New commitment to social work justice

Volume 7 Number 1 January 10 - February 13 2011

The new head of Social Work, Professor Marie Connolly, in a career that has taken her to the highest levels of her profession and government, remains more committed than ever to front line social workers, a creative approach and social justice. Shane Cahill reports.

The delight, and more than a little sense of mischief, is written all over her face as Head of Social Work, Professor Marie Connolly, recalls a successful family conference in her native New Zealand.

A group of youthful miscreants had stolen a truck and they found themselves facing not only their families but also the truck owners as part of a restorative justice practice pioneered in New Zealand and later adopted across the globe as a way of working positively with young people who offend against the law.

“They ended sitting up with the truckies and working with them,” she recalls of the young people who had heard first hand of the financial hardship their escapade had caused the owners who in turn offered them a chance to pay back in kind.

“It’s a lovely example of how you can intervene in ways that are creative and different,” she says.

“So instead of having a court record, becoming deeply embedded in the court system and being brought together with other young people in trouble, they sat with the truckies and learned what it’s like to be a hard-working truck driver.

“This happens when we think outside the square, with an edge of creativity that asks ‘What could happen here and what would work?’ It takes things to a different place.”

In a career that has spanned the spectrum of social work beginning in the community and courts, as an adviser and consultant, in academia as a widely published leader in child and family welfare and in government as Chief Social Worker in the New Zealand Ministry of Social Development, Professor Connolly is unshakeable in her belief that social work positively changes lives. It is the relationship between the social worker and people they work with that is so critical to positive change.

“Supporting this relationship needs to be a priority in all areas of service delivery. In the end it’s what happens at the front line that counts,” she says.

A renewed commitment to social justice is also important in social work.

“Social justice rests at the heart of social work and yet over the past decade or so this has been less obvious,” Professor Connolly says.

“Our roots have very much been in advocacy for disadvantaged people but over the decade of the 1990s in particular there has been considerable pressure in society. We have seen a greater medicalisation of people, and a domination of managerialism that has impacted negatively on practice and the clients of social work. That fundamental push to support social justice, participation and human rights has been less obvious within the profession.

“In the next decade I think we will see a refocus on these issues and the consequential strengthening of practices and services with rights-based ideas.”

Despite the contemporary challenges impacting upon the critical frontline relationship between social workers and families, Professor Connolly detects a crucial shift in perspective and power.

“We’ve shifted in social work over time from notions of the expert knowing all the answers and making all the decisions, to practices that support community empowerment and the empowerment of people to find their own solutions to the troubles they face. Contemporary social work is about supporting solutions that work for people.

“Professions evolve and change and in the coming decades I expect that we will confront even more complex and challenging practice environments. As we face the challenges ahead I hope that social workers will continue to explore innovative ways to make a difference and advocate for people needing help.

”It’s this commitment to advocacy and social justice that distinguishes our profession.”

For Professor Connolly, Social Work is a discipline as broad and complex as society itself and represented in every corner of it, constantly responding to new and unanticipated developments.

“Social work operates across a broad range of activities. We have, for example, Professor Lou Harms working in the bushfires area to support community resilience in the face of disaster,” she says.

“It’s all about building and strengthening communities and the people within them.”

Social work at the University of Melbourne has a long and distinguished history. Since the first students graduated 70 years ago, generations of students have accessed and contributed to the richness of the teaching, learning and research environment. Many alumni have gone on to assume leadership positions across the broader community and current students continue to provide disciplinary leadership.

The school of Social Work celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2011 and next month a colloquium featuring leading Australian and international experts will reflect on social work past, present and future. It is an opportunity for alumni and friends of Melbourne to engage with professional colleagues, build new connections, reflect on the nature of social work leadership, and hear about new and innovative research and practice.

Professor Connolly believes the profession’s willingness to engage in critical self-reflection is one of its major strengths.

“I think it’s a good thing to have a vibrant challenging profession that takes a look at itself and reflects on how we can improve practice,” she says.

“This element of self-reflection in our profession is a very healthy thing and I’m looking forward to hearing debates at the 70th colloquium in February.”

But in a profession that is a magnet for headlines – all too often negative – Professor Connolly believes that it is of critical importance that we promote the positive side of the profession.

“Being negatively in the media limelight brings with it a whole set of unintended consequences,” she says.

“In my experience of child protection work I’ve seen publicity over one child’s experience impact negatively on services generally for children. Social workers can become more cautious in managing risk when they fear being pilloried in the media.

“And yet it is so important that workers are supported to use their professional judgment to make decisions that will be in the best interests of children,” Professor Connolly says.

“Decisions relating to the care and protection of children are some of the hardest decisions that are made in practice. It is not an exact science. It involves working with uncertainty and trying to navigate competing demands and expectations. It’s hard to imagine a more complex decision-making environment.

“I think we often underestimate the power of negative media reporting on practice. It influences the way people work with children and families on a daily basis.

Professor Connolly believes that while relatively few practitioners actually experience negative coverage, the anticipation of it influences what they do.

“I think it’s time we promoted the positive and innovative work that social workers do in all areas of practice – whether they are working with troubled children, young people and families, in areas of health and mental health with people experiencing trauma in their lives, or whether they are working in communities confronting homelessness and alienation.

“I’d like to think that the media, and in particular our local papers, would want to hear about the unsung heroes of social work.”

The Social Work Department at the University of Melbourne encourages alumni and friends of the Social Work to come to the colloquium in February. For the full colloquium program:
/    http://www.socialwork.unimelb.edu.au/about_us/reflections_and_directions...