SOCIAL WORK STORIES
Part of our Re-imagining process for social workers involves dwelling on how narratives can shape the meaning of a profession - both internally and externally, in the public's mind and the practitioners. In the midst of examining how the news media, film, television, drama and art represent social work, we give social workers themselves a change to tell their 'definitive social work story'. The scenario we paint is a familiar one: imagine you're at a party, or a pub, and you have five minutes to tell an interested listener what social work means. It can be funny/sad, witty/honest, factual or emotional, personal or observed - or a mix of all these, and none.

All the stories below have been anonymised from their original telling, with the consent of their tellers. We will be posting more stories from sessions as they proceed. But if you'd like to add your definitive story, please contact us at info@newintegrity.org, and we'll begin the process.

These stories open in a pop-up window:

• Meeting People On Their Own Terms
• Going Where No-One Else Will Go
• So Young
• We Get To Know People For What They Really Are
• The Social Worker Could Not See The Child Separated From The Mother
• A Win-Win Situation
• I Knew You'd Come Back For Me
• Dependency Is All They Have
• Life's Undesirables
• Dealing With The Person Not The Case
• Incredible Level Of Communication Required
• Committed To Speaking Up For Those With No Voice
• We Hold The History Of Peoples' Lives. We Are The Guardians Of Identity
• We Are Life Long Educators At All Levels
• We Have Deep Relationships, Emotional Engagement, But Remain Non-Attached
• We Take Incredible Risks And Put Ourselves In Constant Danger.
• We Never Give Up. We Have A Duty To Investigate. We Have A Commitment To Investigation.
• We Work In The Midst Of Chaos With Constant Emotional Distress And Psychological Duress
• We Are Endlessly Criticised And Verbally Abused. In The End This Becomes The Source Of Our Good Humor.
• It's Impossible To Find Concrete Evidence Of Emotional Abuse

This is often the most liberating and illuminating part of the Re-imagining process. What gets evoked, every time, is a complex vision of both the potential and the difficulties of social work practice. We believe that the more these kinds of stories from social work can be heard in the public realm - with all the provisos about confidentiality properly respected - then the greater the level of understanding of the profession will result. (This is already happening in some areas of the media. See for example, the Guardian's Public Voices series, particularly that on Child Protection).