info
It is a tough time for social workers in the UK, particularly those responsible for statutory children and families work such as safeguarding and casework to achieve better outcomes for children in care. There is a stressful combination of unfair media portrayal, additional regulation and oversight, practical problems with the ICS, inadequate time for direct contact with clients – and now low pay rises and council budget restrictions as a result of the wider economy.
So what is there in place to offer extra support to these social workers? More 1:1 supervision? More detailed induction and safe practice standards? However important these are, do they build or maintain social workers’ resilience? What is there to promote the good mental health of this valuable workforce? In many parts of the country it is hard and expensive to recruit new social workers or difficult to retain them in practice. What we want to do is to offer operational managers an extra opportunity for their staff to gain some external support and coaching, in a group and individually – actually for them as people, rather than for client case management:
* To take focussed time out be able to put it all in perspective
* To be able to share solutions – to focus on what works for them
* To learn about some new ways to strengthen personal resilience
* To reconnect with personal values and career choice reasons
content
The workshop session takes place over one day, usually between 10.30 and 16.30, where the facilitator uses a variety of approaches to make the group session highly participative, energetic and outcome focused. The best self-care learning content that is presented is limited but essential and is followed up by individual research by participants after the session. It is based on doing a few things well to take care of yourself. On average social workers attending our one day workshop have rated it at 1.6 in a scale from 1 to 5 for delivering its stated outcomes, in which 1.0 would be the highest.
Our offer comprises:
- An expertly-facilitated workshop session with manager-protected time (no calls or internet use)
- The workshop session usually ends with or includes a relaxing lunchtime period and participants go away motivated to do a personal planning task
- The experience and learning are completed individually with an average of 40 minutes of telephone coaching with the facilitator
who
Packages for 12-18 staff are purchased on a bespoke basis by social care agencies in particular by local authority children’s service departments, and independent sector social work agencies working in the same field.
KSL’s support package is invaluable either for organisations that want to overcome social worker retention problems or ones that just want to take best care of their professional staff and realise that there are a few things they can’t always do best through internal training or supervision.
Our regular facilitator for these sessions is Kate Julian. She is not a social worker and won’t get into practice supervision. We only use highly experienced trainers and coaches, who readily engage and energise staff from any background and pitch the sessions and coaching at the optimum level for those participating.
We would be pleased to adapt our programme to meet your particular needs or those of your staff group: Contact us to discuss.
costs
You pay from £145 plus VAT per person for support for between 12 and 18 social workers.*
- One 5 hour expertly facilitated workshop session standard
- Course documentation and references standard
- Half-day follow-up workshop Option 2
- 40 minutes telephone coaching each Option 3
Organisations are encouraged to commission a follow-up option for participants within a few weeks of the end of the workshop session, to sustain a learning.
To commission a package tailored for your organisation or service, please contact us to discuss your options.
*Option 1 standard price for 12-18 social workers in your own venue is £2,610 +VAT
Option 2 package price for 12-18 social workers in your own venue is £3,510 +VAT
Option 3 package price for 12-18 social workers in your own venue is £5,310 +VAT
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