Practitioner Vulnerability in Children and Families Social Work-Identity, Impact and Implications

Utilizing in-depth qualitative interviews, this research article explores the experiences of vulnerability for Social Workers based in children's and families' teams. It discusses how vulnerability manifests and what impact it can have on practice. Social work is a demanding profession; when working with people whose lives are shaped by adversity and disadvantage, practitioners face complex environments fraught with challenges and uncertainty. Intervening in complex family situations regularly involves workers confronting and dealing with their own emotional responses, with feelings of anxiety, fear and distress commonly reported by Social Workers. Subject to these conditions, social work practitioners are charged with keeping vulnerable children safe, yet, as our study shows, workers frequently harbour personal vulnerabilities of their own. Whether these are carried from their past or found in the present, they often reappear, due to being triggered by the work that Social Workers do. In taking an explicit focus on practitioner vulnerability, our study shows another dimension to the emotional world of Social Workers. It reveals vulnerability to be an important component of identity and a powerful influence that needs to be acknowledged and supported to help Social Workers do their jobs safely and effectively. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews, this article explores the experiences of vulnerability for nineteen children and families Social Workers in England and discusses how this emotional state manifests and impacts upon practice. As this study shows, workers frequently harbour personal vulnerabilities that can motivate them in their work and act as an enabler within relationships with service users; these same feelings can also provoke a sense of threat and discomfort, resulting in self-doubt and reduced confidence. Whether carried from the past or housed in the present, feelings of vulnerability often rise to the surface when provoked by routine encounters with clients and the knotty issues that surround them; what is valued by Social Workers encountering such feelings is a sense of validation and recognition. In taking an explicit focus on practitioner vulnerability, this article adds an original contribution to the literature concerning the emotional world of Social Workers. It reveals vulnerability to be an important component of identity and a driver for practice, which needs to be given greater consideration in social work training and employment, arguing that enhanced attention to worker histories, emotional challenges and self-care are not only necessary but also essential for practitioner and client well-being.