define and discuss

35.  Social workers are required to make difficult
decisions and to intervene to change and
improve the circumstances of people’s lives.
They deal with a range of problems and work
alongside colleagues in other professions to
plan and implement programmes of care and
support.
 Social workers play a key part in a network of
services operating within the community,
residential, hospital or health related settings.

36.  Ultimately a Social Worker’s creativity is
motivated by and directed to improving the lives
and conditions of the people who need to be
helped in society.
 People and their circumstances are infinitely
variable, so cannot be represented by simple
formulas or procedures.
 Much of the creativity of the social worker is
directed to understanding and resolving or
mediating the complex social problems that
arise in unique, difficult and challenging
circumstances.

37.  In social work, creativity means finding
imaginative new ways of working with people
who are referred or who come for help.
 Each situation a social worker encounters is
unique. Whilst some aspects may be held in
common every intervention requires creative
thinking about solutions that are tailored to
individual or family needs.
 Social workers need to respond to unique
situations with often limited resources.

38.  Creativity in social work practice often comes
through the use of self – these are the same types
of creative social skills that make some people
popular at parties and as friends etc. They include
the ability to use wit and humor to diffuse difficult
situations or reframe how a situation or event is
conceptualized and understood by those involved.
The demonstration of genuine warmth and empathy
demands creativity in terms of social skills.
Manipulating others to act as you wish them to (and
here I am thinking of other professionals,
colleagues etc, rather than service users) is also a
creative act.