Now Available Open Access—Reflecting on Reflection in Clinical Social Work: Unsettling a Key Social Work Strategy
Reflecting on Reflection in Clinical Social Work: Unsettling a Key Social Work Strategy, is now available open access. The article was published in the British Journal of Social Work, and builds on findings from the Sim Lab’s project Knowing and Not Knowing: Navigating Uncertainty in Social Work Practice, (2020-2024).
This simulation-based study calls into question some of the assumptions of the transformational potential of individualized reflection on social work practice. Thirty-four participants took part in two clinically focused simulations, followed by interviews in which they watched recordings of their sessions. Findings illustrate that: (i) how clients and the session are understood in the moment can be different than how they are understood post-client engagement; (ii) reflections of practice behaviours can be tied to how individuals want to be, which are not necessarily aligned with how they are in the moment; and (iii) reflections are intertwined with awareness of oneself. These results identify some of the limitations of individualised reflective activities, and demonstrate the powerful potential of collective reflection on recordings of simulations to challenge memory distortions, retrospective biases and to promote greater accountability to ourselves as social workers, and to those we work with.
Read the full article here