Reflective Practice in Contemporary Child-care Social Work: The Role of Containment

In recent years, there has been growing interest in reflectivepractice as an approach that acknowledges the complexity anduncertainty inherent in contemporary social work practice. Whilstattention has been paid to how reflective practice is definedand understood, less consideration has been given to the conditionsthat facilitate its development. Drawing on recent doctoralresearch, this paper suggests that a particular type of reflectivepractice—holistic reflective practice—has the potentialto encourage thoughtful and creative practice capable of addressingthe challenges of contemporary child-care practice. Findingsfrom this research indicate that for holistic reflective practiceto be facilitated, the interdependence of the practitioner,team and organizational contexts needs to be recognized. Practitionersneed to work within safe containing contexts characterized by:clear organizational and professional boundaries; multifacetedreflective forums; collaborative and communicative working practices;and open and ‘contextually connected’ managers.Drawing on these findings and theorizing them in relation toBion’s concept of containment, the paper concludes byproposing a model of containment for the promotion of reflectivepractice.