Our Student Social Workers on the importance of collaboration
Recent student social workers Siobhan and Rose looked at how collaboration is at the heart of our work with service users and colleagues.
The emphasis on service user needs within the group are fundamental to the way we work as professionals in a group environment. For example, taking into consideration the reading and writing ability of service users, their mobility or their lived experiences when planning sessions. In fact, service users heavily dictate how sessions are run and are often able to provide incredibly robust examples of the issues we discuss within the group. This highlights the importance of collaboration with service users, as acknowledged by the crucial work done by the Service User Council.
Another aspect of collaboration is the opportunities we have had as Students to shadow and learn from other professionals. Until you experience it, it is hard to image all the challenges and rewards that groupwork involves. It is, in most settings, unusual to be asked for your professional opinion on whether a discarded towel should mean the end of a relationship… A sense of humour, and being able to think on your feet is a must! Our co-facilitators and teams have been invaluable, providing endless support and encouragement. From service users to employees, ‘collaboration’ is very well captured throughout RISE’s work.
Collaboration is one of RISE’s core values: we work closely with partner organisations, our employees and most importantly, our service users in order to continue to shape and develop our services to help build safer communities.
