Our Seminars

Synopsis

This presentation will begin with an account of social work's extensive knowledge and skills base and how this can be ordered to make theory and practice more accessible. Two handouts will be made available. The first refers to a Practice Framework of Knowledge, Skills and Values (knowing 'what') and how this conceptual 'map' links to a second handout, A Lexicon of 80 Skills and Interventions (knowing 'how'), which gives a list of the generalist skills regularly used in UK social work. Knowing what refers to knowledge. A key feature of knowledge involves attempting to understand what is happening and why, and what role we can play to address the concern presented. Knowing how refers to the skills needed to draw on this understanding to bring about change or desired outcomes. To link knowing what and knowing how more effectively, we need to look at how we communicate what we know and the part played by nonverbal forms of communication within this process. This highlights the importance of the relationships we create in social work and how relationship-based practice shapes the way we communicate with others. It states that how we communicate is as important as what we communicate and offers examples from practice to support this perspective.

Seminar Date: 24 March 2017

Seminar Time: 3pm - 5pm (Registration starts at 2.30pm)

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Dr Pamela Trevithick is the Visiting Professor in Social Work at Buckinghamshire New University and a part-time coordinator of GAPS - a membership organisation set up to promote therapeutic and relationship-based practice, and the importance of psychodynamic and systemic thinking in social work. She is the author of the best-selling 3rd edition text Social Work Skills and Knowledge: A Practice Handbook (2012) published by Open University Press. This book is widely recommended on social work programmes in the UK and abroad, and a text that has been translated into six languages: Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, Korean, Serbian - with a special edition published by Rawat Publications for the Indian market. Dr Trevithick lectures extensively and is a regular speaker at conferences in the UK, Europe and Australia on a range of subjects including: the knowledge and skills base of social work; the importance of relationship-based practice and the concept 'use of self'; the part played by defences and defensiveness in practice; and the impact of managerialism on social work. She is a feminist and human rights activist.