Bouncing back and building up? – A critique of the concept of resilience in relation to social work practitioners and their employing organisations.

Lomax, Robert; Frost, Elizabeth

Abstract

The overall aim of this paper is to critically discuss the findings of a literature review undertaken in 2018 by exploring the concept of resilience and social work. The findings will be illustrated throughout by drawing on examples from current research on retention and staff well-being in rural and urban English local authorities in association with Community Care. The overall conceptual framework for the paper is that of the core significance of relationships and relations-based practices within social work organisations, and between social workers and service users. The well-being of services users is, in part, linked to the well-being and resilience of social work practitioners: high sickness rates and high turnover of staff depletes the consistency, experience, and knowledge base service users are being offered, and shatters solid relationships.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Joint Social Work Education and Research Conference
• Start Date: Sep 9, 2019
• End Date: Sep 10, 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 13, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 13, 2019
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/2993321