New Research Funding: Holding Tension- Navigating Mastery and Non-Mastery in Social Work
The SIM Social Work Research Lab is delighted to announce that Holding Tension: Navigating Mastery and Non-Mastery in Social Work received a SSHRC Insight Grant (PI: Dr. Sarah Todd). This project explores a central challenge in contemporary social work: how practitioners balance the need for professional expertise (“mastery”) with the equally important capacity for humility, openness, and responsiveness to clients and communities (“non-mastery”). In today’s complex service environment, marked by rising demands, diverse client needs, and increasing regulatory pressures, social workers must navigate competing expectations that can shape both their effectiveness and well-being.
The project aims to generate new theoretical and practical insights into how social workers develop “coherence within contradiction” , which is the ability to hold expertise and uncertainty together in meaningful ways. These insights will directly inform the creation of evidence-based teaching tools, including practice vignettes, activity guides, and webinars designed to better prepare students for the transition into professional practice.