Feeling safe enough to explore as a newly qualified social worker

ABSTRACTThis essay shares the barriers and opportunities encountered whilst trying to adopt a more exploratory and curious position with parents, as a Newly Qualified Social Worker in an Inner London Child Protection service. This was influenced by systemic theory and an aspiration to relationship-based practice, with an assumption that this would open up conversations with parents. My findings point to a discomfort and uncertainty within the position of the Newly Qualified Social Worker, but that use of techniques drawn from narrative therapy and Motivational Interviewing enabled more exploratory practice. The parent’s perception of the wider Child Protection system appeared to be as influential as their relationship with the individual social worker, and the implications for this on social worker practice are discussed.KEYWORDS: Child protectionempathysecond-order changerelationship-basedsafe uncertaintynewly qualified social worker Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. This is an acronym highlighting different aspects of identity which are associated with power and privilege, standing for gender, geography, race, religion, age, ability, appearance, culture, class, education, employment, ethnicity, spirituality, sexuality, and sexual orientation.2. This is a model for examining the stories that influence the meanings of an interaction, in particular, interpersonal communication. LUUUTT is an acronym that stands for (stories) Lived, (stories) Untold, (stories) Unknown, (stories) Unheard, (stories) Told, (story) Telling.Additional informationNotes on contributorsHarriet Ballantine-ThomasHarriet Ballantine-Thomas qualified as a social worker in 2022 and has worked in an Inner London Child Protection service since 2021. She trained as a social worker after a decade working in the private then not-for-profit sector.