Just Another Do Gooder

Podcast episode 27: supervision, ethics and social justice- a conversation with supervisor and consultant, Deanne Dale

In this episode I talk with Deanne Dale about trends in clinical supervision and her supervision practice.podcts whit text psd [http://vittoriocintio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/podcts-whit-text-psd2-150x150.jpeg] [http://vittoriocintio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/podcts-whit-text-psd2.jpeg] In a lengthy career Deanne has worked as a frontline clinician, team leader, senior manager, consultant and educator in a range of NSW government and non-government organisations that respond to inter-personal violence, including child protection, sexual assault, domestic violence and workplace abuse. Over the past 20 years Deanne has increasingly focussed on providing clinical supervision to social workers and other allied health professionals working in inter-personal violence services. She now runs an independent practice ‘Social Work Wise’www.socialworkwise.com [http://www.socialworkwise.com/] offering clinical supervision to frontline workers as well as management coaching, training, policy consultancy and leadership mentoring. While Deanne has worked within current evidence based theoretical frameworks she is most interested in approaches that stay close to the foundational ethics of social work, including social justice ‘doing’, and respect for the inherent integrity and worth of each person. Deanne also does some teaching in Social Work Bachelors and Masters qualifying courses at a range of universities in NSW- as well as supervising students in field education. Deanne’s approach to supervision, mentoring and coaching is based on developing a safe space in which to critically reflect on practice challenges and struggles. While she offers encouragement and support to assist workers to develop preferred professional identities, she does not shy away from candid, challenging and thought-provoking conversations. She is aware that each relationship is unique- and so tailors her style to her client’s needs, preferences, hopes and intentions. Our conversation touches on Deanne’s social work career and her preferred approaches to supervision. We discuss her commitment to response based practice and the inspiration she find in the work of Vikki Reynolds. We also talk about the importance of separating clinical supervision from operational management and- importantly- how this relates to the discourse about burnout. Too often the talk around burnout involves the social worker being blamed for not looking after themselves -or for allowing a client’s distress to overwhelm them. Deanne’s preferred approach is one of worker solidarity with a collective ethic of social justice. We need to connect with our communities for spiritual sustenance and our shared hopes for a fairer world. Deanne provided the following links which will be of interest to listeners. Response based practice: https://www.responsebasedpractice.com/ [https://www.responsebasedpractice.com/](Allan Wade, Linda Coates, Cathy Richardson) https://vikkireynolds.ca/ [https://vikkireynolds.ca/](Vikki Reynolds) https://www.insightexchange.net/ [https://www.insightexchange.net/](Domestic Violence Service management) Narrative Therapy https://dulwichcentre.com.au/ [https://dulwichcentre.com.au/] and Johnella Bird https://www.johnellabird.nz/ [https://www.johnellabird.nz/]

Podcast episode 26: identity, inequality and LGBT politics- a conversation with social worker and LGBT rights leader Jack Whitney

podcts whit text psd [http://vittoriocintio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/podcts-whit-text-psd2-150x150.jpeg] [http://vittoriocintio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/podcts-whit-text-psd2.jpeg]In this episode I talk with Jack Whitney, an emerging social work leader, and current convenor of the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby. Jack graduated with first class honours from the University of Sydney in 2018. Whilst studying he was also elected onto the University of Sydney Union Board. Since graduating, Jack has worked in Health, and currently for a progressive policy think tank. In our conversation we explore the intersection of the personal and the political in gay politics. Jack also reflects on the challenges of coming out in year eleven of high school, its impact on friends and family, and his subsequent evolution as a Labor Party activist. We discuss the current campaign focus of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby – opposing the Religious Discrimination Bill in its current form. As Jack states on the Lobby website- There is no such thing as equality – but with exceptions… This Coalition Government cannot be trusted to introduce fair, measured and equal laws that protect LGBTI people, women, people with disability, and faith-based communities.” We also discuss the poor mental health of the LGBTIQ community. Since we recorded the conversation Jack has had a heartfelt piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald, reflecting on the suicide of Will Gavin, the president of the disendorsed University of Queensland Liberal-National Club. He wrote in part, I am a politically motivated – and progressive – gay man. There is little that Gavin and I would have agreed on. But his death gives us reason to pause. How do we create a civil society in which different opinions can co-exist? This is a question for the LGBT community as much as it is for broader society. Perhaps the simple answer is the embrace of diversity. That includes gay people who happen to be conservative. If Gavin’s critics perceived him as intolerant, they should have confronted that with reason, not further intolerance, not fire with fire. The alienating and shaming of anyone isn’t helpful. Jack’s book recommendations are Matthew Todd’s Straight Jacket: How to Be Gay and Happy,Alan Downs’, The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man’s World, and Rutger Bregman’s, Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There. If you would like to make a donation to the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL) or contact Jack, you can find the details on the GLRL website [https://glrl.org.au/].

Podcast episode 25: from female naval commander to mental health social worker- a conversation with Suzanne Smith

podcts whit text psd [http://vittoriocintio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/podcts-whit-text-psd2-150x150.jpeg] [http://vittoriocintio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/podcts-whit-text-psd2.jpeg]From humble beginnings in the Royal Australian Navy, Suzanne Smith rose to a number of Naval Base leadership roles, being the Commanding Officer of HMAS Harman,  the Commanding Officer of HMAS Penguin, and Officer in Charge of the Royal Australian Naval College, succeeding in an era when discrimination against women was rife, both in the community and in the armed forces. She then went on to be a senior public servant in Defence, ending her public service career as the Director of National Programs, delivering the National Family Support Service for Defence. But Suzanne had always harboured the ambition to be a social worker- and she did just that- studying part time and also completing a masters of counselling and psychotherapy to complement her social work degree Suzanne is now an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, counsellor and trained teacher in Mindfulness and Self-Compassion. She specialises in the integration of mindfulness approaches to the treatment of trauma, PTSD, anxiety and depression. Our conversation covers her Navy career, her thoughts about leadership and her passion for social work and psychotherapy. I asked Suzanne for some book recommendations- and those are as follows; ‘Your Life Matters’ by Petrea King, ‘An Intelligent Life: A Practical Guide to Relationships, Intimacy and Self-Esteem’ by Julian Short, ‘An Authentic Life’ by Caroline Jones ‘Healing the Heart and Mind With Mindfulness’ by Malcolm Huxter, ‘The Miracle of Mindfulness’ by Thich Nhat Hahn, ‘Present Moment Wonderful Moment’ by Thich Nhat Hahn, ‘Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Love, Parent and Lead’ by Brene Brown, ‘Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life’ by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles, ‘The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living’ by the Dalai Lama.

Podcast episode 24: working with interpreters – a conversation with researcher and anthropologist, Hilde Fiva Buzungu

podcts whit text psd [http://vittoriocintio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/podcts-whit-text-psd2-150x150.jpeg] [http://vittoriocintio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/podcts-whit-text-psd2.jpeg]Hilde Fiva Buzungu is both an anthropologist and an interpreter.  She is currently in Australia as a visiting PhD Research Fellow from Norway, writing up her research on social work with families where one or both parents have limited proficiency in the Norwegian language. As a certified interpreter (Norwegian/English), Hilde brings a rich understanding to exploring the intersection between justice, migration, child welfare, social welfare, and intergenerational trauma and abuse. Hilde was previously Senior Advisor at the Oslo University Hospital Interpreting Unit. This covered quality assurance of health care interpreting, research and development, recruitment and assessment of interpreters, interpreter ethics, and continuing professional development. Her research findings were remarkable. In the Norwegian social welfare agencies working with migrant families, social workers went out of their way not to use interpreters. A key reason was often the inadequate quality, both in terms of language skills and interpreting skills on the part of the interpreter. This gave the majority of the social workers a deep, empirically founded distrust in the interpreting profession, and in the concept of interpreting as a solution in the face of language gaps. The Norwegian authorities do however require a higher quality of interpreter services in the areas of justice and health care. Hilde and I talk about the implications of these findings, and what can be learnt from them. Our conversation turns to exploring the narrow perspective of dominant monolingual cultures, the need for an interpreting profession, and the need for helping professionals to reflect the cultural diversity of their communities and their clients. I also learn a little bit about the Sami, the indigenous peoples of Norway, particularly in relation to their need for good interpreter services and their struggles to avoid cultural genocide. This conversation deepened my understanding of the ethical complexities, both for interpreters and social workers, of working in this space.

Working in the pre-creative space: a conversation with legendary social worker, Norma Tracey

podcts whit text psd [http://vittoriocintio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/podcts-whit-text-psd2-150x150.jpeg] [http://vittoriocintio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/podcts-whit-text-psd2.jpeg]Social worker Norma Tracey is 80 years old and still working. She is an important part of the history of hospital social work in Australia- but has also done much more. Her remarkable career began in 1960 as a Family Social Worker at the Australian Red Cross. From 1968 to 1977 she worked at the Institute of Child Health and the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Sydney Her achievements included, * publishing one of the first Australian social work papers on child abuse * setting up special programs for failure to thrive infants * establishing a hospital interpreter service * running groups for depressed mothers with babies who with feeding or sleeping problems, and * establishing the first multidisciplinary teams in many areas of the Children’s Hospital. In 1978 she went into private practice, and for 30 years, was a senior member of the New South Wales Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. She became one of their main lecturers in the training and supervision. Norma has a lengthy list of publications related to working with trauma, and working psychoanalytically with parents and children. In 2008, she co-founded Gunawirra [http://gunawirra.org.au/], a not-for-profit organization made up of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal professionals. Gunawirra works with children aged 0 to 5 in 43 preschools in NSW, and runs the Aboriginal Young Families Centre in inner city Sydney. Psychoanalytic theory and Aboriginal ways of working guide their programs. These programs pay special attention to early trauma in infancy and childhood, as well as severe adult trauma, where often, emotion can’t be experienced, pain can’t be suffered, and meaning is lost. Psychotherapy and group therapy offered to parents recognises the links between cultural destruction, the intergenerational cycle of trauma and individual pathology. In pre-school programs, Aboriginal artists work alongside professional art therapists in helping children connect with their Indigenous culture, traditions, and ‘dreamtime stories’.