Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work

A call for social work resistance to the rollback of socially progressive policies

2024-04-21T11:00:00+12:00

Editorial

Whānau Pūkenga—Survive, normalise, flourish: Peer support for Indigenous academic social workers

2023-11-28T06:40:10+13:00

INTRODUCTION: Indigenous and minority groups experiences of barriers in the academy are well documented (Calhoun, 2003; McAllister et al., 2019; Mercier et al., 2011; Walters et al., 2019). Therefore, it is no surprise that Tangata Whenua academics encounter challenges in the Aotearoa New Zealand university setting. There are systems and processes that do not align with Māori worldviews and can be tokenistic. Globally there is a need for decolonisation, growth and inclusion of Indigenous epistemologies, pedagogies and liberatory spaces in the academy (Kensington-Miller & Ratima, 2015; Ruwhiu, 2019; Walters et al., 2019; Zambrana et al., 2015).

APPROACH: In these environments it is essential that Tangata Whenua academics can support each other to flourish through the power of the collective. In 1993, Tangata Whenua academics teaching social work at Massey University formed a peer support group, now recognised as ‘Whānau Pūkenga’. This article focuses on the advent of this peer support model and how it has changed over time. Key issues are discussed that highlight how this model enhances the experiences of Tangata Whenua academics and students to contribute to a robust social work programme. Discussions are framed around the themes survive, normalise and flourish. In this article ‘Māori’ and ‘Tangata Whenua’ have been utilised interchangeably. Tangata Whenua is the preferred term because it acknowledges our Indigenous connection to the whakapapa whenua, whakapapa tangata.

Secondary stressors and counselling within social work practice following disaster

2023-05-05T14:35:35+12:00

INTRODUCTION: This paper is the second of two (Briggs et al., 2023) detailing the outcome of a mixed-method study examining the mental health and wellbeing of a randomised sub-sample of 60 clients who attended the Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust Counselling Service following the earthquake that struck Christchurch on 22 February 2011.

METHODS: This paper focuses on the results from semi-structured interviews with the study participants. Open-ended questions explored: 1) secondary stressors that impacted participant wellbeing; and 2) experiences of counselling at the CCHT.

FINDINGS: The findings highlight several secondary stressors for participants including practical and financial assistance, social contacts, and disrupted employment and education, all of which continued to impact on their wellbeing. The experience of counselling varied with mixed views on its value, the skills of the counsellors, and the benefit of having counselling with a practitioner who had also experienced the traumatic event.

CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the initial counselling was viewed as a positive contributor to the participants’ recovery, however practitioners, including social workers who offer counselling services, must be mindful of shared trauma, demonstrate emotional regulation, and have relevant knowledge and strategies for a range of client interactions. Continuing professional education, such as webinars and involvement in communities of practice on post-disaster social work practice, are recommended so social workers can better understand the longer-term impacts of disasters and equip themselves for future disaster-related practice.

Grace Millane: "She should have been safe here"

2023-12-05T21:21:36+13:00

INTRODUCTION: This research examined how news media framed the prosecution of the murder of Grace Millane and whether it was consistent with journalists’ guidelines for reporting violence against women (VAW). Previous literature on media reporting of VAW has found that victims and perpetrators of VAW were othered to obscure them from the context of the larger social issue that VAW presents and that victims were blamed for their assaults.

APPROACH: Employing a singular case study research design, we conducted a thematic analysis of the documents that reported on the prosecution of the murder of Grace Millane. Some 25 articles were extracted from the Newztext database, an archive of Aotearoa New Zealand newspaper sources. Five themes were generated from the texts and were compared to previous literature about news media reporting on VAW.

CONCLUSIONS: This study concluded that journalist guidelines, although available, do not seem to be widely used. This has led to victim blaming and minimising sexual violence in the news media.

Their Stories, Our History: Mike O’Brien

2024-02-02T11:03:46+13:00

INTRODUCTION: This article reviews the life contribution of Mike O’Brien to the fields of social work education, research, and practice over his 55 years in the field.

APPROACH: Using interviews, publications, and letters of support written for Mike’s Queen’s Service Medal awarded in 2018, a chronological and thematic consideration is provided which demonstrates Mike’s significant contribution in linking teaching, theory, practice, policy, research, and advocacy in making a difference for the children and families of Aotearoa New Zealand.

CONCLUSION: The overriding theme of Mike’s career emerges as a determination to highlight the social work and social policy responsibility to address issues of child poverty at both micro and macro levels.

How well does social work education in Aotearoa New Zealand prepare social workers to work with people claiming welfare benefits and what could be done better?

2023-12-12T08:50:35+13:00

INTRODUCTION: In Aotearoa New Zealand these people have eligibility for a range of welfare benefit entitlements. The Aotearoa New Zealand welfare benefit system has been subject to neoliberal reform and is judgmental, monocultural, punitive and complex. Without advocacy support people are unlikely to access all of their welfare benefit entitlements. It is therefore essential that social workers are highly knowledgeable about the welfare benefit system. This article summarises initial exploratory research that asked the question – how well does social work education in Aotearoa New Zealand prepare social workers to work with people claiming welfare benefits?

RESEARCH METHODS: The research used reflexive thematic analysis. The flexibility of this method allowed for a constructionist epistemology, a critical theoretical perspective and a critical ethnographic methodology. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with recent social work graduates. Each interview included realistic welfare benefit advocacy scenarios.

FINDINGS: The data strongly indicated social work education curricula does not adequately address welfare benefit issues. Consequently social workers are unlikely to competently support people to access all their benefit entitlements. Furthermore, there is a significant gap in the literature regarding this issue. A poverty-aware paradigm and use of realistic welfare benefit advocacy scenarios within social work education is recommended.

Social work formulation: Principles and strategies for mental health social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand

2024-01-21T12:14:16+13:00

INTRODUCTION: Social workers are important members of multidisciplinary mental health teams and formulation is a core skill in mental health practice. However, there is little published guidance about what strong social work formulation looks like. As a group of mental health social workers, including experienced and recent graduates, we identified this discrepancy between the importance of a social work perspective on formulation and the lack of guidance available to us. We propose some key principles for social work formulation in Aotearoa New Zealand. This theoretical article is designed to encourage our mental health social work colleagues, new and experienced, to engage in formulation that is informed by social work values and knowledge.

APPROACH: As a group of mental health social workers, we approached this task with a mix of theory and practice. We conducted a literature review of both social work formulation and Māori formulation, then discussed how these approaches align with the social work knowledge base in Aotearoa New Zealand, social work core competencies, and our experience of mental health practice. From this approach, we identified six key principles for social work formulation in Aotearoa New Zealand.

CONCLUSIONS: Strong social work formulation is bicultural, collaborative, strengths-based, ecological, has a social justice lens and is whānau-inclusive.

The string to my kite: How supervision contributes to the development of a newly qualified social worker’s professional identity

2024-01-26T14:16:03+13:00

INTRODUCTION: A social work professional identity is constructed through a period of education and training, including workplace experience. For students transitioning to professional work post-qualifying, there is a period of significant adjustment, requiring an anchor from which professional identity can continue to develop and grow. The study reported in this article aimed to explore how newly qualified social workers perceived supervision as the string to their kites, anchoring them to their professional foundations.

METHOD: A qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews explored the experiences and views of eight newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) in relation to the continuing construction of their social work identity, the challenges they faced in their transition and adjustment to their new professional status, and the role they regarded supervision had in facilitating this process.

FINDINGS: An analysis of the narratives indicated that the NQSWs regarded supervision as essential in building confidence and professional autonomy and ensuring they remained engaged in the construction, maintenance, and ongoing shaping of their professional identity.

CONCLUSION: For NQSWs to successfully navigate the transition and adjustment from student to professional social worker, frequent and regular access to quality supervision in their first-year post-qualifying was highly valued in supporting safe practice and professional identity development. Ensuring a more intensive approach to supervision in the first year of practice presents both a challenge and an opportunity to social work employers and the regulatory body that sets standards for the social work profession in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Social work and telehealth

2023-09-21T10:32:12+12:00

INTRODUCTION: The Covid-19 pandemic which swept the world in 2020, and the corresponding measures that were adopted in Australia and New Zealand to keep people safe, had a significant impact on health services delivery. While the pandemic led to serious impacts on mental health, financial circumstances and homelessness, for many social workers, the directive to work from home critically affected their ability to deliver services to vulnerable clients needing ongoing support. Telehealth was adopted by many services that had not previously used this mode of service delivery, which enabled social workers to continue to work with clients.

METHOD: Drawing on a narrative review of literature and a mixed method survey of 208 Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand social workers (71% of whom were from New Zealand), this article describes social workers’ experiences in adopting telehealth and their views on how it may continue to be used as a mode of service delivery.

FINDINGS: Social workers note problems such as technology issues, including patchy information and communications technology (ICT) services, particularly in rural areas, and, for some, a necessary reliance on personal equipment; client interactions, including client lack of access to ICT services and equipment; and personal circumstances, including the need to home-school children during the pandemic, and difficulty separating work and personal hours.

CONCLUSIONS: Despite challenges, there was also agreement from many workers that telehealth is a strategy that should be retained because of the benefits for both clients who struggle to attend face-to-face meetings and for workers.

‘They are my tribe’: How a self-organising women’s group built a sisterhood that improved wellbeing and increased social connectedness

2024-01-17T14:53:33+13:00

INTRODUCTION: Drawing from a perspective that integrates elements of both subjective and psychological wellbeing, this research explores the experiences of The Jellies, a self-organising, all-female open water swimming group. The article outlines how the women’s participation in this group created a ‘sisterhood’ that enhanced and maintained their physical, social and emotional health, social connectedness and affinity for natural aquatic environments (‘blue spaces’). This study offers insights into how social workers can act as intermediaries, aiding women in establishing sisterhoods of supportive networks and solidarity.

METHODS: The research employed a thematic analysis to explore the perspectives and experiences of 39 women who belonged to a self-organising, open-water swimming group. Recruitment was through purposeful sampling.

FINDINGS: The research sheds light on the importance of women-only spaces and their contribution to women's overall wellbeing, including fostering a sisterhood of solidarity and mutual support. Swimming provided a context for the women to address their need for physical activity, navigate their emotional landscape and create connections of belonging, support and solidarity. However, culture and gender norms and economic positioning excluded, silenced and marginalised some women from accessing blue spaces.

CONCLUSION: The findings invite social workers to rethink the use of blue spaces as a novel community-building asset and to learn from an organically formed all-women’s swimming group about alternative ways to empower and sustain women’s overall wellbeing. Social workers can gain insight into how women understand and formalise belonging, and how belonging enables, or not, women to navigate their environmental and emotional geographies.

Application of the critical intersections model to social work with young mothers in Aotearoa New Zealand

2022-12-14T15:22:44+13:00

INTRODUCTION: This article examines some of the challenges faced by social workers working with young parents and explores appropriate responses to those challenges. Beddoe and Maidment’s (2009) critical intersections model is utilised to integrate academic curriculum learning with contemporary social work areas. Aspects of working with young parents are discussed in relation to cultural imperatives and critical social theory, intersecting with the therapeutic relationship, which is an essential professional practice skill. The intersection between cultural imperatives and the therapeutic relationship explores social work with young parents who identify as Māori, while the intersection between critical social theory and the therapeutic relationship explores the impact of stigma and discrimination on establishing engagement with young parents.

METHOD: The critical intersections model is applied to the anecdotal practice experience of a social work student on placement at an agency that supports young parents. A composite case study based on practice experience is used to illustrate the critical intersections.

FINDINGS: Demonstrating elements of the therapeutic relationship before receiving consent to engage with a young parent can aid in overcoming the mistrust of helping professionals caused by stigma and discrimination. Establishing a therapeutic relationship with young parents who identify as Māori requires a social worker to have a willingness to learn and respond with cultural humility.

CONCLUSION: The critical intersections model was valuable in exploring the integration of academic curriculum and contemporary social work areas in relation to social work with young parents.

The strengths approach in practice: How it changes lives

2024-04-21T15:02:23+12:00

Review of The strengths approach in practice: How it changes lives by Avril Bellinger & Deidre Ford, Policy Press, Bristol, 2022, ISBN 9781447359715, pp.242, Paperback, $NZD75.

Creative writing for social research: A practical guide

2024-04-21T15:06:07+12:00

Review of Creative writing for social research: A practical guide by R. Phillips & H. Kara, Bristol, Policy Press, 2021, ISBN: 978-1-4473-5598, pp.211. Paperback $NZD91

Governing families: Problematising technologies in social welfare and criminal justice

2024-04-21T15:10:18+12:00

Review of Governing families: Problematising technologies in social welfare and criminal justice by Rosalind Edwards & Pamela Ugwudike, Routledge, 2023. ISBN 978-0-367-53072-3, pp.121, Hardback, $106, (through www.routledge.com).

The Politics of Children’s Rights and Representation

2024-04-21T15:13:04+12:00

Review of The Politics of Children’s Rights and Representation, by Bengt Sandin, Jonathan Josefsson, Karl Hanson & Sarada Balagopalan (Eds.) Palgrave Macmillan, Switzerland, 2023, ISBN 978-3-031-04479-3, pp.337, Hardback, Open Access.

Ongoing benefits of a knowledge- exchange project codesigned with students

2023-09-18T02:08:34+12:00

While the innovative practicum project described in this paper was an emergency measure, it continues to enhance our pedagogy for preparing social work students for placement. The project was designed collaboratively with postgraduate students when their imminent placements in statutory agencies were indefinitely delayed by Aotearoa New Zealand’s first Covid-19 lockdown, beginning late March 2020 and extending for 7 weeks. The prevailing uncertainty was stressful for our students, who needed to complete placement for degree completion and professional registration. As the staff team responsible for their practicum, we needed to quickly devise a robust alternative learning experience. This endeavour evolved into a codesigned, collegial knowledge-exchange project combining academic knowledge and practice wisdom gathered through students’ consultation with academic and practice experts. The project’s key components were focussed analysis of practice research, interviews with experienced social workers, production of a succinct “practice briefing”, application of knowledge gained to a “real life” practice story, and sharing accumulated knowledge. From a pedagogical perspective, we highlight our learning about promoting professional communication to underpin collaborative work, and the usefulness of intensive orientation to practice context before students begin placement.

The Oranga Tamariki Practice Framework - Setting out, explaining, and reinforcing our practice approach.

2023-10-02T17:50:16+13:00

Practice frameworks are a well-established mechanism for practice reform and a growing body of literature attests to this promise. Surprisingly then, little is known about how they are intended to, or indeed, work on the ground. This practice note introduces Oranga Tamariki’s new practice framework and explains how this sets out and explains our new practice approach—driving a needed paradigm shift away from risk saturation toward ecological understandings of oranga (wellbeing), promoting te ao Māori principles and supported by the social work discipline, to benefit all tamariki, children, whānau and families we work with. We are proudly (re)positioning and promoting social work in, and for, Aotearoa New Zealand’s child welfare statutory offer. This is just and right for families, whānau and their tamariki. This practice note highlights how the practice framework promotes the ANZASW codes of ethics and SWRB practice competencies while enabling and driving sound and ethical professional practice. Consequently, social work practice is then delivered, experienced, led and quality assured based on the discipline of social work and not on risk-aversive reactions to practice tragedies or the volumes of technocratic policies and procedures that too quickly become outdated.

LOVE—A tool for making ethical decisions

2024-01-26T14:27:21+13:00

Social workers regularly engage in astoundingly complex ethical dilemmas. Castro-Atwater and Hohnbaum (2015) even advocated that understanding a professional body’s code of ethics is just a necessary first step and is not enough, by itself, to equip practitioners to make ethical decisions. The key outcome of this practice note is to share a practical supervision tool, LOVE, that arose from working (as a supervisor, trainer, and professional body ethics panel member) alongside practitioners to respond to ethical dilemmas and complaints. The LOVE tool will help safeguard social workers while they navigate ethical dilemmas by assisting them to systematically consider different lenses (legal requirements, organisational requirements, values, and ethical codes) which will help mitigate the risk of them overlooking something of significance.