two weeks following the birth of my sister, the pill was released into the marketplace. Three years following the last of our five births, the birth of the first set of quintuplets born in the United States happened. We were pretty much forgotten. After all, we had only sputtered out. My parents had been too slow. There seemed to be a race to have more and more babies. The numbers didn't seem to stop. Over 500 sets of quintuplets have been born in the world, and most since the beginning of fertility drugs were introduced.

Where once the news paid attention to the birth of three plus one, that sensation was quickly replaced with births of four, five, six, eight babies or more. Where did it end?

The higher the numbers, the more media attention, and the more likely somebody without the least bit of common sense may rush out to have 20 next. Where does it stop?

For those taxpayers concerned that generations of welfare will repeat one generation after the next with these babies, let me assure them it is highly unlikely. Twinning, birth spacing and multiples do impact reproduction, and twins reproduce at lower rates. Siblings of multiples, may not be so eager to rush out and have babies. As I said earlier, we ended up as five children, born in three years, with no children. We were not sexually abused, physically abused, but we did have some instances of neglect. It wasn't from lack of love, or lack of support. It was because we were born five babies in three years. Its not possible to do this job by oneself.

As a social worker, I have heard stories and seen examples of children raised in much more difficult situations than we were raised in. We had resources and supports of family, but we were also taxing on our families. It wasn't easy to raise us. All of our needs happened at once.

I have some ideas that would benefit our society in helping to raise these children. I would like to speak about them. We are desperately in need of supports and resources for families of multiples.
We must take the opportunity to learn from Nadya Suleman, and explore issues of birth spacing and reproduction, and impact in development.

The issue of multiples has not really been addressed in the social welfare system, and it should be. If there was one group that was less likely to reproduce and repeat the social welfare system dependency its multiples. Multiple births reproduce less. Its just the way it is.
Many events and circumstances have occurred in my life,that have placed me at the forefront of major events. I believe this is a direct result in some unknown metaphysical way, from my unique birth placement.

I would like to tell Ms. Suleman that the events and circumstances surrounding our births do matter. And this isn't about her birth. Its about her children's birth. Their ability to survive and thrive. If they beat the odds, and survive it will not happen because of her. It will only happen because the community came together and figured out a solution. You cannot do this job by yourself, and how foolish to think that you can.

I am interested in speaking to the media about birth spacing, reproduction, and supports and services that may benefit families of multiple births.

About the Author
Tammy Stoner is a licensed clinical social worker and trained family therapist. She developed the Teddy Bear Technique® following the sudden and unexpected death of a spouse and discovered a very fast method of generating treatment results when exploring family systems. She has authored a book called The Teddy Bear Technique®, and two activity books known as Not For Tots for Blended Families, and Not for Tots working with grief and loss.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2022696

Social worker cpd training

Every time my firm conducts communication skills training, we know someone is going to object.
"That doesn't work. Everybody's heard of active listening. You can't use that stuff anymore."
And we have to admit, there's a lot of truth in that. Everyone has heard of active listening. And it doesn't work for many people much of the time.

But communication skills can work for your staff.
The problem usually isn't the skills. It's the way people are trained to use them. Learn to use communication skills effectively, and they can create happy customers and higher income.
There are two components to good communication skills: (a) the skills themselves, and (b) what you're trying to do (your intention) when you use them. Many employees learn communication skills from manuals. And many manuals emphasize either skills, or intention but not both. And so, much of what we think of as communication skills training fails.

Here are a couple of examples:
Example 1: How active listening gets a black eye: using good skills, but with the intention to fix or change a customer

I was coaching a hospital social worker through a confrontation with a mother who was terribly frightened. The social worker was doing his best to demonstrate active listening.

"OK, I get that you're upset. And you want to get out of here. And I want to help you. But you've got to go through this process before you can take your daughter home."

The mother didn't react at all the way he'd hoped. "I don't want to hear all this institutional talk," she said. "You leave me alone. I'll sue if I have to!"

This appears to be a failure of active listening. And it is, but the problem goes deeper than that. When I paused the encounter and asked the social worker how he thought the mother was feeling and what she needed, he said, "I don't really know. I was busy trying to get her to do what I wanted and think it was her idea."

Active listening skills are useful, but they're only tools. They serve the intentions of the person using them. And if you don't teach trainees useful intentions, most will fall back on trying to fix people or change them. So you'll be training your staff to be very effective at letting your customers know they need to be fixed or changed. And your customers will let you know how unpleasant an experience that is.

Example 2: How "understand before you are understood" fails: having a useful intention but lacking the skills to communicate it

I paused a training scenario just after an angry man blew up at a nurse. I was coaching the nurse through an encounter with a father who felt the staff was trying to hustle him and his son out of the hospital.

He told her that he worked all day and came into the hospital all night. And where did she think he was going to get the time to go through training before he took his son home?

When I asked her how she thought the man was feeling and what he needed, she suggested that he seemed overwhelmed and afraid, and that he might need some support.

When I suggested she might ask the man if that's what he was experiencing, she turned to him and said, "You need an appointment with a social worker. I'll set something up for you."

This is a classic failure that comes from understanding your customer, but lacking the skills to communicate it. The nurse could describe the source of the man's anger clearly to me. She had real empathy for him. But she couldn't put her words together in a way he recognized as compassionate.
We'd taught her the words, of course. But like most people who learn new skills, she lacked the confidence to use them. So she, like the trainee above, fell back on trying to fix the customer. And he let her know how much he disliked being treated that way.

It don't mean a thing if you ain't practicing
Both of the examples above underscore a third important component of communication skills training, namely, the practice.

The trainee in the first example was a compassionate man with a degree in social work. I'm sure he'd had ample exposure to good communication skills. It had never gelled for him before.
Once we put him in a scenario, coached him through the skills, and alerted him to the fact that he was struggling because he was trying to fix his customer instead of connecting with her (that's the intention we teach), he developed skills rapidly. He even returned to training weeks later to report that he'd created a real difference in his life using the skills at home. He quickly became a valued mentor to others in his work group.

Communication skills are deceptively challenging. It takes no great intellect or dexterity to utter the words. What is terribly demanding is all the processing: keeping your focus on the other person despite your own discomfort, listening for the needs beneath complaints and accusations, drumming up the nerve to suggest to an outraged man that he might value some support.

What gets you through tough interactions is your confidence in your own intention and skills. And you learn confidence through practice.

In my experience, those are the keys to effective communication skills:
1. holding a useful intention like understanding the other person or connecting with them,
2. employing skills that communicate your intention, and
3. practicing the skills and intentions so you have them at hand, even when interactions get intense, especially when they do.

Find training that will provide you all three, and you'll have communication skills that will please your customers and increase your income.

Tim Dawes is the founder of Interplay, Inc., a firm that helps healthcare organizations to exceed their strategic goals by demonstrating unexpected empathy to patients. Learn about a step-by-step process that helps your staff make their natural compassion more deliberate and consistent for patients, and sign up for monthly "how to" articles at http://www.interplaygroup.com/pages/free_resources.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/61979

Social Worker CPD

When staff are just starting out on their NVQ and SVQ in Health and Social Care, or when new staff who have qualified from abroad start working in the UK they can be uncertain and confused by the different terms, such as policy, regulations, legislation, etc. NVQ and SVQ Assessors can also be uncertain of the differences.

In many ways the starting point to understanding the differences is actually Government policy.
The Government decides it wants certain things to happen in health or social care. Examples could include:

** more older people to be cared for at home, rather than in residential care
** more children, who are looked after by local authorities, to be cared for in foster care or adopted
** more adults with learning disabilities or mental health problems to be assisted into employment
Whatever the intention the Government's aim becomes a policy. Sometimes this policy is a Green Paper or a White Paper.

The Government then has a choice as to how it pursues its policy. From the Government's perspective it will rely on other organisations to actually apply the policy on a day to day basis. If the policy relates to health it is an NHS organisation. If the policy relates to social care it is likely to be local authorities that have to apply it or the local authority will have to make clear to organisations it contracts work to that various expectations need to be met.

The Government can get local authorities or NHS organisations to apply the policy in one of several ways. These include:

** by publishing the policy as 'statutory guidance'. Local authorities have to follow statutory guidance issued by the Government. In England one example of this is the policy on protecting vulnerable adults titled "No Secrets"

** by offering lots of money! The Government says it will give local authorities lots of new money to be spent on certain policy initiatives. One example of this is the Sure Start and Children's Centres initiative. When it started the policy was driven by money

** by introducing legislation that gives the local authority the power to do something or making it a duty to do something. A power means the local authority can do it if it wants to. A duty means the local authority must do it. An example of this is direct payments. The Government originally introduced direct payments as a power. But then the Government made it a duty so that local authorities must offer direct payments (since so few direct payments were offered when it was only a 'power')

Acts of Parliament
The Government may therefore decide to introduce legislation. This is the classic Act of Parliament.
In recent years legislation has got increasingly detailed and specific. Even with this detail, legislation can be quite cumbersome. It is also quite an involved process to introduce it. Therefore the Act of Parliament usually gives the Secretary of State (in England) or the Scottish Minister the power to make regulations and/or a code of practice.

Regulations (Also Known as Statutory Instruments)
Regulations are also called Statutory Instruments. Regulations are laid before Parliament but are not debated. They are considered law although not quite as strong as the original Act.
Regulations can be altered more quickly and are now extensively used (for example health and safety regulations).

Statutory Guidance
In addition the Secretary of State or Scottish Minister has the power to issue statutory guidance to local authorities. Local authorities are under a legal duty to follow this guidance. In other words the local authority social services or social work department must follow this 'statutory guidance'.

Code of Practice
The Secretary of State (or Scottish Minister) could also issue a code of practice relating to an Act of Parliament. These codes do not have the full weight of law but they explain and clarify the law and offer guidance on good practice. They are often realistic and applied and can be very useful.

Good Practice Guidance
The Government department (either in England, Wales or Scotland) could also issue good practice guidance. This is not the same as statutory guidance. It is often meant to be read by social workers, first line managers (and others) since the guidance commonly gives case scenarios explaining how service users should benefit from any recent changes in the law.

One complicating factor in understanding the present legal framework in social care and children's services is that often one Act of Parliament does not fully replace a previous Act. Commonly an Act of Parliament amends or alters an existing Act. Keeping track of this can be very difficult.
Therefore for social care staff (including staff working with children) who are NVQ or SVQ Assessors or are starting out on their Health and Social Care NVQ or SVQ some of the best resources are the law handbooks from Kirwin Maclean Associates.

These law handbooks are updated every year. They are focused and applied.
There are specific books for:

** staff who work with adults in England and Wales
** staff who work with children in England and Wales
** staff who work with adults or children in Scotland

These books make clear the way laws have been amended and what new laws have been introduced. Social care staff working on their Health and Social Care NVQ or SVQ who are worried about questions from their NVQ or SVQ assessor need worry no more. If your assessor asks you about what national or European law or legislation you are working under you will find the answer in the book relevant to your area of work.

These books are equally useful for social workers or social care staff who have recently arrived in Britain from other countries. They give you an overview of social care and social work law.
All of the above mentioned Social Care Books can be found at: http://www.kirwinmaclean.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/382788

Uk social worker cpd training

In addition to seeing separated parents who actually can put the needs of their children ahead of themselves, I also see a good many separated parents stuck in unremitting conflict.

Despite all the good information, education, coaching and even cajoling, they are bent on projecting blame and deflecting responsibility while continuously confusing their own needs and wants with the needs of their children. Indeed, while cloaking themselves as their child's bastion of support and advocate of their best interests, their children are visibly straining under the weight of their parents' hostility and animosity.

Whereas we want all children to grow up well, be responsible and prosper, the goals for children of high conflict parents are far more modest. They include mere survival - not committing suicide; minimizing the degree to which they will be affected by mental health problems associated with parental conflict (depression, anxiety, personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder), avoiding pregnancy and finishing high school.

The goals for the parents include, reducing the number of times they go to court; preserving assets that would otherwise go to more expensive forms of conflict resolution (litigation); limiting conflict with the law the result of drug or alcohol abuse or violent behavior; limiting the risk associating with domestic violence. To affect these parental goals, we seek to have them disengage - tall fences make good neighbors. We want them out of each other's hair. To the degree we can meet these goals, the child related goals may fall in line.

Statistically, many of the parents seen as" high conflict", have underlying personality disorders - a very stable, but idiosyncratic view of themselves and others, not supported by objective evidence. Their idiosyncratic view of themselves and the world creates conflict between themselves and others even when they ascribe all manner of blame to the other.

Common to the pattern of personality disorder seen is a fellow with a narcissistic personality disorder and a woman with either a borderline, histrionic or dependent personality disorder. In the event of working with a couple where one parent has a personality disorder, statistically the odds are better than 50/50 that the other parent will have a personality disorder too.

I have a reputation for being willing to take on referrals of these very challenging parents. As challenging as the parents may be, somehow or other, many of them find support systems and even lawyers whose issues mirror their own. This can escalate conflict for all involved and increases the risk of the service provider being scapegoated and becoming a new target of blame in the family drama.

Good guidance seems to fall flat in these situations. Next you need good workers who have strong boundaries themselves, so as to avoid being inducted into the family drama and remain focused on the needs of the children even when positioned as the new target of blame.
The risks of working with these families is actually quite great for the service provider and includes public vilification, spurious claims of impropriety, internet complaints, complaints to licensing bodies and even lawsuits.

Why would anyone do this work?
Kind of like fishing... Many may get away, but occasionally our work really helps a child, even if only modestly.
That makes it all worthwhile.
I am a social worker.

Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW
(905) 628-4847
gary@yoursocialworker.com
http://www.yoursocialworker.com

Gary Direnfeld is a social worker. Courts in Ontario, Canada, consider him an expert in social work, marital and family therapy, child development, parent-child relations and custody and access matters. Gary is the host of the TV reality show, Newlywed, Nearly Dead, parenting columnist for the Hamilton Spectator and author of Marriage Rescue: Overcoming the ten deadly sins in failing relationships. Gary maintains a private practice in Dundas Ontario, providing a range of services for people in distress. He speaks at conferences and workshops throughout North America.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8744423

social worker online cpd training

Professionalism is a topic that has a fairly chequered history in social work. At one time social work professionalism involved adopting a medical model, as if some of the prestige and respect afforded to doctors would rub off on social workers. This was reflected not only in the use of medical terminology (diagnosis and treatment rather than assessment and intervention), but also in a model of practice that predominated, one based on notions of prescribing a (psychosocial) cure for the individual's or family's (psychosocial) ills. Part of this was an emphasis on psychological, individualistic aspects of the situation. Although the term 'psychosocial' was used, the focus was predominantly on the psychological rather than the sociological elements. While the hearts of the people involved were no doubt in the right place, the failure to address broader social issues was a serious drawback.

This medically inspired model of professionalism was to a certain extent premised on elitism and privilege. It therefore came as no surprise when the development of radical social work, based on more sociological and political understandings of social welfare, led to a rejection of professionalism as an impediment to social justice and progressive models of practice. However, this turned out to be problematic, in so far as it amounted to 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater' - rejecting professionalism as a whole rather than simply those aspects that were incompatible with a social work premised on promoting equality. We entered a period of 'anti-professionalism' in which professionalism became a dirty word. While it was good that elitism was being rejected, the target of the attack was too broad, as all the positives of professionalism were rejected too. And this was something for which we have paid a heavy price over the years.

Radical social work laid the foundations for anti-discriminatory practice and the move towards more empowering forms of practice, and so it clearly has much to commend it - there is much we owe to the 'pioneers' of that movement. However, the downside of this has been the undermining of the positive contribution professionalism can make.

What, then, are the positive elements of professionalism that are worth promoting? I would propose the following as a bare minimum:

• A professional knowledge base Social work involves working with very complex issues at a number of levels. So-called 'common sense' knowledge is far from adequate. The development of the degree in social work is in part a reflection of the recognition that good practice has to be well-informed practice. An underpinning professional knowledge base is therefore a very important foundation for practice.
• A professional value base The importance of values to underpin practice has long been recognised. An explicit set of professional values to guide practice and help deal with the many dilemmas involved is therefore an important requirement.
• Accountability The introduction of professional registration is in part a recognition of the importance of accountability. In working with some of the most disadvantaged sectors of communities, the potential for making matters worse is a serious one, as is the possibility of unscrupulous practitioners abusing their position of trust. Professional accountability is therefore another essential requirement.
• A commitment to high standards of practice While the self-serving privileges of elitism that are closely associated with the traditional model of professionalism can be quite rightly criticised, it would be unduly cynical and unfair to fail to recognise that the majority of practitioners are highly committed to achieving positive outcomes for the people we serve. Professionalism's commitment to high standards of practice is therefore not something we should reject.

What professionalism should not entail is elitism and a model of social work that is geared towards helping people 'adjust' to their circumstances. But there is nothing inherent in the notion of professionalism that makes any of this inevitable. What we now face is the challenge of developing more empowering forms of professional practice that recognise the positives of professionalism and the dangers of abandoning professionalism altogether, while not falling into the trap of re-adopting elitism or paternalistic modes of practice. It is a significant challenge, but a very worthwhile one.

Dr Neil Thompson is an independent author, educator and adviser. For more information about Neil and his work, visit http://www.neilthompson.info. This article first appeared in the THE humansolutions BULLETIN. For details of this and other free resources, visit http://tinyurl.com/freeresourcesfromneil

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7418928

Visit our website http://socialworkprocesses.co.uk

Work is an activity that utilizes energy, both physical as well as mental; to realize something. Human Work has multiple dimensions/features. Broadly speaking, work has four dimensions - natural, personal, social, & economical. First, natural work is based on natural demands of life. A few work habits are required to satisfy basic natural needs such as hunger, thrust, and nakedness. We may call these basic work habits - eating, drinking, and dressing - a natural work. Generally, parents/teachers educate on natural works during early phase of life. The aim of natural work is to make our life compatible with nature or to accommodate natural demands. Second, personal work is outcome of personal needs and desires, every individual has some unique needs and desires, whenever a person satisfies his/her exclusive needs or desires such as specific dressing, definite food items, and distinct hobbies we may call it personal work.

The timely satisfaction of personal needs/desires is vital for normal personal life. It is worth mentioning that a clash between natural needs and personal desires may lead towards ailments, for example, junk food items may be the reason of a disease. Third, social work is result of social interactions. Man is social being, he/she interacts with fellow human beings. A social contact fulfils various life requirements and increases social strength of involved persons; whenever a person enhances social strength through social contacts we may call it social work. Sometime, an interaction is social in appearance but anti-social in outcome, it is social intelligence that guides towards fruitful social contacts. Fourth, a vast range of goods such as tasty foods, trendy dresses, vehicles, and magnificent residences are economic goods because they can be attained only through money. The work to attain wealth or money is known as economic work. Economic work gives monetary independence to individuals. Financial Intelligence/Business Intelligence is essential to accomplish economic work. These aforementioned dimensions of work are interlinked with one another and reinforce each other. The abovementioned work division is to clarify the concept of work; it is not scientific demarcation of human activities. The division is based on dominant aspect of work features. For example, natural work for hunger satisfaction is economic work, too, because food items are not freely available in modern society. Similarly, an activity may have two or more dimensions of work in her folder for example possession of trendy dress satisfies natural needs, personal desires, economic wants, and social aspirations.

Human Work has two absolute bases - life survival & self actualization. The survival of life and actualization of self are divinely ingrained features of human nature. The road to survival/actualization demands continuous effort. The continuity of effort is disturbed due to some permanent instinctual pressures. The well-known instinctual pressures of life are desire for lengthy sleep, tendency of gossips, craving towards aggressive sexual contact, and strong appetite towards imbalance diet. These instinctual pressures disturb work patterns, now and again. It is purpose of life, sense of responsibility towards work, reward or punishment on work, and joy of accomplishment that controls instinctual pressures and accommodates absolute work bases.

Hard-Working
A work that leads towards exhaustion, both physical as well as mental, is hard-work. Hard-working demands consistent-persistent approach towards task completion. Every new task must face obstacles or a routine task may encounter some new challenges. Whatever may be the situation, the upcoming obstacles can be overcome through hard working. Disciplined behaviour is essential ingredient of hard-working; it gives continuous strength to routine work. Hardworking or challenging tasks often create condition of exhaustion; sometime the situation may convert into burnout. It is hobbies / renewal activities that avoid burnout and prepare us for next round of life, both social as well as economic. The renewal activities are multiple, for example, reading, writing, jogging, travelling, praying, and sleeping. The renewal activities replenish/strengthen physical, psychological, and spiritual weaknesses and maintain one's interest towards work.

Growth
Life has two levels - individual and collective. Survival of life is basic urge of human beings. Survival of life is only prerogative of dynamic individuals/groups.Dynamic persons/nations are relentless towards improvement. They want to increase their area of effect continuously,so that, dynamism leads inevitably towards growth & development. Dynamic life is possible through evolving approach towards multiple chores of life. At individual level, continuous development of some personality attributes, interactive linkages, and increase in personal assets indicates growth. At collective level, the existence of stable institutions, continuous improvement of macro-variables of economy, and evolving micro-macro framework indicates growth. Life is growing if new level of something is better than previously achieved level. Growth is thus negation of stagnancy or decline.It is worth mentioning that work-life balance is essential for steady, stable, and continuous growth. An imbalance approach towards work-life framework may lead towards ailments, failures, and hostilities.

Workmanship - Significant Work Optimizers
Individuals perceive work differently. Broadly speaking, some people enjoy work while other takes it a burden. Workmanship indicates the level of skill/motivation with which someone accomplishes something. Workmanship is outcome of hardworking during some work. It is established through experience/personal interest. The high standard of workmanship creates excellent outcomes during some activity. The level of excellent workmanship is based on multiple attitudes and attributes. The prominent work optimizers for excellent workmanship are:

Activeness- An active attitude towards work produces better results. Activeness indicates enthusiastic state of mind towards tasks. An active person takes work wholeheartedly and produces better results on account of agility, both physical and mental. However, in real life situation an ideal agility is seldom phenomenon. Generally, people are active physically and slow mentally or vice versa. Moreover, people are active in some tasks but lazy on some other tasks. A strategic approach towards persons/tasks is required to maintain activeness during life struggle.

Self-Motivation and Self-Regulation - Self-motivation and self-regulation during some work have matchless power to propel any life effort into successful effort. At workplace, self-motivated and self-regulated employees work harder. They come with new and innovative ideas to improve the product or service. They are efficient and effective. However, enthusiasm in the workplace is a rare phenomenon due to multiple reasons such as limited opportunities for healthy social interaction among workforce, blame oriented management system, authoritative leadership, and low incentive on good performance. Consequently, employees work without interest and produce low quality product or service at their workplace, obviously, a low-performing institution is shaped. It is noteworthy that a self-motivated/self-regulated individual is self-directed and highly suitable for challenging tasks/institutional growth.

Time Consciousness- Time efficiency is decisive factor during work. It is extremely vital for deadline-driven tasks; it is noteworthy that deadline-driven tasks are dominant portion of economic work. Appropriate time utilization hinges on temporal intelligence. It is ability to understand the temporal significance of something and to utilize time efficiently.Temporal intelligence has two aspects, inner and outer. The inner-aspect motivates/impels towards time efficiency during work process through motivational vigor while the outer-aspect regulates/leads towards time efficiency during work process through disciplinary behaviour. The optimal utilization of time is thus possible through self-motivated/self-regulated attitude of individuals towards work.

Pro-activeness- A responsible enthusiasm towards work is pro-activeness. It differentiates work from mere activity or hobby. A proactive person starts work actively, manages it prudently, and completes it responsibly. A proactive approach restricts reactive moods during some activity. A reactionary approach of work may produce some positive results occasionally but it is generally damaging due to presence of moods/whims. In addition, the pro-active approach is negation of over-activeness. The over-activeness makes someone workaholic, an imbalance attitude towards work. A pro-active person is neither reactive nor over-active rather he/she is self-motivated and self-regulated.

Teamwork Approach- Some tasks cannot be done individually, e.g., creation of a family setup, establishment of an economic firm, and launching of a marketing campaign. A group of persons is required to accomplish such heavy tasks. A cooperative work approach of individuals shapes teamwork approach. A team work produces better results due to synergy. An act of synergy creates extra total energy through reinforcing individual strengths and undermining personal weaknesses. It is worth mentioning that the Divine Scheme of Creation supports positive reinforcement among individuals while negative reinforcement among individuals is failed ultimately. Moreover, a well-established team or positive associations are panacea against reactionary / over-active work-patterns. Generally, an effective team is outcome of Trust among Team Members, Effective Interpersonal Communication, Association Based on Synergy, and Motivation towards Shared Vision/Work (TEAM). In nutshell, teamwork work approach is natural, win-win, and synergic.

Work Environment - Some Strategic Steps
A specific work approach of leader shapes a definite work environment for workforce. The created work environ plays an important role during multiple tasks. A conducive/hostile environ may enhance/reduce productivity of an individual many times. A person can change work environ for himself up to some extent through positive mindset/behaviour towards work/others. But, dominantly, it is responsibility of leadership to shape conducive work environ for all and sundry. The efficient-effective work environ is based on multiple strategic steps. The prominent steps are:

Align Work With Purpose- life is purpose driven phenomenon. Purpose gives vision to one's life, directs one's efforts, and shapes one's personality profile. It is extremely productive to align work with life purposes. A strict attachment with purpose is permanent source of energy for individuals and groups. However, overtime, a person may loose attachment with purpose and may think himself/herself a cog in the wheel. A deterministic mindset is unable to comprehend possible opportunities of work, hard working, and growth. The situation can be settled through planting some new purposes or rejuvenating the dead purposes. Purpose plantation/rejuvenation is topmost reasonability of leadership. At personal level, we may internalize purposes of near and dear ones. It is positive association of likeminded persons. The associated people become consequentially supporter of our tottering purposes and we become stanch supporter of their budding objectives. It is invisible association of strengths. At institutional level, leader can create synergic environment for individuals through reinforcing strengths and undermining weaknesses for maximum performance.

Align Work With Talent- Naturally, person are endowed differently and distinctively. A specific talent, both natural and acquired, is suitable for some specific tasks. An alignment between talent and work enhances productivity of individuals and institutions. It is dominantly responsibility of leadership to align work with talent. Non alignment of work with talent means workers' resentment. An extreme level of resentment may lead towards turnout or poor institutional framework.

Align Work with Feedback- Effectiveness of an individual, both social as well as economic, depends on compatibility of one's work by others. Compatibility is developed through accommodating feedbacks. Generally people are reluctant towards new realities/contributions. They retaliate or inhibit new contribution; it is hardworking, persistence, and interpersonal communication among individuals that prepares and change mindsets of concerned persons towards contribution. The process of acceptance is actualized through accommodating feedback of concerned individuals; the feedback activity gives ultimately an efficient-effective look to our work. Overtime, people become promoter of our work, both habitual and innovative. It is responsibility of leadership to create environment of feedback for each and every activity, consequently individuals would provide rational-factual feedback on work.

Align Work with Learning- Learning is an enjoyable activity of life. We learn from books, peoples, and situations. Generally, a new learning motivates towards some new or novel activity. A learning driven activity / work optimize our productivity manifold. Learning improves our routine work efficiency and enhances new work efficacy. Learning opens new vistas of life and shapes better work-patterns. The process of alignment between work and learning shapes learning organization. A learning organization is extremely supportive step towards challenging tasks and innovative works.
Align Work & Reward Scheme- Individuals takes work differently. Broadly speaking, some people enjoy work while other takes it a burden. A work becomes enjoyable through personal interest. At institutional level, personal interest can be developed through effective reward scheme. The very basis of rewards is performance, while the performance of an individual or group is assessed generally on three abilities - Learning, Innovation, and Teamwork. A hostile work environment is generally upshot of wrongly defined reward structure.

Wasted Efforts
Activity and work are essentially distinct realities although they look similar during some struggle. Work is purpose driven while activity is compulsion driven. A wasted effort is purposeless or halfhearted or irresponsible and does not produce positive results. At individual level, a clear understanding between underlying bases of work and activity and adoption of significant work optimizers can reduce wasted efforts. At institutional level, the alignment of work with purpose, talent, feedback, learning, and rewards controls the phenomenon of wasted efforts. The negligence towards the phenomenon of wasted efforts may lead toward Vicious Work Environ. An established Vicious Work Environ devours precious resources, both human as well as non-human, and produces meager results. The ultimate outcome of Vicious Work Environ is failure. Generally, the Vicious Work Environ or wasted efforts are outcome of dirtiness, lazy workmanship of co-worker, lethargic leadership, inactive/reactive/overactive self, and monotony.

Hardworking and Effective Entrepreneurship
An essential feature of effective entrepreneurship is to set example for workers. An exemplary approach shapes better institutional environment. For example, any minor procrastination / laziness by manager will cause comparatively major delay in his works by his workers; the concerned worker will show more lethargic and careless attitude towards his tasks. Moreover, institutions are designed to actualize certain goals & objectives. The process of goal actualization demands clean path, it is responsibility of entrepreneur to clean path hurdles. Whenever path hurdles are cleaned through supportive leadership, synergic work environ is shaped for workers. The synergic work environment forms a well-performing institution. Cleaning path hurdles demand inevitably hardworking entrepreneurship.

The phenomenon of effective leadership is erected on efficient followership. The presence of all characteristic of excellent workmanship is inevitable for effective entrepreneurship. Hardworking is essential aspect of workmanship consequently hardworking is inevitable for entrepreneurship. Practically, the areas of hardworking are different for entrepreneur and followers. The area of hard work for follower is to observe strictly discipline or to maintain smooth working while the strength of leader is to break comfort zones, now and then. The braking of rules or habitual work-pattern is inevitable for innovations or growth. Naturally, growth is evolutionary process and encounters countless hurdles. It is achieved through step by step procedure by overcoming hurdles. A stepwise and resilient growth process must demand some out-of-box mental effort and change, temporary or permanent, from comfort zones of life. A leader living within comfort zone gets normal results or gives normal performance. Change in comfort zone demands hardworking, both physical as well as mental. The comfort zone is outcome of possible fears, limiting beliefs, dormant work habits. A repetitive challenge to comfort zones/routine work-pattern is essential for continuous growth.

Muhammad Ilyas
CEO
SMCSE

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5517884

Social worker cpd training