Social work organizations-constructive or destructive

Abstract

Are social work organizations constructive or destructive? What can they, or could they, be? I assume that the conference theme of loss and growth has been addressed in relation to work with children and families. That theme is present in my thoughts, too, some of which I hope to share with you. Social workers work within an organization, whose nature must inevitably affect how they can work with children and families. This is an underlying assumption of this paper, although you may find it elaborated at times. At a very simple level, for example, if the organization is suffering loss - loss of resources, personnel, of value, regard or esteem, loss of security or conviction or direction - any worker will have a different task when working with a child suffering loss than if the organization was secure and optimistic. The inner self would have a different, internalised core to receive projections, distortions or rejection.