K315_2Supporting and developing resilience in social work About this free courseThis free course is an adapted extract from the Open University course K315 Social Work Practice www.open.ac.uk/health-and-social-care/main/social-work This version of the content may include video, images and interactive content that may not be optimised for your device.You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University – www.open.edu/openlearn/health-sports-psychology/supporting-and-developing-resilience-social-work/content-section-0 There you’ll also be able to track your progress via your activity record, which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

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9 781 47302 490 8 (.epub)Resilience is not an innate characteristic or personality trait that you either have or you don’t. It arises from successful adaptation to everyday events rather than unusual ones, and emerges from ordinary human capabilities, relationships and other internal and external resources. Ann Masten, a research expert in this area calls it ‘ordinary magic’. It is a quality and a process that can be enhanced and developed which is good news for social workers, who are typically required to manage change and complex, competing demands (Grant and Kinman, 2015, p. 5).In this free course, Supporting and developing resilience in social work , you investigate how you, as a social work practitioner, can be supported to enhance your emotional resilience.In the first section you explore the idea of resilience and begin to develop your own ‘emotional resilience toolkit’ of skills and strategies. After this, you then consider the concept of leadership and its skills and qualities. You revisit the importance of supervision in relation to developing and maintaining resilience. Finally, you review what you have added to your toolkit.Key questionsWhy do you need to be emotionally resilient, and what skills and strategies are involved?What skills and qualities are involved in professional leadership?What can you expect from your managers, and how can you get the best out of your supervision?This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course K315 Social work practice .After studying this course, you should be able to:discuss why emotional resilience is important in social work practice and what skills and strategies are involved explore the support that social workers can expect from their managers, and how to get the best out of supervision demonstrate a critical understanding of the skills and qualities involved in social work professional leadership understand the benefits of criticality, reflection and analysis to social work practice and continuing professional development. Social work is a rewarding job, but it is emotionally challenging and can be stressful. You know this from experience, but may not be familiar with survey and research evidence about this. For example, researchers Grant and Kinman (2014, p. 6) write that: ‘For several years, the UK Labour Force Survey (HSE, 2013) has found the highest prevalence rates of work-related stress amongst health and social care workers.’This may not seem a very encouraging start to this OpenLearn course but it is worth knowing that, despite evidence of high stress, studies have also found consistently high job satisfaction among social workers (Stalker et al., 2007; Collins, 2008).If social work is such a stressful occupation, what helps social workers to survive, and even thrive? This is a question which researchers have been keen to explore. According to Beddoe et al. (2013, p. 102), research indicates that resiliency is supported by:factors that reside within individualsfactors that reside in the organisational contextfactors linked with the educational preparation of practitioners.The concept of emotional resilience may be familiar to you in relation to children and adult service users (Gilligan, 2009; Smith and Hollinger-Smith, 2015). Simply defined, it refers to people’s capacity to constructively protect themselves – and rebound – from stress. In the workplace, stress is ‘the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them at work’ (Weinberg and Murphy, 2013). It is important to note that resilience is usually conceptualised as a two-dimensional construct ‘including the experience of adverse conditions and the presence of positive skills in coping with these conditions’ (Beddoe et al., 2013, p. 101). In this sense, it is the experience of overcoming adversity which develops a person’s resilience. As you will see, adversity can arise from both personal and external stress factors.

To help you think about resilience for yourself as a social worker, in Activity 1 you will see three videos featuring Cassie, a children and family social worker. In the first video you will see a snapshot from a typical day in a busy children’s social work team and a referral that comes in concerning an allegation of sexual abuse by a grandfather. This is the sort of very emotionally upsetting and challenging task that social workers may have to engage in. In the videos that follow, you will hear from Cassie about her approach to social work practice and how she handles some of the stresses she faces. As a student you might not have experienced this kind of referral directly but it is highly likely that you will have faced other kinds of challenges, uncertainties and dilemmas. This activity will help you explore how Cassie and the team deal with these aspects of social work practice and to begin to identify ways of developing resilience in your future career.Activity 1 Developing resilienceAllow about 1 hourWatch the following videos and note your comments in the table below.Video 1: A referralThis video shows you a referral coming into a child protection team and it will help you think about the resilience needed for social work.Video 1 A referral[TYPING]WOMAN: Right, because she she-- sorry, because she said that she'd [INAUDIBLE] and she discussed-- JAMES: So basically, what's happened is that granddad was downstairs, asked her to snuggle. And then she's gone on to disclose that he's got his bits out and touched her, as well. She's become quite upset about this. There's no indicator to say that she's not going to be age-appropriate to be videoed. She's made what seems like a reasonably clear disclosure. What I'll do is I'll ask the social worker to start doing an assessment, because then we know what we're looking for as much as you do, really. CASSIE:All right. Thanks, bye-bye.JAMES:Cassie--CASSIE:Yep?JAMES:Have you spoken to the school?CASSIE: She is busy and will call us back. She's got contact details of the mum, in terms of telephone number. But both of the girls are in school. JAMES: Right. OK, the police are going to try and arrange so we can take this girl up for a video interview. The problem is, they won't be able to see this girl to prep her, which may be a bit difficult. So what we've got to work out is A) how this girl's doing emotionally, and whether she's able to go through video interview. What I suggest you do is give mum a call. CASSIE:Yep.JAMES: Check she's OK. Go through the process and the procedure. Talk to her about the video interview. Clearly, she done the right thing. It's important that these children don't go and have contact with anyone in the family. [TYPING]CASSIE: My name's Cassie and I'm a social worker up at Boardwalk. Hi. Are you able to talk right now? Yeah. I'm just ringing you about, obviously, the referral that's come through. Yeah, I just wanted to ask you a few more questions is that's OK. We're trying to make an assesment as to whether it would be appropriate or not. And whether she would be able to talk to a police officer, obviously with yourself present. And the police officers are trained to speak to children and to gain the evidence, really. And do you think she'd be able to do that? Yeah? Does she have any special educational needs or anything? Is she-- no? OK. And there's no reason that you would think that she would-- that it's not appropriate for her to do that? Yeah, if you ring up and say you wanted to speak to a duty social worker, it will be either myself or Vicki today. OK? And somebody will be in touch with you later on today. All right. No worries, speak to you later. All right. Bye. Oh. Poor lady. WOMAN:She hasn't said that bit? OK.JAMES: I don't actually want to give you this case, because I think you've got too many cases at the moment. So it may be-- it would be better if perhaps, Vicki picked it up. I think you've got more space than Cassie to pick this up at the moment. VICKI:Yes, thank you, James.JAMES:So it's going to be my gift to you.

Video 2: Carrying out home visitsIn this clip you will hear from Cassie about how she approaches going out to see a family.Video 2 Carrying out home visitsCASSIE: First of all, you walk into the house, and you want to know that it's an acceptable standard, that it's safe, as well. Or like, depending on the children's ages, you want to see safety gates. And if there are dogs and things, and cats, that the litter trays aren't just on the floor. And like, toddlers aren't able to just get hold of it. You look for lots of different things-- evidence for drugs or alcohol, depending on the case. I always check that the children have got-- that there are enough beds. That they've got enough bedding, that the sheets and blankets are clean. That there's food-- there's food in the house. We always try to see, on the initial visit-- we always want to see the child with the parents and how they interact and what their relationship's like-- lots of things. But it very much depends on what you're going out-- what the referral is. What the type of-- whether it's domestic violence. Is it drugs? Is it neglect or emotional abuse?

Video 3: Managing workloadCassie talks about some of the ways in which she copes with pressure and how she maintains her own emotional resilience.Video 3 Managing workloadCASSIE: As a social worker, you need to-- which is hard to do-- you need to learn to be able to recognise when you're stressed and when things are creeping over into your own life and to be able to say to your manager, actually, this is becoming quite difficult, and to say, no, enough's enough now. I'm not going to stay up to whatever time doing case notes tonight, because I need a break and you need to look after yourself. But it is about having a manager who recognises when you're getting to that point. And also, I think, as a newly qualified social worker, there was-- I think-- myself. I had this expectation of-- I need to have done everything. I need to resolve everything. And actually, you never are completely on top of absolutely everything. And you can never solve everything. And you can't control people. And people-- when you're not there-- are going to-- you know, the families you work with, when you're at home, are going to do what they-- even if you've told them not to do something, they will do it. And you can't control that. And I think when you become at ease with that, yourself, and you recognise that, you can take a lot of pressure off yourself, thinking, I've done everything I can do to possibly make the situation safe. And now I'm going to have to go home, and whatever happens happens. And just relax in the fact that you've done everything you possibly can.

Note your comments here.Table 1 Your answers to Activity 1

How did you think you would feel dealing with a referral like this?
What might be some of the tensions and stresses for the worker who will go out to see this family?
What support might they need?
What emotions does Cassie express (verbally or non-verbally) when talking about her work?
What are some of the uncertainties she faces going to see a new family?
What supports Cassie? Is this enough or would you like to see anything more?

You probably came up with a substantial list of actual or potential things that might make any social worker, however experienced, feel anxious or upset. In the film, Cassie talks about the ways in which she copes with this pressure and tries to support her own emotional resilience, including seeking support from her manager practically; you might have also thought about emotional support. Cassie also discusses the importance of looking after her own well being and setting appropriate boundaries to support that. Do you agree?

In considering Cassie and the team’s work in Activity 1 you will have identified features of the situation which are likely to make them feel anxious, distressed or possibly even scared. You might have identified supervision as a place where Cassie or her colleagues could seek support and take their feelings. Martin Smith (2005) argues that a common, although frequently unacknowledged, feature of social work practice is dealing with one’s own feelings of fear or distress. These emotions can arise in everyday contexts: sometimes they emerge unexpectedly and can appear irrational. Sometimes they may be influenced by our past experiences. It can be difficult to explain to others why we are distressed; or we may feel too embarrassed and vulnerable to share our emotional reactions. In these circumstances, writing about the incident and our feelings can be helpful. Activity 2 invites you to try this out. Activity 2 Reflecting on distressing situations at work: what helps? Allow about 45 minutesThink of a time when you felt distressed (anxious, scared or upset) at work or in a personal context. Use the text box provided to write a reflective account of this. Write down what happened to make you distressed; describe your emotions at the time; recall what helped and what made things worse; and explain how you eventually resolved your distress. At the time, what did you need from your manager/organisation? Was this need met?Your reflective account is for your own private use, unless you choose to share it with your practice educator/assessor or someone else that you trust. Find out what support is available within your organisation for social workers who have experienced a distressing or frightening incident.In day-to-day practice, it is common for staff to have fears and anxieties about many things, including worries about their personal competence or their ability to cope. Unpredictable, emotionally-charged events may also cause distress and fear. Smith (2005) found that distress can also arise from organisational issues, to do with bullying, complaints or fear of negative media publicity. Writing about these experiences can be a helpful coping strategy. Individual reflection (or, if it feels safe, with another person) can help you gain insight into the strengths that you drew on in resolving the issue.Let’s consider the example of Cathy, a social work student on placement in a hospice. Despite initial trepidation she found her new colleagues welcoming and supportive. Just as Cathy was beginning to feel more relaxed in the team, she arrived one morning to hear that a patient who had regularly been coming in for respite care had died suddenly. During the course of the day, Cathy found herself feeling more and more upset and eventually had to leave a meeting in tears. One of the social workers took her out for coffee. As Cathy talked about how embarrassed she felt and how she couldn’t understand why she had reacted in this way, she realised that something about the patient’s death had unexpectedly aroused strong feelings about a loss in her own family. Having gained this insight, Cathy was able to talk more openly in supervision about the emotional impact of working in a setting where terminal illness was commonplace.In Cathy’s case the supportive and open culture of the team made it easier for colleagues to respond to her distress, and safe for emotion to be on the agenda in supervision. How does this supportive environment compare with the incident you wrote about?Smith’s (2005) research revealed that social workers’ experiences of distress and fear have disabling consequences. One of his observations was that if difficult feelings are acknowledged, and if practitioners are supported to process them, this can lead to personal and professional growth. On the other hand, he acknowledged that some people choose to cope with their experiences of fear by not thinking or talking about them: in this case, their choice should be respected.Activity 1 highlights that managers have a responsibility and a duty of care towards their staff, and it is important that organisational cultures are created where anxieties and fears – real or imagined, minor or significant – are recognised, validated and responded to appropriately.

Social work inevitably involves a considerable amount of ‘emotional labour’: ‘the management of feelings performed as part of paid work’ (Gorman, in Adams et al., 2009, p. 95). For example, social workers may need to conceal their immediate emotional response to maintain a non-judgemental or authoritative stance (Kinman et al., 2011); doing this can become stressful over time.Although social workers routinely work with people experiencing distress and with service users who would prefer not to see them, this does not (and should not) mean that they become immune to ordinary human responses. You have probably developed ways of responding to expressions of anger or hostility, but this should not be at the expense of suppressing your own emotion. Lack of congruence between personal feelings and professional values can lead to ‘self-alienation, emotional depletion and burnout’ (Grant and Kinman, 2014, p. 41). On the other hand, Megele (2015, p. 7) suggests that the explicit recognition of emotional labour ‘offers us the opportunity to better manage the emotional toil and demand of everyday practice.’ This is an example of the ‘ordinary magic’, in which a problem shared can build resilience.

Concerns about workforce retention have prompted a considerable body of research exploring the organisational and socio-political factors of social worker stress. Reviewing this literature, Beddoe et al. (2013) note the following areas of concern:There are issues concerning the wellbeing of newly graduated social workers, where the focus is on knowledge and tasks rather than developing professionally as a person.Discussions note the potential for adverse experiences in social work in child protection, and to some extent in health settings.Being exposed to very challenging circumstances experienced by some service users – such as abuse, neglect, acute grief, severe illness and trauma – can contribute to ‘compassion fatigue’ and emotional exhaustion for social workers.Workplace adversities also stem from high caseloads, changes in funding and organisational arrangements, and limited resources.These concerns are well-supported by research. For example, Neil’s (2014) study of 12 child protection social workers in Scotland How does child protection work affect social workers? illustrates very powerfully the research findings of Beddoe et al.Experiences of adversity can also arise as a result of racism, homophobia and other kinds of discrimination in the workplace and in wider society (CommunityCare, 2012; McNicoll, 2013a). In fact, this is one reason that Garrett (2015) takes a critical stance to the concept of resilience itself, drawing attention to the way in which seeing resilience as an individual responsibility tends to minimise the impact of the societal and political context.While individual resilience develops from overcoming difficult circumstances, including both personal and external sources of stress, it cannot, of course, resolve wider organisational and structural sources of stress. The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and trade unions run campaigns to address workplace stress and other social issues. Employers have a ‘duty of care’ to their staff. In England the Local Government Association (LGA) has published standards for employers to reduce social worker stress, although Webber (2015) suggests they are not widely adopted. In Scotland and Wales, there are care council codes of practice for social service employers. You may wish to consult the relevant documents to find out what you can expect from your agency in relation to staff support.

As previously discussed, overcoming challenges appears to strengthen emotional resilience. For example, studies of black and minority ethnic social work students report that succeeding in the face of disadvantage – including discrimination and socio-economic inequalities – could be a source of optimism and resilience. Students spoke of ‘having something to strive towards […] the belief that anything is possible so you push yourself’ (Fairtlough et al., 2014, p. 613); and expressed strong determination ‘I just got to believe in myself and said well, I’m going to go for it, I’ll do it’ (Hillen, 2013, p. 19).Researchers have become interested in the resilience shown by social workers in the face of workplace demands and other stressors (for example, Beddoe et al., 2013; Collins, 2007; 2008; Collins et al., 2010). Louise Grant and Gail Kinman, social work educators and researchers at the University of Bedford, conducted a study to explore the development of resilience as a protective factor to enhance the confidence and wellbeing of social work students.Grant and Kinman (2014) suggest that the most resilient social workers are those who have developed a varied repertoire of coping strategies, which can be drawn on in different kinds of difficult situations. They came up with the idea of an ‘emotional resilience toolkit’ which we have adopted in this course.

This is a good point at which to set up your ‘toolkit’ of practical techniques to develop and support your emotional resilience. The simplest way is to create a folder on your own computer or tablet and name it ‘emotional resilience toolkit’. As you continue through this course save notes and other documents into your toolkit. You could also create a Word document within the folder, in which you can build up a list of ‘bookmarks’ by copying and pasting links to websites or documents that you find helpful. Alternatively, you are free to create your toolkit in any format that enables you to access the resources wherever you are. For example, you may wish to save bookmarks on one device and then sync with your mobile phone.However you set up your toolkit, remember that it is intended as a practical resource which you can use in your social work practice. For this to become a genuine resource it is important to be proactive in deciding what to keep and to add other ideas generated by your reading or practice. In Activity 3 you explore the meaning of emotional resilience and its implications for your practice. The activity includes a reading which is based on research with social work students, but its findings are equally applicable to qualified and experienced social workers.Activity 3 Building emotional resilienceAllow about 1 hourIn this activity you will read Enhancing wellbeing in social work students: building resilience in the next generation by Grant and Kinman (2012).Part ARead the first half (pp. 605–12) in which the authors summarise their research and outline the key competencies and factors which produce resilience.As you read, you may find it helpful to look at your notes for Activity 1. Or, if you felt that you needed more support than you were offered, think about what was missing as you read the Grant and Kinman article.Part BNow read the second half of the Grant and Kinman (2012) article (p. 612 onwards) which suggests practical strategies that have the potential to promote resilience and wellbeing. As you read this, notice which strategies sound helpful for you.In the text box provided, make some notes about three techniques that you intend to practise in future. Be realistic about these, and select what is personally meaningful and achievable. You may wish to include a technique that you use already, but try to add at least one new one. Save these into your toolkit.It is likely that by this stage in your career you are already using many skills to support your emotional resilience, even if you haven’t previously thought about this. As new challenges arise during your continuing progression, you will find it useful to carry on developing your toolkit.The techniques that you have selected may reflect and build on coping strategies that you already use. For example, you may already be familiar with the concept of peer coaching, but gained new ideas from the techniques described. On the other hand, you may have picked out strategies that offer a new way of dealing with difficulties. You may not have considered ‘mindfulness’ before now, but liked some of the suggestions for focusing on the present rather than excessively dwelling on past mistakes or worrying about what might happen in the future.If you identified an interest in time management, you may also have thought about this in relation to work-life balance. As an experienced practitioner it is likely that you are already proficient at managing the boundaries between work and home life. You will know that it can be difficult to leave the job behind at the end of the day, and social workers can struggle to maintain a healthy separation between work and home. Commitment to the job is essential for satisfaction, but over-involvement can be detrimental for non-work life, and can even lead to difficulties in maintaining professional boundaries with service users. Over time, this is likely to have a negative effect on your sense of job satisfaction as well as your personal life and wellbeing.You may also have reflected that resilience can vary across a social worker’s professional career. Even though you are likely to become more resilient over time, changes in both organisational and personal circumstances may reduce your resilience. However experienced you are, it will always be important to seek support at such times.Audios: Developing resilienceAudios 1-3 provide some suggestions from Janet Howard, Sophie Terrell and June Sadd about how newly qualified social workers might develop their own emotional resilience.Audio 1: Janet HowardAudio 1: Janet HowardJANET HOWARD: In terms of newly qualified social workers developing their own resilience, I have a particular quote that I enjoy. It is that ‘work life balance does not exist. It is all life and it is how you live it that counts’. So it’s about looking after yourself both personally and professionally, both mentally and physically; take your lunch break, take your holidays, take your time off in lieu, develop good organisational skills, become a team player, use the support around you. I also like the saying that ‘big girls don’t cry’. Well, we do, and it’s okay to cry in supervision. It’s okay to cry about some of the stories we hear. To me, being open to those feelings enables you to build up further resilience. Social work will touch all of your emotions at some time. It’s about developing strategies for yourself in terms of managing your feelings as well. I know ‘mindfulness’ is a buzzword but, someone who practises mindfulness, myself, I do know the benefits of just stopping, giving yourself a gap, giving yourself a minute or two, and trying to be in the now rather than thinking about the hundred and one things you have to do. Audio 2: Sophie TerrillAudio 2: Sophie TerrillSOPHIE TERRILL: I’ve actually found cognitive behavioural therapy approaches really helpful, and it’s something which is brought up in the Learning Guide within the suggested readings. It’s a really helpful way of trying to manage my reactions and stress levels in a situation. I think particularly if you’ve had bad experiences and they’ve involved a particular situation or scenario, and you find yourself in something similar again, that’s really helpful to try and put into perspective what is fact and what is coming from your feelings. So, what maybe anxieties and worries you have going into a situation and how they’re causing you stress, so sometimes to try and step back and say actually, ‘do you know what, it’s a past situation that’s making me feel like that. It’s not worth responding like that in that situation and it causing me further stress’ and that can build your resilience because I think you’ve actually given yourself the time to step back and say, you know, ‘I can respond differently to this actually and there’s a different way for me to manage my stress within this.’ I think using supervision is a really really important tool in managing your stress levels and staying resilient as a social worker. If you’ve got good supervision, it gives you time to step back, look at your cases, see where you’re managing, where you’re perhaps not managing so well. So actually within that supervision, it’s also really important to be honest, which can be quite difficult as a newly qualified social worker where you’re trying, trying to make the best of your opportunities and you’re perhaps trying to give off the impression that you know what you’re doing when you don’t feel like that all the time, but it’s really important to be open and honest because if there is something which is causing you real worry, real stress, and you’re finding it’s getting to the point where you are not coping with it anymore, then it is something that you need to take higher and recognising that will help you build resilience and recognise in the future when you get to that point. Audio 3: June SaddAudio 3: June SaddJUNE SADD: I think, to support newly qualified social workers to develop their emotional resilience as practitioners, there are two solutions I think, and one of them is peer support. There need to be opportunities created for newly qualified social workers to meet, to support each other. It’s called peer support. It’s quite a fashionable word ‘peerness’ now but I think it’s really important. So, if time can be set aside and structure set aside whether it’s newly qualified social workers can meet together to discuss and to think through strategies, and I think the other thing is actually that they are offered opportunities – this doesn’t really always fit in with the agency’s agenda – but offer opportunities to meet together in alliances so that they can challenge. But if you can support people to come together in alliances, maybe with others in their profession, maybe with other newly qualified social workers, maybe with people outside the profession, maybe wonderful as it would be alliances with service users, to challenge, then, that would be a wonderful thing, and I think that could promote and help the emotional resilience of newly qualified social workers.

Figure 1 Woman sitting at desk with pen and paperwork Image of woman sitting at desk with pen and paperwork Image of woman sitting at desk with pen and paperwork

Going furtherYou may wish to search online and discover more about one or two of the strategies identified by Grant and Kinman (2012; 2015). For example, journals such as Community Care often publish tips about time management and personal organisation techniques; mindfulness; taking care of your health; or peer support and coaching.

There is no right or wrong way to enhance resilience:one size does not fit all, and different techniques work for different people. Remember the idea of resilience as ‘ordinary magic’ which grows each time you successfully deal with everyday demands. Before moving on, check your understanding of resilience against the summary of resilience skills and techniques in Box 1. You may also wish to use this summary to rate your current development, and add your evaluation to your toolkit.Box 1 Skills and techniques which boost resilienceAccording to Grant and Kinman (2012, 2014) the following competencies are particularly important in enhancing resilience:Emotional intelligenceEmotional intelligence is the ability to motivate oneself and be persistent when faced with frustration; to regulate one’s moods and maintain the ability to think even when distressed; to display empathy and hope. Emotionally intelligent people are said to be flexible, self-confident and co-operative, use coping strategies, and have good problem solving and decision-making abilities.Reflective abilityResearch indicates that the ability to reflect on one’s feelings and beliefs, and the position of others, is associated with having greater resilience to stress. During supervision, expressing and questioning doubts, values and assumptions helps social workers make sense of complex situations. As well as enhancing practice, reflection is thus a valuable self-protective mechanism.EmpathyIt appears that a social worker’s resilience to stress is enhanced by their ability to acknowledge service users’ perspectives, and to show empathetic feelings of warmth, compassion and concern towards others. Research suggests that empathy produces a sense of personal accomplishment and psychological wellbeing in the practitioner. Clear emotional boundaries are also required, however, in order to prevent over-empathising and over-involvement, which is likely to have negative implications for service users and lead to distress and burnout for social workers.Social competencies and social supportResearch findings suggest that social support is one of the most important buffers against stress. It is therefore important for you to identify potential sources of support from your professional and personal networks. The same social skills required for building and maintaining working relationships with service users, carers and other professionals – effective communication, self-confidence and the ability to be assertive – are equally important for developing successful social support networks amongst colleagues, family and friends.Resilience techniques:Grant and Kinman (2012, 2014) discuss the following resilience techniques:enhancing skills in emotional intelligence, reflective practice, social awareness and empathetic skillsstress management techniques such as relaxation and time management skillsreflective thinking skillswriting a reflective diaryusing supervision for reflective practicesocial skillspeer coaching for supportoptimistic explanatory stylescoping skills and flexibilitymindfulness and relaxationcognitive behavioural techniques (CBT).In this section you have enhanced your awareness of the internal and external factors which produce stress. You have also considered the importance of emotional resilience for your own practice, and identified some skills and strategies that could be developed. Towards the end of this course you will be asked to develop an action plan for further learning. By this stage of your learning, you will already be aware that reflection and supervision are important for skill development; they also have the potential to reduce the stressful side effects of emotional labour, and support social workers to manage emotions and build resilience.So far, this course has encouraged you to explore strategies that you can use to develop your emotional resilience at work. The responsibility for protecting social workers’ wellbeing, however, does not rest only with individual practitioners, or even with professional bodies. In the next section you consider the essential role of social work employers and managers in supporting their staff and fostering emotional resilience. You also consider the qualities and skills involved in professional leadership. You are probably developing these skills already: leaders can create or prompt change within social work practice, but they do not have to be in management positions.

The influential Laming Report (Laming, 2003, p. 10) emphasised the need for ‘robust’ and ‘strong’ leadership. The way in which social work is managed and led has a significant impact on outcomes for service users and on the wellbeing and effectiveness of practitioners.What does the word ‘leadership’ mean to you? Perhaps at this stage of your social work career you find it difficult to engage with this concept. A helpful idea is that leadership is not confined to managers, but is also concerned with influencing practice and supporting the development of other people. As a social work student you are expected to develop initial leadership ability. This could be through taking your ideas to supervision; contributing to team building and learning or initiating a constructive dialogue about your concerns. Critical practitioners will continually examine and develop their leadership skills in their work, even when they are not specifically designated as leaders or managers in their organisation.

There is a considerable body of theory and writing about ‘leadership’, ‘management’, and the connections and differences between them. You explore some of these ideas in Activity 4. Developing an ongoing critical awareness of the leadership characteristics of the managers and leaders with whom you work will help your own development.Activity 4 Management and leadershipAllow about 1 hour 30 minutesFor this activity you need to undertake three readings. The first two are short extracts which provide a way in to the topics of management and leadership, introducing some key concepts. The third reading is longer and explores theoretical ideas in greater depth.Read from Practising Social Work in a Complex World :Management and managerialism (Payne, 2009), pp. 143–5 and pp. 153–6Strategic planning and leadership (Payne, 2009), pp.183–4.Then, to gain a deeper understanding of management and leadership theories, read the following book chapter: Leading, managing, caringThis is by Simons and Lomax and appears in Mackian, S. and Simons J. (eds) Leading, Managing, Caring: Understanding Leadership and Management in Health and Social Care , Routledge/Open University.When you have finished reading, in Table 2 illustrate and evaluate the characteristics of any two or more leadership approaches that you have read about, using examples from your own experience. People have different preferences about leadership styles that work well for them. Note the advantages and disadvantages of each model from your own perspective.Table 2 Your answers to Activity 4

Leadership models	Example from own experience	Pros and cons from your perspective
Transformational
Transactional
Situational
Distributed

Now think about the following questions in relation to your place of employment. In what ways do organisational structure and culture impact on the experience of being a social worker or a service user in a practice agency?In terms of your own self-management (personal management) what obligations and responsibilities do you and your manager have? What support do you gain from being part of the organisation?How do power relations within the agency impact on yourself or your colleagues? What are the implications for the service?In the light of these ideas, what can you expect from your manager?This activity should have introduced you to some key ideas in management theory, and prompted you to think about your own relationship to leadership. You may have been a manager yourself or have worked with some inspiring and very competent managers.An organisation’s hierarchical structure and its culture (often implicit) are closely linked with its leadership model. All of these will impact on the experience of being a social worker or a service user in your practice agency. Workplace culture can set the scene for responses to practitioners’ emotions and concerns.In practice, there are overlaps between the theoretical approaches and large organisations do not usually operate according to a single management model; it is likely that you identified a mixed approach on your examples. The transactional model is said to be the most commonly found leadership approach (Pine and Healy, 2007). On the other hand, you may have experienced leaders who take a ‘transformational’ approach, seeking to engage people’s cooperation and commitment. You may have noticed ‘situational’ leaders who can adjust their leadership style to suit different contexts. Perhaps you work in an organisation which takes quite a different view of leadership; in a small team, leadership may be more flexible and organic;or there may be a participatory and collective approach to decision-making. There are similarities between a transformational leadership style and a feminist one (Pine and Healy, 2007); and you may work with particular managers and leaders who adopt a feminist approach in terms of promoting collaboration and sharing power.What can you expect from your manager?

In Activity 5 you explore the idea that leadership can also be demonstrated by people who are not managers, in the sense of influencing the practice of others. Activity 5 Leadership qualities and skills for social workers Allow about 15 minutesPart AWrite two suggestions about how you can contribute to leadership in your workplace.The material you have read so far may have prompted you to identify personal and professional qualities arising from everyday social work practice which – directly or indirectly – help to develop leadership.Part BAudios 4–6 give you a chance to hear June, Sophie and Roseann’s views on how the concepts of leadership and management can help social workers in everyday practice.Audio 4: June SaddAudio 4: June SaddJUNE SADD: If we look at leadership, it’s a word I think, that is misunderstood because, for me, leadership is actually about enabling others, so you are a leader if you can actually facilitate and enable others to actually be part of decision-making, all of those things, so a leader is thought always to be rather like somebody out at the front making all the decisions and I don’t think that’s right. I think the enabling role of a leader is more important. I think social work students need to understand that and practitioners need to be understand that. You are leading if you’re enabling, I think also that the need to develop leadership and management skills because they are managing caseloads. They are managing working with other agencies. They are managing in difficult situations, and so if they were practitioners who weren’t used to being able to think about management and not being helped to do that, I think that would limit them. They would be so task-focused that they would just be filling in forms and, actually, they need to show leadership and management skills to the other professionals. They can be chairing a child-in-need conference. They can be involved in child protection conferences. They can be involved in mental health tribunals, type of work and, actually, they need to be able to show leadership and management in those situations. So, not just working in a little bubble, social work bubble, there’s a wider world out there, and I think actually that leadership skill of enabling can support their work with service users. They can enable people to develop their own thinking, develop their own responsibility, all of those things, develop their solutions, so leadership’s important. Audio 5: Sophie TerrillAudio 5: Sophie TerrillSOPHIE TERRILL: I think there is an expectation that all social workers have leadership skills, and I think it’s important to recognise that you can be a leader without being a manager. Sometimes, if you’ve worked in a team with someone who is particularly good at motivating you and motivating your colleagues, then you can maybe attribute them a leadership role even though they might not be in a manager role, and that’s a really important part for all of us as social workers to remember because we are quite reliant on our colleagues and those around us in sometimes keeping us going through some really difficult situations Audio 6: Roseann ConnollyAudio 6: Roseann ConnollyROSEANN CONNOLLY: There’s a difference between being a manager and a leader. It’s not to say that the two can’t exist in the same person, they can. Being a leader is somebody who promotes and evokes an emotional response almost; that they cultivate you as a person, and you want to emulate them, you want to be like that person, you agree with what their aims are, their ambitions. I think that they’re inspirational. I think that you can learn to be a manager. I think you can learn some leadership skills but some of it is probably innate. Going further: management, leadership and changeYou can find further materials about leadership in the following OpenLearn free course: Groups and teamwork .

Supervision provides a safe environment for critical reflection, challenge and professional support that operates alongside an organisation’s appraisal process. It includes time for reflection on practice issues that arise in the course of everyday work, and can help social workers and their managers to do their jobs more effectively. It enables social workers to develop their capacity to use their experiences to review practice, receive feedback on their performance, build emotional resilience and think reflectively about the relationships they have formed with children, adults and families.

All social workers need the opportunity to reflect on their work in supervision. This is not only needed in times of distress and trauma, but on a regular basis as part of ongoing support and learning. The importance of reflective supervision was highlighted by the Social Work Reform Board in 2010. Subsequently the LGA has published a supervision framework for employers of social workers which you might find useful.By this stage of your social work development, you are almost certainly experienced in using supervision, although you may need to be proactive in ensuring that you get regular professional supervision. Building on this, in Activity 6 you now think about how you currently use supervision as a means of developing emotional resilience. You will also be creating your own checklist of key points that will help you prepare for and be more active in your supervision sessions. Activity 6 How to make the best use of supervision for emotional resilience Allow about 1 hour 15 minutesRead Achieving effective supervision (Kettle, 2015).Kettle reviews the key functions of supervision and explores research findings, different models and approaches. He also explores some dynamics of the supervision process which you may find interesting. Thinking about your own experience of supervision to date, focus on points that strike you as important with regard to developing emotional resilience.Now use the text box provided to create a checklist of actions that will help you prepare for, and be more active in, your current and future supervision sessions. You may wish to share this with your supervisor. In addition, add your checklist to your emotional resilience toolkit.Your checklist should be personalised to your own needs, but perhaps you came up with something similar to the following: Questions to ask in preparation for supervision What has gone really well this week that I am pleased about? Where and how have I excelled?What does this tell me about my strengths?What is the impact of my practice on service users?What have I found difficult in my practice? Where do these difficulties tend to recur? What areas do I feel stuck in?What am I learning about myself?What are my feelings and emotional reactions to cases that I am currently working with? Am I anxious, fearful, or over-confident, or am I proud and satisfied?If I only had to tell my supervisor three things about my practice, what would they be?(Source: Grant and Brewer, 2014, p. 60)Your preparation checklist might have been influenced by what is currently happening in your practice, and aspects of your personal life that might impact on practice. You may also have included points to help you address difficult areas in the supervisory relationship or process. It is seen as good practice to draw up a supervision agreement, setting out mutual expectations. Such agreements often include the commitment to be open about power relations between the practitioner and their supervisor, and set out some principles for how difficulties would be addressed.Phillipson suggests putting ‘emancipatory practice’ on the supervision agenda, to debate issues of social inequality for service users, and to consider how to address and record service users’ unmet needs. Is this something you want to add to your checklist?Supervision provides support with immediate situations, helping social workers to find solutions to problems that initially seem insurmountable. Good supervision is also a developmental process that enables the supervisee to gain insight their own emotional reactions, doubts, assumptions and beliefs: this, in turn, improves their future practice. Reflective supervision can also provide the opportunity to explore wider issues of social justice.Critical reflection and reflective supervision (sometimes known as professional or clinical supervision) act as important protective mechanisms for social workers, enabling them to develop the competencies needed for resilience. Reflective ability is essential for developing emotional literacy: the ability to reflect on thoughts, feelings and beliefs and consider those of others. Supervision has important case management and accountability functions, but these should not overshadow the need for reflective supervision.

Phillipson (2009 in Adams et al., 2009) identifies some of the barriers to reflective supervision: it can be side-lined due to high workloads, or unacknowledged power relations or conflicting perspectives may prevent the creation of a safe environment in which emotional reactions can be explored and contained. Supervisees may not be receptive to feedback, or feel unable or unwilling to disclose emotional feelings for fear of criticism.To help workers and employers be clear about the supervision responsibilities of the agency, the worker and the supervisor, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) has produced a supervision policy. BASW’s policy (2011) reinforces social workers’ professional right to supervision, and sets out key principles that all social workers should:Receive regular, planned, one-to-one, professional supervision from registered and appropriately experienced social workers.Have routine opportunities for peer learning and discussion in the workplace and through professional networks.Develop and maintain the relevant skills, knowledge and understanding to do their job through continuing professional development.A key message emphasised in most supervision guidance is that the practitioner has the right to request satisfactory supervision arrangements; equally, professionals must be proactive and take responsibility within the supervisory relationship. If your access to professional supervision (rather than case management supervision) is limited, you may need to seek out additional or alternative sources of support such as peer or group supervision with others in your team, or other forms of shared learning and reflection. Co-working cases can also provide fruitful opportunities for reflection on differing perspectives and knowledge.

You may wish to search online for examples and guidance about different models of professional supervision, including peer supervision. Try, for example, the Community Care, SCIE and IRISS websites, or search ‘supervision in social work’ on YouTube. Kettle’s (2015) paper (Activity 6) also contains some further reading in the references section.There are many other sources of advice about ensuring successful social work supervision. Your employer or practice educator/assessor may produce guidance or offer suggestions for books and websites. You may also wish to search online for BASW’s supervision policy.In this section you have extended your learning about supervision to consider its benefits for developing emotional resilience, and you have developed some practical ideas for improving your own supervision practice. Grant and Brewer (2014, p. 64) assert that:Organisations have a moral imperative as well as a duty of care to manage the wellbeing of their employees effectively… There is an expectation that employers provide good supportive supervision, and social workers who do not receive the support required for safe effective professional practice need to make their employers aware of this shortfall.Unfortunately the reality of a high-pressure social work office does not always match up to the principles outlined by BASW, and the Community Care journal frequently reports instances where social workers are left unsupported despite high workloads (Schraer, 2016). In some circumstances, you may need to seek reflective (professional) supervision from someone other than your manager or supervisor. Some organisations encourage peer supervision, and some multi-agency teams enable their staff to access external supervision from someone in their own profession.

Before ending your work on this course, take some time to review your Emotional Resilience Toolkit. This is intended to be a practical and realistic set of ideas that you can take into your first qualified social work role. Activity 7 Take stock of your emotional resilience toolkit and create an action plan Allow about 1 hourSpend half an hour reviewing the various documents and ideas that you have collected together in your toolkit folder. If you have forgotten to file anything, now is the time to do it. Re-read what you have written, and see if it still seems practical and realistic.Having reviewed your toolkit, draw up an action plan for emotional resilience. Maybe you have identified skills or strategies that will need further development, so this is a way to start planning how to access guidance or training.You may wish to discuss your toolkit and action plan with your line manager, supervisor or a colleague. Developing and maintaining emotional resilience doesn’t end with becoming qualified, and will continue to be an area of professional development throughout your career.This free course, Supporting and developing resilience in social work , has given you an opportunity to review and develop your emotional resilience skills, through examining processes, structures and strategies which support this.You have been encouraged to take a critical approach to understanding professionalism, and considered the benefits of a strong and positive professional identity to support personal and collective resilience. You also considered the importance of supervision, in enhancing your capacity to work with the emotional challenges of social work.This free course includes adapted extracts from the course Critical Social Work Practice. If you are interested in this subject and want to study formally with us, you may wish to explore other courses we offer in Social work.Social work is an emotionally challenging job and social workers need to develop a repertoire of skills and strategies to enable them to be resilient and provide the best possible service.Regular, reflective supervision supports emotional resilience and professional development: social workers have the right to request it, and they also need to share responsibility through good preparation and being open to discussion and feedback.This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course K315 Social work practice .You may also be interested in the free OpenLearn course Developing career resilience . You can earn a free digital badge on completion of this course.Adams, R., Dominelli, L. and Payne, M. (2009) Practising Social Work in a Complex World, London, Palgrave Macmillan. Beddoe, L., Davys, A. and Adamson, C. (2013) ‘Educating resilient practitioners’, Social Work Education, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 100–117. British Association of Social Workers (BASW) (2011) Supervision Policy, BASW [online]. Available at https://www.basw.co.uk/policies/ (Accessed 15 April 2017). Collins, S. (2007) ‘Social workers, resilience, positive emotions and optimism’, Practice, vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 255–69. Collins, S. (2008) ‘Statutory social workers: stress, job satisfaction, coping, social support and individual differences’, British Journal of Social Work, vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 1173–1193. Collins, S., Coffey, M. and Morris, L. (2010) ‘Social work students: Stress, support and well-being’, British Journal of Social Work, vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 963–82. Community Care (2012) ‘Four in ten social workers say homophobia is ‘problem in the profession’’, CommunityCare [online]. Available at http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2012/07/31/four-in-ten-social-workers-say-homophobia-is-problem-in-the-profession/ (Accessed 15 April 2017). Fairtlough, A., Bernard, C., Fletcher, J. and Ahmet, A. (2014) ‘Black social work students’ experiences of practice learning: understanding differential progression rates’, Journal of Social Work, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 605–624. Garrett, P. M. (2015) ‘Questioning Tales of ‘Ordinary Magic’: ‘Resilience’ and Neo-Liberal Reasoning’ British Journal of Social Work vol.46, no.7, pp. 1909–1925 [Online]. Available at https://bjsw-oxfordjournals-org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/content/early/2015/04/15/bjsw.bcv017.full.pdf+html?sid=67ac9c71-c5b6-4bda-98db-13ff8d6dfbd6 (Accessed 7 June 2017). Gilligan, R. (2009) ‘Promoting positive outcomes for children in need: the assessment of positive factors’, in Horwath, J. (ed) The Child’s World: The Comprehensive Guide to Assessing Children in Need , Second Edition, London, Jessica Kingsley. Grant, L. and Brewer, B. (2014) ‘Critical reflection and reflective supervision’ in L. Grant, and G. Kinman (eds) Developing Resilience for Social Work Practice, London, Palgrave Macmillan. Grant, L. and Kinman, G. (2012) ‘Enhancing wellbeing in social work students: building resilience in the next generation’, Social Work Education, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 605–621. Grant, L. and Kinman, G. (2014) Developing Resilience for Social Work Practice,, London, Palgrave Macmillan. Grant, L. and Kinman, G. (2015) ‘Guide to developing emotional resilience’, Community Care Inform [online]. Available at https://www.iasw.ie/attachments/Guide-to-emotional-resilience-download.pdf (Accessed 15 April 2017). Hillen, P. (2013) Enhancing Outcomes for Black and Minority Ethnic Social Work Students in Scotland , University Of Edinburgh on behalf of the Enhancing Outcomes for BME SW Students in Scotland Steering Group [online]. Available at http://www.iriss.org.uk/sites/default/files/enhancing_outcomes_bme_sw_students_final_report_sept_2013.pdf (Accessed 15 April 2017). HSE (2013) Stress and Psychological Disorders in Great Britain 2013 , London, Stationery Office [online]. Available at http://static.guim.co.uk/ni/1412687972727/stress-1.pdf] (Accessed 24 July 2017). Kettle, M. (2015) Achieving effective supervision, IRISS Insights, No 30 [Online]. Available at http://www.iriss.org.uk/resources/achieving-effective-supervision (Accessed 26 July 2017). Kinman, G., Wray, S. and Strange, C. (2011) ‘Emotional labour, burnout and job satisfaction in UK teachers: the role of workplace social support’, Educational Psychology, vol. 31, no. 7, pp.843–856. Laming, W.H. (2003) The Victoria Climbié Inquiry, Report of an Inquiry, Cm 5730, London, HMSO [online]. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-victoria-climbie-inquiry-report-of-an-inquiry-by-lord-laming (Accessed 26 July 2017). Local Government Association (LGA) (2011) Supervision Framework for employers of social workers [online]. Available at http://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/workforce-and-hr-support/social-workers/social-worker-standards/supervision-framework (Accessed 24 April 2017). Megele, C. (2015) Psychosocial and Relationship-Based Practice, Northwich, Critical Publishing Ltd. McNicoll, A. (2013a) ‘This profession should be challenging prejudice, not telling social workers to hide their sexuality’, Community Care [online]. Available at http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/mental-health/2013/07/this-profession-should-be-challenging-prejudice-not-telling-social-workers-to-hide-their-sexuality/ (Accessed 15 April 2017). Neil, R. (2014) ‘How does child protection work affect social workers?’, The Guardian, 23 July [online]. Available at http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2014/jul/23/child-protection-social-work-social-workers (Accessed 13 May 2017). Pine, B.A. and Healy, L.M. (2007) ‘New leadership for the human services: involving and empowering staff through participatory management’ in Aldgate, J., Healy, L., Barris, M., Pine, B., Rose, W. and Seden, J. (eds) Enhancing Social Work Management Theory and Best Practice from the UK and USA , London, Jessica Kingsley. Schraer, R. (2016) ‘Patchy implementation of AYSE leaves newly qualified social workers facing unprotected caseloads’, Community Care [online]. Available at http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2016/01/27/patchy-implementation-asye-leaves-newly-qualified-social-workers-facing-unprotected-caseloads/ (Accessed 15 April 2017). Simons, J. and Lomaz, H. (2013) Leadership and vision, chapter 3 in K313 Course Reader, Mackian, S. and Simons, J.(eds) Leading Managing Caring: understanding leadership and management in health and social care ,Abingdon,Routledge/Open University Smith, M. (2005) ‘What helps?’ in Smith, M. (ed) Surviving Fears in Health and Social Care: the Terrors of Night and the Arrows of Day , London, Jessica Kingsley. Smith, J. L. and Hollinger-Smith, L. (2015) ‘Savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being in older adults’, Aging & Mental Health, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 192–200. Stalker, C., Mandell, D., Frensch, K., Harvey, C. and Wright, M. (2007) ‘Child welfare workers who are exhausted yet satisfied with their jobs: How do they do it?’ Child & Family Social Work, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 182–91. Weinberg, A. and Murphy, M. (2013) ‘Stress in social Work’ in Worsley, A., Mann, T., Olsen, A. and Mason-Whitehead, E. (eds) Key Concepts in Social Work Practice, London, Sage [online]. Available at http://sk.sagepub.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/books/key-concepts-in-social-work-practice/n56.xml (Accessed 15 April 2017). Webber, M. (2015) ‘Enforce the employer standards to reduce social worker stress’, The Guardian, March 11 [online]. Available at http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2015/03/11/enforce-employer-standards-reduce-social-worker-stress/ (Accessed 24 July 2017). This free course, Supporting and developing resilience in social work , was adapted by Jeanette Copperman from the Open University course K315 Critical Social Work Practice Learning Guide 9, Supporting and developing resilience, authored by Fran Wiles..Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders. If any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources:ImagesCourse image: © istockphoto.com/Aldo MurilloFigure 1: John Birdsall MR/John Birdsall Social Issues Photo Library/Press Association Images/Universal Images GroupSimons and Lomax reading, Figure 3.1: © alexsl/iStockphoto.comSimons and Lomax reading, Figure 3.3: © PictureLake/iStockphoto.comSimons and Lomax reading, Figure 3.5: © Aleksiejwhite/Dreamstime.comSimons and Lomax reading, Figure 3.7: © Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey’s Situational Leadership model, taken from www.business-development-1st.co.ukSimons and Lomax reading, Figure 3.8: © ispyfriend/iStockphoto.comTextActivity 3: Grant, L. and Kinman, G. (2012) ‘Enhancing wellbeing in social work students: building resilience in the next generation’, Social Work Education, vol. 31, no. 5, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.Activity 4: Adams, R.; Dominelli, L. and Payne, M. (2009) Practising Social Work in a Complex World, 2nd edn, Basingstoke, Palgrave MacMillan, reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.Don't miss outIf reading this text has inspired you to learn more, you may be interested in joining the millions of people who discover our free learning resources and qualifications by visiting The Open University – www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses.Copyright © 2016, The Open University

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