Cecilia Heule
Lecturer | Ph D
Gap-mending niches in institutionalized social work practice and education
Author
Summary, in English
The gap-mending concept has been developed within the network of PowerUs
(www.powerus.eu). It entails a constant reflection upon what causes and mends gaps between social workers and service users in social work practice, education and research. Within the PowerUs network gap-mending practices have been developed where more reciprocal relationships are aimed for, in joint development projects.
The principles of these practices are similar to those found in research about good practice in recovery of mental illness, and in - so called - strength based social work, that emphasizes the importance of enabling niches, rather than an emphasis on categorizing and diagnosing personal problems.
In this presentation we want to discuss the result of a study, where 150 former students have been interviewed a few years after having taken an experimental course – the Mobilization course – in the School of Social Work, Lund University. The course has been given since 2005 and gives the opportunity for two student groups, social work students and students recruited in service user organizations to learn from each other and develop projects of good practice together. In the study we wanted to find out how the course had affected them in their future carriers, and what possibilities or obstacles they experienced in developing gap-mending practices.
(www.powerus.eu). It entails a constant reflection upon what causes and mends gaps between social workers and service users in social work practice, education and research. Within the PowerUs network gap-mending practices have been developed where more reciprocal relationships are aimed for, in joint development projects.
The principles of these practices are similar to those found in research about good practice in recovery of mental illness, and in - so called - strength based social work, that emphasizes the importance of enabling niches, rather than an emphasis on categorizing and diagnosing personal problems.
In this presentation we want to discuss the result of a study, where 150 former students have been interviewed a few years after having taken an experimental course – the Mobilization course – in the School of Social Work, Lund University. The course has been given since 2005 and gives the opportunity for two student groups, social work students and students recruited in service user organizations to learn from each other and develop projects of good practice together. In the study we wanted to find out how the course had affected them in their future carriers, and what possibilities or obstacles they experienced in developing gap-mending practices.
Department/s
- School of Social Work
Publishing year
2018-11
Language
English
Document type
Conference paper: abstract
Topic
- Social Work
Conference name
FORSA/NOUSA: Nordic Social Work Conference
Conference date
2018-11-21 - 2018-11-23
Conference place
Helsinki, Finland
Status
Published