“Good social workers will carefully check themselves to make sure that… they aren’t becoming street-level bureaucrats (Lipsky 2010) whose actions to protect people involve taking them away from the very thing that we all strive for: a place where they feel settled, accepted, wanted and loved – a place where they belong.” Elaine James, Rob … Continue reading Belonging
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Lasting change
“Despite the urgency, lasting change takes much longer than we appreciate. Darn. One way to counteract our impatience is to shift from ‘Chronos’ to ‘Kairos’ time. Chronos time is sequential time, measured by the clock and which seems to be speeding up. Kairos time bends and stretches, sometimes it even seems to stand still. Chronos … Continue reading Lasting change
Time for change: the language of social care reform
“Change is needed, and it is needed now, to protect some of the most vulnerable members of society.” Care England[1] In his final speech as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson listed “reforming social care” among his achievements[2], a claim quickly and widely disputed and derided. ‘Social care reform’ means different things to different people, and “the … Continue reading Time for change: the language of social care reform
Me time
“…she lived for it. She counted down the days to it. And when she returned it was abundantly clear to those around her – she had loved it… Very few of us would choose it. But crucially, when it comes to what makes people tick, it’s an example of how unique we are, how tailored … Continue reading Me time
Kairos time
“Care is not an activity that can happen by the clock… Care belongs in the world of Kairos time (measured by flow and connection) as opposed to Chronos time (the industrial time measured by minutes and deadlines). Care is not the same as cure – yet it so often seems we have confused these categories. … Continue reading Kairos time
Chronos time
“Care is not an activity that can happen by the clock… Care belongs in the world of Kairos time (measured by flow and connection) as opposed to Chronos time (the industrial time measured by minutes and deadlines). Care is not the same as cure – yet it so often seems we have confused these categories. … Continue reading Chronos time
Just words
"Reading my SW files a few years ago and seeing me described as manipulative by a teacher I'd trusted shattered me. That teacher has since passed (while I was still at the school) and I'd grieved her for years. Was tough to take and people think it's just words. It's not. I was 14”@Careleaver123 [1] … Continue reading Just words
Beyond blame
As I discussed in my previous blog post, the language of social care is filled with words that blame people seeking and drawing on support. ‘Hard to reach’. ‘Refuses to engage’. ‘Frequent flyers’. ‘Carer breakdown’. ‘Bed blockers’. ‘Challenging behaviour’. ‘Non-compliant’. ‘Complex’. ‘Difficult’. ‘Vulnerable’. And many more. These terms don’t just feature in our conversations and … Continue reading Beyond blame
Words that blame
The language of social care is filled with words that blame people seeking and drawing on support. Our so called ‘strengths-based’ practice drips with deficit-based terms that stigmatise people as problems. Our ‘person-centred’ approaches are infused with phrases that marginalise. In this blog post I’ll explore ten widely used blaming words and phrases, then in … Continue reading Words that blame
Missing words
“Where has the spirit gone in the social services? For too long we have suppressed words of spirit and restricted our speech to the lifeless jargon of our professions.” Gord Tulloch and Sarah Schulman [1] There’s a beautiful book called ‘The lost words’ [2]. The book was created in response to the removal of everyday … Continue reading Missing words
Rewriting social care 