Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder: Effective helping responses from social workers

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 496-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Gibbs ◽  
Kerryn Bagley ◽  
Dorothy Badry ◽  
Vicky Gollner
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Helping Professions ◽  
Practice Model ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disability ◽  
Key Worker ◽  
Mentoring Model

Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disability that often requires extensive intervention and support from the helping professions, notably social work. This article considers why a social work response to FASD is needed and explores social work frameworks and models that underpin current FASD-informed practice. It illustrates the discussion with three international models used in Canada and New Zealand, the Key Worker model, the Communities of Practice model and an advocacy and mentoring model.

scholarly journals Incorporating community development into social work practice within the neoliberal environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Aimers ◽  
Peter Walker
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Community Work ◽  
Core Subject ◽  
Work Education

Community development is a core subject in social work education, yet social work discourse often places community development at its margins (Mendes, 2009). This article considers the location of community development and community work within the current neoliberal environment in New Zealand and how such practice can be sustained by social workers in the community and voluntary sector. Community development is a way of working with communities that has a ‘bottom up’ approach as an alternative to State (top down) development. Over recent years, however, successive New Zealand governments have embraced neoliberal social policies that have marginalised community development. In addition the term ‘community work’ has been used to describe activities that have little to do with a bottom up approach thereby making it difficult to define both community development and community work. By applying a ‘knowledge intersections’ schema to two New Zealand community and voluntary organi- sations we identify where community development and social work intersect. From this basis we challenge social workers to consider ways in which community development can be embedded within their practice. 

Still doing what we do: Defining social work in the 21st century

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Staniforth ◽  
Christa Fouché ◽  
Michael O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Professional Organizations ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Indigenous Perspectives ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Work Education

• Summary: Members of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) were asked to provide their definition of social work. Over 300 responses were analysed thematically in order to determine if practitioner views corresponded to recent shifts in social work education and theory which emphasized the importance of social change, strengths based perspectives and the importance of local and indigenous contexts. • Findings: The findings demonstrate that while there was some recognition of social change and strengths-based perspectives in the definitions of social work provided, that those working in the field remain focused on ‘helping individuals, families and groups’ engage in change. Respondents did not, for the most part, acknowledge local or indigenous perspectives in their definitions. • Applications: Results from this study may be useful for social work professional organizations, and social work educators, students and future researchers who are interested in the definition of social work and its scopes of practice.

Social Work and Its Complexity in Aotearoa New Zealand

2020 ◽  
pp. 16-36
Author(s):  
Shahul Hameed ◽  
Anthony Raman
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Chaotic Nature ◽  
Developed World

The Social workers need to call on a broad range of sources of bodies of knowledge and respond to the complexity and its chaotic nature of situations arising in social work profession. There appears to be dire need to consider the use of (a) the theoretical knowledge into practice by being more caring and supportive with the aim of (b) disentangling the various elements of a complex system and enhancing the resilience both of the people involved and the social and organizational systems that they are inter-twined with people lives. The current acknowledgement of the bi-cultural framework by the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) is no doubt a positive move towards infusing indigenous practice frame work into dealing with the chaotic nature and complexity of the social work profession in New Zealand but still remains to be seen in actual social work practice .The purpose of this chapter is to attempt to explore the potential of infusing Indigenous bodies of knowledge into practice against the background of the complexity nature of the social work profession in a developed world like New Zealand.

Zooming in: Social work supervisors using online supervision

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 126-130
Author(s):  
Jason Rushton ◽  
Jo Hutchings ◽  
Karen Shepherd ◽  
Jude Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Professional Supervision ◽  
Online Supervision ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Social Work Practitioners ◽  
Online Group

A group of geographically dispersed social work practitioners who provide professional supervision responded to an invitation put out through the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) networks to be part of an online group in late 2015. Seven members committed to meeting for one hour every eight weeks using the online meeting platform, ZoomTM. This viewpoint provides an opportunity to share our experience of the development and process of this group, with its potential for ensuring a safe reflective space and ongoing professional development. 

Virtual Communities of Practice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Pender Greene
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Virtual Communities Of Practice

Sociologists and social workers have long been invested in understanding the role of communities in shaping identities and influencing behavior; however, the study of virtual communities is still new despite the dramatic ways in which online social networks have replaced traditional, geographically bound conceptions of community. The present article briefly reviews some of the early theories of community that have influenced practically all scholars studying computer-mediated virtual communities. The focus then shifts toward an analysis of early, important theorists focusing on virtual communities. The article concludes by examining contemporary research and practices utilizing virtual communities in social work, with a particular emphasis on ways to integrate virtual communities into professional practice.

Narratives

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Kelley
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Context ◽  
North America ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Narrative Therapy ◽  
Externalizing Problems ◽  
Outcome Data ◽  
Social Work Values ◽  
Michael White

Narrative therapy was developed by Michael White and David Epston, social workers from Australia and New Zealand respectively, in the late 1980s, spreading to North America in the 1990s. It falls under the rubric of postmodernism, which challenges the idea of absolute and universal truths. Its focus on empowerment, collaboration, and viewing problems in social context fit with social work values. Clients and social workers join together to deconstruct and reconstruct problem saturated stories through externalizing problems and searching for unique outcomes. Although empirical outcome data are limited, many social workers find the concepts useful.

Leading communities of practice in social work

Groupwork ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Ivan Gray ◽  
Jonathan Parker ◽  
Tikki Immins
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Participatory Approach ◽  
Organisation Development ◽  
Delivery Of Services ◽  
The Uk

<p><i>Social work in the UK has undergone a period of momentous change in the last decade with the introduction of a ‘modernising agenda’ that has increased managerial approaches to the organisation, development and delivery of services. Whilst posing a threat to some, these approaches are embedded and social workers must find ways of working within them to synthesise appropriate responses that promote the values and cultural heritage of social work within the new context. This paper considers the possibilities offered by communities of practice to develop learning organisations in which a managed and participatory approach to social care can be generated. A super-ordinate model of contending cultures is developed and practice that draws on and is predicated by groupwork principles is presented as a potential way forward</i>.</p>

Social Theory, Performativity and Professional Power—A Critical Analysis of Helping Professions in England

Human Affairs ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Powell ◽  
Malcolm Carey
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Case Managers ◽  
Helping Professions ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Service Departments ◽  
Professional Power

Social Theory, Performativity and Professional Power—A Critical Analysis of Helping Professions in EnglandDrawing from interviews and ethnographic research, evidence is provided to suggest a sense of "anxiety" and "regret" amongst state social workers and case managers working on the "front-line" within local authority social service departments. There have been a number of theoretical approaches that have attempted to ground the concept of "power" to understand organizational practice though Foucauldian insights have been most captivating in illuminating power relations and subject positioning. In order to theoretically interrogate the relationship between social theory and professional power, we draw from the neo-Foucauldian work of American Social Philosopher Judith Butler—especially regarding Butler's (1990, 1993 and 1998) powerful work on "performativity" and its relationship to social work. We also attempt to examine the "distances" between the social work role and social workers narratives through an examination of notions of "anxiety" and "regret" in the face of the professionalisation of state social work.

scholarly journals Transnational Social Workers: Making the Profession a Transnational Professional Space

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Bartley ◽  
Liz Beddoe ◽  
Christa Fouché ◽  
Phil Harington
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
International Social Work ◽  
Specific Focus ◽  
The Social ◽  
International Demand ◽  
International Social

This paper draws on research conducted in New Zealand from 2009 to 2011 with overseas-qualified social workers as members of a global profession experiencing both great international demand for their skills and unparalleled flows of professional transnationalism. In line with the international social work literature, this cohort of migrant professionals offers a range of needed skill and expertise as well as unique challenges to local employers, client communities, and the social work profession as a whole. With a specific focus on mixed-methods data dealing with participants' induction experiences and engagement with professional bodies, this paper argues that migrant social workers have created in New Zealand a transnational professional space that demands a response from local social work stakeholders.

scholarly journals Supervision, support and professional development for newly qualified social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Beddoe ◽  
Neil Ballantyne ◽  
Jane Maidment ◽  
Kathryn Hay ◽  
Shayne Walker
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Great Variability ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Integrated Systems ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Recent Graduates

INTRODUCTION: Many social work professional bodies and regulators mandate regular supervision and professional development. Supervision is believed to support continuing development of professional skills, safeguarding of competent and ethical practice, oversight of the practitioner’s work for adherence to organisational expectations, and support for practitioner wellbeing.METHOD: Phase two of the Enhancing the Readiness to Practice of Newly Qualified Social Workers (Enhance R2P) project employed a mixed methods study (surveys and interviews) to explore how well prepared newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) are, in their first two years of practice, to enter professional social work. A survey of managers/supervisors and NQSWs in Aotearoa New Zealand about the readiness to practise of recent graduates was conducted.FINDINGS: Questions about supervision and professional development were included in the survey and in interviews with both NQSWs and supervisors/managers. Around half of NQSWs were supervised at least once every two weeks, but another half were supervised monthly or less frequently. Observation of practice by supervisors was either very infrequent or entirely absent from the professional development of NQSWs.IMPLICATIONS: Study findings revealed great variability in the formal supervision and other supports available for NQSWs which may impact on retention and practitioner wellbeing. More integrated systems of supervision, peer support and planned professional development are needed.

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