Reflective practice editorial

Abstract

Reflective practice is a well-established, but not uncomplicated or uncontested, feature of 21st Century professional activity. Familiar to practitioners in social work, social care, teaching and health-related professions, reflective practice is widely recognised as ‘a good thing’. What it exactly looks and feels like for those practising it or on the receiving end of it, however, is less well understood. In recent years, the dominance of the socio-political landscape by New Public Management and technical-rational responses to the complex, multi-faceted, affective and emotional circumstances of people’s lives, has reinforced the need for reflective skills and practices. Due to the current socially disturbing circumstances – the war in Ukraine, the global pandemic and the climate crisis – that challenge us existentially, evoke powerful emotional responses and attack our capacity to think, the need for reflective practice is, perhaps, greater than ever. It has become very apparent, as a result of the impact of the pandemic on working practices, for example, how we feel the need to be constantly available to everyone’s every demand has heightened significantly. Our online meetings have meant we now move from one space at 10.59 am to another at 11.00 am, without even taking a pause to breathe. In a similar vein, social workers working from home talk about how they take their phones with them everywhere, even to the toilet, for fear of someone thinking they are not working responsibly. This Special Issue of the Journal of Social Work Practice provides a vital thinking space for the debates and dilemmas surrounding reflective practice to be aired and explored, at both the intellectual and emotional levels. Of particular concern is our commitment to ensuring we publish in ways that reflect the diversity of our world, our discipline and our profession. In her book Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone, Minna Salami respectfully invites us all to engage inclusively and joyfully in reconfiguring our epistemological mindsets. For Salami, this involves a commitment to breaking down entrenched patterns of Europatriarchal thinking, and especially binary perspectives which privilege rational and intellectual understanding over understanding coming from our emotions and our hearts. This is our intention and commitment too. Three of the papers in this issue specifically focus on exploring how diverse cultural perspectives and indigenous knowledge can offer new approaches to reflective practice. Bindi Bennett and her colleagues from Australia outline a practice framework for teaching reflexive practice in social work education using an approach that is inclusive and values diverse perspectives from the Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/gender diverse, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) communities. Seeking to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and nonIndigenous people, this culturally responsive framework promotes dialogue, compassion and allyship with people from marginalised backgrounds and draws on indigenous knowledge, values, and beliefs to help establish more inclusive reflective practices. JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE 2022, VOL. 36, NO. 2, 131–133 https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2022.2066904