80 Social Work Skills & Interventions

A professional reflection resource designed to explore the knowledge, skills and purposeful thinking that underpin social work practice.

Drawing on Trevithick’s work on social work skills and knowledge, this resource brings together different aspects of practice that can sometimes become less visible amongst the pressures and demands of everyday work.

It highlights the thinking, communication, professional judgement, relationship based skills, ethical considerations and purposeful interventions that contribute to skilled social work practice.

Rather than providing a checklist of what a social worker should be able to do, the resource creates a starting point for recognising strengths, identifying areas for development and reflecting on the knowledge and skills being used in practice.

The resource includes:

• Exploration of knowledge and skills within social work practice
• Reflective prompts to consider how these are used in everyday practice
• Opportunities to recognise existing strengths
• Prompts to identify areas for learning and development
• A framework to support professional reflection and discussion

Using the resource

The resource can be used for individual reflection, supervision and reflective discussion, professional development and CPD, practice education and student learning, and exploring strengths and areas for further development.

It may be useful for social work students, newly qualified and experienced social workers, practice educators, supervisors and managers.

Professional guidance

This is a reflective learning resource rather than an assessment of professional competence. It is intended to complement, rather than replace, relevant professional standards, regulatory requirements, organisational expectations and professional judgement.

Good social work involves much more than what is immediately visible. This resource helps make some of that professional knowledge and skill visible again.