GAPS - Key Persons
I have worked in social work since 1990, in children's services, adults, mental health and youth offending teams and currently work as an AMHP and hospital social worker. My relationship with social work at times is a challenge, within an environment of increasing reduction of resources, understanding and investment in the services, especially at the more crucial prevention part of the continuum leaves me feeling at times demoralized, tired and in need of a renewed sense of "why, what and for whom", which is why research and therapeutic space to think about issues differently are crucial to practice.
I was introduced to GAPS while attending on of training conferences and have been a member ever since, becoming a trustee in 2022. I am very interested in being part of " supporting practice" within social work, supporting the work with the progression of ideas, evidence based practice and the idea of having a continued supportive creation of space to grow and reflect within practice to respond to the changing economic, structural and geo-political concerns that effect our clients.
Job Titles:
- Co - Editor - Journal of Social Work Practice
Job Titles:
- Co - Editor - Journal of Social Work Practice, Trustee
My interest in Social Work was sparked when studying for a degree in Social Policy as a mature student. I became concerned about the ways in which Social Work was portrayed in the media, and how, in the wake of the death of Victoria Climbié, Child Protection might be shaped by the Public Inquiry report's demands for greater accountability. As I began a Master's and PhD programme, the story of Baby ‘P' was unfolding. My thesis looked at the ways in which Social Workers were called to account for their work through data systems, and how these accounts were interpreted remotely by senior management and auditors. I contrasted these with oral accounts practitioners gave each other during informal peer supervision and daily team meetings.
I have been the Project Co-ordinator at GAPS since 2017. I am really happy to work in an organisation which provides opportunities for social workers to connect and discuss their practice away from the confines of the workplace.
I am currently training in Humanistic Integrative Psychotherapy.
I qualified as a social worker in 1985 after a first degree in English Literature. I worked for 11 years predominantly in the field of adult mental health, before taking up a post at the University of York where I worked for 23 years, leaving my post as Senior Lecturer in Social Work in 2018. I am a registered social worker and member of BASW.
I was introduced to GAPS while studying for my social work degree and have been a member ever since. My primary interest lies in how relationships are shaped through communication, using the lenses of systems theory, neurobiology, and conversation and discourse analysis. I am trained in Agazarian's Systems-Centered® theory and practice (SCT®), which integrates psychodynamic, attachment and systemic theory, and am a Licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner. SCT enables understanding of human systems from the individual through the family, group and team to organisational and political systems, and offers methods for change. I am also part of an international group of social work scholars, DANASWAC (Discourse and Narrative Approaches to Counselling and Social Work), whose members study communication up close. Working with people, not on them, is at the heart of these approaches.
I qualified as a social worker in 1987 after gaining early experience as a residential social worker. Since qualifying I have been employed in a range of social work settings and roles. In recent years I have contributed to teaching on social work programmes at the University of Lincoln, Middlesex University and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. I have recently completed a Professional Doctorate in Social Work with the Tavistock /UEL. My research involves aspects of end of life care and my approach is informed by psychodynamic and systemic thinking.
I am proud to be a registered social worker, a member of BASW and of the Association of Palliative Care Social Workers as well as a member and trustee of GAP's. I firmly believe that social work has a central role to play in the integrated care agenda and that social work values and practice are essential throughout our complex world.
I am committed to GAP's because of the way that it promotes and supports relationship-based practice, offering nourishment and hope to the profession as well as accessibility to those working at the frontline. My vision for GAP's is it that it will continue to thrive and extend its reach.
I qualified in Social Work in 1999, and have worked within a range of statutory settings since then, with children, young people, families and carers. I have also had an interest in Social Work education and training, and am now a Senior Lecturer at UWE, Bristol. A key and constant interest has been how best to work with individual or familial change within the enormity of their environment. Moreover I am interested in how curiosity, criticality and ethical rigour can support good practice against personal, systemic and societal pressures.
When I found GAPs , I found a secure place as a practitioner to think, feel, reflect and challenge. I found committed and inspirational thinkers and practitioners. I found affordable and transformative workshops and conferences. I found a wealth of knowledge and encouragement to write. I gained confidence to use the ‘relationship' more in my practice. I welcome all Social Workers to share our community and to learn and develop with us.
I qualified as a social worker in 2003. My professional identity has always been an important part of how I understand myself, my relationships and my place in the world. I have worked in practice and in social work education and more recently in the policy field. I am interested in the different domains of social work and how methods, understanding and knowledge can be shared, adapted and enhanced across communities of practice.
GAPS is my secure base in a world in flux. It provides a vital connecting space across social work ideas, knowledges and communities. It also, for me, has a political function. This is a politics which does not shy away from complexity, failure or vulnerability. GAPS somehow manages to create spaces and conversations that are both challenging and kind. That's no mean feat and, in my experience of organisations, really quite special. GAPS has enriched my practice and I hope that as a trustee I can give something back.
I qualified as a social worker in 2010 and in social work practice teaching in 2017. Prior to this I completed a degree in Psychology and worked as a practitioner in Action for Children using Solution focused brief practice with families in crises. During my traineeship and post qualifying, I was a practitioner and manager in NSPCC providing social work based therapeutic intervention to victims of Domestic Abuse and to care experienced young people.
I currently work as a Principal Social Work practitioner of Social Work governance and as a trainer in the Learning Development and Governance Team in the WHSC Trust, Northern Ireland. I have a particular interest in therapeutic and relationship based social work, attachment and trauma informed practice, and staff wellbeing. I continue to stay involved with Solution Focused Brief Therapy and contribute to the professional development of social work.
I was introduced to GAPS in 2016 and became a Trustee in 2021. I have found that the community of GAPS provides important opportunities for connection, exchange of ideas, learning and where we can all contribute to the development of Social Work practice. Workshops and discussion forums have facilitated a critical lens through which I can examine Social Work within the challenges and agendas of today's world, an important part of my professional accountability.
I qualified as a Social Worker in 2017. Prior to this I worked in supervised family time and return home interviews. As a child of foster carers, I have had Social Workers in my life since a very young age and vowed to do Social Work better than those Social Workers I met. I am committed to working with children subject to Care Orders. I currently work in a Children in Care Team for a Local Authority.
I am a registered Social Worker and a member of BASW. I have worked across different areas of Social Work including assessment, CIN and CP, children in care and Court work in public law with the Local Authority and private law with CAFCASS.
I have been a member of GAPS since 2018 and became a trustee in 2022. I am very proud to be involved in GAPS. For me, GAPS is an organisation for Social Workers, run by Social Workers and realistic about the world of Social Work.
I qualified as a social worker and probation officer in 1978 and most of my practice experience has been in probation. I have moved between practice, management, in-service training and education, concluding with a lectureship in social work at Kingston University, from which I retired in 2010.
I am committed to relationship-based practice as the heart of social work. As a probation officer, I experienced with dismay probation's shift towards a correctional service within a managerialist practice environment. Through practitioner research and writing, I set out to defend relationship-based practice and chart the shifts in policy, practice and ethics that I witnessed.
I qualified as a social worker in 1988 following a few years as a residential social worker with the RNID and the local authority. I have experience in the areas of child protection, therapeutic work with children and their families at the edge of care, fostering and adoption. I worked with Cafcass for 13 years, and a then as an IRO for 7 years. More recently I've trained as a counsellor for adults and will now build a private practice from home.
When reflecting on my career, I can say that resources have always been scarce but the political climate has become increasingly hostile leaving many practitioners feeling almost as abandoned and disillusioned as the people they are trying to help. Yet, as a more experienced practitioner, I've been encouraged and moved by the great dedication and enthusiasm shown by early-career social workers, many of whom know and value the role of the relationship in social work practice. I believe it is vital to all human services to support and nurture those practitioners and their values.
I joined GAPS as a Trustee in 2010 and have been proud to be part of its great development as an organisation that faces change (politically, socially and ecologically), and continues to support and inspire reflective social workers who want to use the best of themselves to help others.
I have had a long-term interest in and involvement with psychodynamic and other types of psychotherapy and have worked in finance and administration within the voluntary sector for over twenty years.