Suchergebnisse

Social workers not only help service users, they also help each other, and they know the group as a space through which opportunities to give and receive help multiply. In Italy, the initiative 'Social Workers Helping Each Other' was launched to help practitioners stay resilient and mutually supportive during the COVID-19 pandemic. In these unprecedented and turbulent times, social workers have been called on to face new challenges and new concerns for service users and for themselves. The initiative consisted of online mutual support groups for social workers conducted through a virtual platform. Participants were 45 social workers divided into three groups on the basis of the social workers' area of intervention. The author facilitated the groups, encouraging the development of reciprocal support dynamics typical of self-help and mutual aid groups. Group sessions were very rich in content, and the discussion focused on several topics following the participants' needs. The content analysis revealed that the mutual support conversations among social workers focused on three main categories: practical and organizational; methodological and ethical; and personal and emotional. The groups offered supervision and mutual support based on experiential learning processes. The article presents the rationale, methods and outcomes of the experience. This initiative could inspire the development of online mutual support groups for social workers.

Abstract
The involvement of service users and carers, Experts by Experience (EBE), in social work education at the Catholic University of Milan, Italy, and the University of Dundee, Scotland, is rooted and connected epistemologically and pedagogically. Differences emerge in how these roots are manifest in the models of EBE involvement adopted in the two universities. This article explores these similarities and differences through discussion of the different models of EBE involvement in use at the two European universities, and thus provides a comparative European insight into approaches, experiences and impact of EBE involvement in social work education. The authors contextualise the pedagogy and core values underpinning EBE involvement and introduce the concept of 'inspiring conversations'. The comparative analysis is centred on five areas of EBE involvement in social work education: context and types of involvement; recruitment of EBE; roles and responsibilities of EBE; resource implications; and impact and outcomes of involvement. The article calls for a focus on 'Coherence', 'Prudence' and 'Sustainability' as a foundation for other universities to enhance their social work programmes through cultivating EBE involvement to co-create knowledge to inform future innovative practice.

The idea that social work needs to be concerned with thinking and acting in a more collaborative way with the people in need is common around the world. At the international level, codes of ethics and social work principles inspire practitioners, researchers, and educators in bridging the gap between themselves and people in trouble, commonly known as service users. Beyond a common agreement around such principle, to realize collaborative relationships in practice is a challenge that requires prudence, coherence, and methodology. The Relational social work method supports the practical development of participation, collaboration, and reciprocity. Through concepts and examples, this article aims to describe how service users can assume the role of collaborators in social practice, research, and education.

Italy and Spain have been the most-affected countries in the EU by Covid-19 pandemic. Along with the health, social and economic life of the countries, social work and social work education have been turned upside down. In this essay, the authors reflect on the pandemic's impact on social work education activities through social work students' lenses. Accompanying Italian and Spanish students in reflecting on what they were living both, personally and as citizens during Covid-19 and witnessing how, paradoxically, the pandemic offered new opportunities to make important discoveries about key social work issues.

With cross-cultural perspectives from eight European countries, this book provides much-needed research on migration and social work. Focusing on the experiences and integration of refugees and asylum seekers, the text considers the impact of EU policies on borders and integration, and the rise of racism across European societies.

With cross-cultural perspectives from eight European countries, this book provides much-needed research on migration and social work. Focusing on the experiences and integration of refugees and asylum seekers, the text considers the impact of EU policies on borders and integration, and the rise of racism across European societies.