We have our own in-house systemic practice training and development lead who runs various systemic courses for qualified social workers, practice supervisors, social work managers and early help and residential staff.
Through the courses we emphasise the need for workers to build good, helpful, trusting relationships with those we work with. We expect them to notice and work with the strengths families have, whilst being very clear about any risks and how those risks need to be managed to keep children safe. They are given a variety of tools and techniques to help them do this.
Our employees are encouraged to be curious and respectful when engaging with families, even when they need to have difficult and challenging conversations around risk. They are coached to be mindful of what they bring to the relationship with others and to acknowledge the power held within their role to work in an anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive manner.
In addition to their one-to-one supervision with their line manager we encourage all social work teams to have regular group supervision where they can utilise their systemic knowledge and hypothesise about cases they hold. This encourages not only the embedding of knowledge but also improves the way we engage with families, our analysis of their family functioning and a more purposeful intervention.