Supervision and Complexity in Child Welfare Social Work - PowerPoint Presentation

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Supervision and Complexity in Child Welfare Social Work

- The way you describe complexity – all my cases are like thatHåvard Aaslund (M.A.)Institute of social work and family therapy

Håvard Aaslund

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Outline of

the presentationBackground for the prjoectComplexity

as a theme in child welfare

social

workTheoretical frameworkMethodFindingsAnalysis and feedback

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Background

A post-graduate course in child welfare supervisionInitiated

to give newly educated

social

workers supervision when entering the field

of child

welfare

Backgroud in a white paper about competence in child welfare services of NorwayChild welfare work is seen as one of the most complex areas of social work and welfare services in general (Bakken et al 20014)Still complexity is seldom a theme in literature about supervision

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The conception complex situations in practice can be described as situations where:

roles are unclear and/or newdifferent professions, disciplines or agencies are cooperatingforms of understanding and theoretical paradigms collideconflict and discord occurhelp is supposed to assist families in conflict

theoretical knowledge does not sufficeskills are not learnedsociety interferes with assessment of a specific caseethical dilemmas and problems are not addressed

(Vråle 2014)

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Increased complexity in the child welfare service

From control to welfareHigher demands

on evidenceMore individual

rights

Higher prevalence of psychological problemsHigher

values of

user-participation

More

resistant attidudes towards intervening in the private sphereFrom a principle of biology to a focus on attchment theoryThe best for the children (ethics of conviction vs ethics of responsibility)Increased complexity in childhood (Vetlesen 2012)

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Complicating

factors in the organization‘Native tongues’, habitus, supervision

Beuraucratic written communication

Power

balance

between agencies and professionsDoxa – what is

taken for grantedIndividuell tilpasning

vs

samordning

(Willumsen 2009, Aamodt 2012)FOREDRAGETS TITTEL6

Supervision in child

welfare servicesLack of supervision can lead to

overidentifation in practice or failure to do

appropriate

action(Burns

2009, Chiller og Crisp 2012, Ellet og Millar 2004).A lot of child

welfare workers

will

experience compassion fatigue or burnout in their working life. Qualified supervision is found to be the most important factor for staying in the profession (Burns 2009, Chiller og Crisp 2012, Cicero-Reese og Black 1998, Ellet m.fl. 2006, Zlotnik m.fl. 2005, McFadden m.fl. 2013).Still our experience from the students and a resent master thesis suggest that

there is a lack

of

supervision

amongst

norwegian

child

welfare

workers

.

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Child welfare

context (Ellet et al 2007)PRESENTATION TITLE

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The

professional development of the helper (Rønnestad 1985)

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Development ----------------------------

Stagnation

(increased anxiety

)

5.Integration/

realism

4 Exploring hope3. Confusion/ depression Pseudo-development Premature closing/defensitivity2. Counsciousness of complexity1.Confirmation and enthusiasm

Supervising skills in complex cases

Active listening Containing and withstandingSorting and tidyingNaming and framing(Vråle 2014)FOREDRAGETS TITTEL

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Research method

A qualitative, fenomenological and hermenutic approachA cooperation

between practice,

education

and

researchStrategical sample of experienced child welfare

workersTwo

researchers

with skills and competencies in supervision, changing roles of interviewing and transscribingOne researcher interview one student about a prepared case while the others listenedOne researcher interviewed the students about their reflectionsSession was used as basis for lecture

the next

day

.

Data

was

analyzed

of

both

researchers

in a

three-step

hermentetic

process, with

joint

reflection

sessions in-

between

Findings

were

corresponded

to

participants

for

validity

and

reliability

Findings were structered into 4 thematical headlines

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Roles, rules

and judgement«This case was before ‘Kvello’ This was at the time

we used assessment and judgement

»

[a

popular norwegian scholar in psychology who has provided manuals and

checklists for child

welfare

social workers].PRESENTATION TITLE12

Balancing personal

engagement«The case workers like her [the client] a lot, and she

has always been all alone

.

But

how personally engaged are you supposed

to be, without becoming

unprofessional

»?PRESENTATION TITLE13

Being in the

middle«Being a leader, means I’m getting

further away from the

clients

. I

know the top managers perspectives better than

my emploees, and I know

my co-

worker’s

needs better than my bosses. At the same time I am responible for assisting the clients needs. And there is a contractor I have to facilitate for»PRESENTATION TITLE14

The existensial

loneliness ”This is a case that is hard for me. It keeps grinding all the time”

«I was really worried

,

but

when I met her I was not emotionally accessible. Just thinking. I

thought more about

overtime

and

stuff like that.»«I have 10 employees with 30 cases each. We don’t have time to reflect upon values and attitudes. We just talk case management, so I guess I blame lack of time then.»PRESENTATION TITLE15

Feedback afterwords

«I feel I got sorted the case, even

though we didn’t find

any

solution. Sorted on an ethical level

, not theoretical. The problem became

clearer

while I was talking»«In this case you had to generate a bigger picture, I thought a lot about my own viewpoint»PRESENTATION TITLE16

Points for further

analysis Complexity was not acknowledged as such

by the social workers

or

organizations

Telling the story unaffected by the listener’s views

increases understanding

of

one’s role and possibilities of action.Peer responses (when not advicing or evluating) gave support and ideas for further reflection.Too much focus on checklists and manuals in child welfare services can threaten professional assessement.The student stopped listening when peers started

talking about

what

she

should

have done, or

pointed

out

what

she

did

wrongly.

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Points for further analysis

(cont.) Rigidification – not to overcome but to manage complexity

Stretching polarities rather

than

sorting in boxesDifferent languages on different levels in the organizationIn complex situation we

might become so

determined

on doing the right thing that we don’t do what we could doActive listening and naming and framing, was more important skills than sorting.The word existensial was recurring both in the supervision session and the group feedback. Is there room for an existensial perspective in social work practice?PRESENTATION TITLE18

Student feedback

Students enjoyed beeing part of a ‘research project’Working

with students experiences gave a bottom

-up

perspective

on knowledgeStarting with a practical

situation made students more

motivated

for

listening to lecturesPRESENTATION TITLE19

References

 *Vetlesen, Arne Johan (2012). Bedre beskyttelse av barns utvikling. Etiske og filosofiske vurderinger av praksiser i barnevernet. I: Norges Barnevern nr. 1, 286-94. (8 sider)Vråle, Gry Bruland (2014). Veiledning når det røyner på. Kommende bok.

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