Social Work, Social Policy and Older People
Thinking Through Social Work titles in the series |
Evidence-based Practice in Social Work | ISBN 978 1 84445 611 6 |
Social Work, Social Policy, and Older People | ISBN 978 1 84445 349 8 |
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Social Work, Social Policy and Older People
Edited by
ROBERT JOHNS
First published in 2011 by Learning Matters Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Learning Matters.
2011 Robert Johns
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978 1 84445 349 8
This book is also available in the following ebook formats:
Adobe ebook ISBN: 9781844457618
EPUB ebook ISBN: 9781844457601
Kindle ISBN: 9780857250216
The right of Robert Johns to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Contents
Robert Johns
Robert Johns
Robert Johns
Robert Johns
Dawn Ludick and Robert Johns
Nicolette Wade and Robert Johns
Robert Johns
Contributors
Robert Johns
Robert Johns leads the social work education team at the University of East London, where he is principal lecturer. He has over 25 years experience of statutory social work across the full range: youth justice, childcare, mental health, vulnerable adults and also as an independent children's guardian. With degree qualifications in social policy, law and social work, he has taught applied social work law and social policy in higher education since 1986 on both professional qualifying and post-qualifying (PQ) courses. He was a Teacher Fellow at De Montfort University and until recently led the qualifying MA in Social Work taught jointly with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. At PQ level he has been involved in teaching a range of programmes, including Best Interest Assessor, Approved Mental Health Professional and Specialist Level Adult Care.
Dawn Ludick
Dawn Ludick is the Programme Leader for the qualifying MA in Social Work at the University of East London, where she is a senior lecturer. She has over 20 years experience in statutory, voluntary sector and therapeutic work with children and their families both in South Africa and the UK, with qualifications that include a Masters in clinical social work, management qualifications, and D.Phil. in social work.
Before joining the University of East London Docklands, she worked as a manager in the voluntary sector. She teaches on various modules on the Social Work MA run in collaboration with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. She is a member of the external independent evaluation team for a safeguarding initiative concerning issues of spirit possession or witchcraft funded by the City Parochial Foundation Trust for London. Her particular interests are in gestalt psychotherapy and play therapy.
Nicolette Wade
Nicolette Wade is Course Leader for the BSc Social Work programme at the Bedford campus of the University of Bedfordshire and is a principal lecturer. Since qualifying in 1983, she has worked in a number of statutory settings covering a broad range of social work responsibilities. From the mid-1990s until 2001 she was responsible for development of services for older people with both dementia and functional mental health problems in a semi-rural area of the country. This work was particularly informed by the person-centred approach developed by the late Professor Tom Kitwood. Nicolette has taught and contributed towards the development of a range of social work programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, including PQ, since 1999. Specialisms include adult services, social policy and social work theory. Research interests focus on person-centred approaches and social work and spirituality.
Acknowledgements
The editor would like to acknowledge with thanks the unstinting support of Kate Lodge and Luke Block from Learning Matters in the production of this book. This book took rather longer than intended to put in its appearance, and their unswerving commitment and patience were greatly appreciated.
Also heartfelt thanks to the two major contributors to this volume: Dawn Ludick and Nicolette Wade. Dawn conducted a great deal of research and preparation for Chapter 5, familiarising herself with the unfamiliar, and setting out on a new path of producing material for publication. Nicolette offered the benefit of her years of experience in work with older people, together with her accumulated knowledge of related social work practice and social policy, most especially her deep insights into personalisation. Nicolette was responsible for much of Chapter 6 and without her this book would simply not have been possible.
Producing a long list of people to whom the author feels indebted is a temptation to be avoided, but coming to the end of a full-time career in social work education it would be remiss of me not to take the opportunity to thank all my social work education colleagues at De Montfort University and latterly at the University of East London.
Your encouragement and comradeship over the years have been invaluable. I am also indebted to a significant number of social work service users from whom I have learned a great deal, and who have unwittingly offered their experiences as the basis on which the fictitious case studies in this book have been devised.
Finally, special thanks to Tina whose support has been priceless beyond measure. Forty years together and now looking forward to being older people ourselves.
Robert Johns
Introduction
This book is about how social work and social policy connect
This book introduces you to the academic discipline of social policy by applying it to social work with older people. It demonstrates how social policy can help us understand the position of older people in Britain today, and also helps us to understand why social work practice takes the form that it does. This book will therefore be of interest both to social policy and social work students. It is essential for social work students to know about social policy in order to be effective practitioners: social policy provides some of the core knowledge social workers need, but equally importantly, a study of social policy enables you as a student to acquire and develop some of the essential skills you need. It will almost certainly help you demonstrate the acquisition of knowledge and attainment of skills required by Subject Benchmarks and National Occupational Standards. Academically, a study of social policy helps to develop higher-order skills with an emphasis on demonstrating understanding and application of ideas, evaluating and assessing policy changes and naturally enough, with this being a social work book relating all of this to a practice context. Here the practice context is work with older people, and the aim is that by applying a social policy approach, you will as a practitioner deepen your understanding of the position of older people in contemporary society and be able to reflect on, and respond to, different kinds of needs which you will encounter.
