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
Tag: relationships
Joining the dots… letting love (back) in to social care
“We need to reclaim the concept of love, not as an abstract, all embracing, fantasy but as a set of ethics, principles, values and behaviours. A love that is justice in action…”Bell Hooks [1] As I suggested in my previous blog, we’ve spent so long focusing on the shadows of social care that we seem … Continue reading Joining the dots… letting love (back) in to social care
Love
“It’s a brave professional who talks about love and social care in the same sentence…”Alex Fox [1] We don’t talk much about love in social care. We focus instead on the shadows. Safeguarding. Abuse. Neglect. Risk. Threat. Danger. And while we talk an awful lot about needs, love is rarely on the list. While Rob … Continue reading Love
Words that make me go hmmm: Customer
I suggested at work recently that ‘customers’ wasn’t the right word to use to describe people we support in adult social care. The colleagues I was with had a different view - extolling the virtues of the customer experience, customer service and the benefits of viewing colleagues as internal customers, and the conversation moved on. … Continue reading Words that make me go hmmm: Customer
Rewriting social care 