Social Work - Self Care Led by Siobhan Mclean

Social workers are really good at building on individual identity and we use a range of techniques to support people to build their self-esteem and to ensure that their individuality is responded to. However we are not so good at looking at our own professional identity. There are also issues about stress and compassion fatigue in social work and practitioners always benefit from exploring the development of their resilience. In these sessions, which Siobhan particularly enjoys facilitating, the following issues can be explored: • The nature of social work • What being a social worker is like • The what? why? and how? of social work practice • Exploring a practitioner’s core • Creativity in social work practice • Resilience and self-care • International perspectives: seeing the bigger picture In this session Siobhan will take a guided reflection approach to enable participants to explore their own professional identity as a social worker and how this can be challenged when employed within the NHS. The session will explore new ways of working and the risks that these can pose to professionals in terms of work-related stress and moral injury. The session will support people to consider what these mean for their own professional resilience and how this links to professional identity.