BBC's Life on Mars
I was reading Nick Andrew’s really interesting paper on the All Together Now project and I was struck by the suggestion from Gannon and Lawson (2008) that although Co-production has become one of the most trendy concepts of the time, it is not new. As a concept it dates from the 70′s
- ‘…. a time when movements to challenge professional power and increase citizen participation in community affairs coincided with efforts to reduce public spending’.
Well how about that, where are we now, a time marked by a radical mistrust of professional power and a significant imperitive to reduce public spending.
Well what else could we bring back from our practice in the days of the Cortina, flares, growing unemployment and bubbling racism?
- How about the Seebohm reorganisation – generic and community development focused
‘Social Services directed to the well-being of the whole community, and seeing the community it serves as the basis of its authority, resources and effectiveness’ Seebohm P147.
- Or, Egan’s The Skilled Helper – Relationship orientated and focused on personal empowerment.
- The ‘effective use of self’ -now somebody is going to tell me this was not from the 70′s but it was drummed into me by my social work tutor, and he was!
- And of course, Radical Social Work – with it’s emphasis on class and the wider social and political context of our work, (when I first met my partner she was wearing a badge which read ‘Social Work – Soft police’ – I really should have made a run for it then).
So if you have a sense of deja vu at our current practice world, I don’t think we should be surprised. Just put on a Tom Robinson album and remember it wasn’t all bad.
‘I’m a middle class kiddie but I know where I stand!’
One in the middle looks like Rick, doesnt he?
On a serious note, it really is about a shift in power , on recognising that the circumstances people find themselves in are often as a result of the way society works rather than an individual pathology, and the solution needs to be wider, a focus on the community rather than the individual.
I still have my copy of Radical Social Work from when I qualified in 1980 if anyone wants to borrow it….. !
By: heather on July 16, 2009
at 2:20 pm
I agree, I feel there is the opportunity for a significant systemic shift in power within our society, thus our interventions and approaches must promote collaboration, support diversity and be open to wide system change. The circumstances remind me of Bill Torberts ideas about transformational power which can only be exercised in conditions of ‘mutual vulnerability’ – interesting times. Rick
By: rickwilsontg on July 16, 2009
at 6:46 pm