Pop the kettle on with...Neil Thompson

"I got into social work by accident,” admits Neil, with a smile.

“When I was younger, I was studying languages - French, Welsh, and German - and planned to be a speech therapist. Then one day I was at my local jobcentre, filling out a questionnaire which identified that my ‘caring and compassionate’ nature, teamed with the fact I was ‘organised and disciplined,’ made me well-suited for a career as a social worker.

“I immediately headed off to the library to research what social workers did, and the more I read, the more it sounded like the job for me.”

Neil began his career with his local authority in Wrexham, North Wales, in 1977, working initially as a residential child care officer before studying to train as a social worker. His first placement was with an intake team - a job he reveals he loved.

“The buzz of constant new referrals, meeting and helping lots of people, really appealed to me,” he recalls.

“I especially loved the pace and rapid turnover of cases, in that you could meet somebody on a Monday, and have the case closed by Thursday, after helping to set someone on the path to solving their own problems.

“I worked as a social worker for over a decade, going on to become a team manager, and then a training officer, before making the leap into lecturing.”

Today, Neil is renowned as an independent writer, educator, and trainer. In the past 25 years, he has published 47 books on the subject, and also has six training manuals, and six ebooks to his name. Most recently, he was offered a visiting professorship at the Open University.

“A lot has changed since I qualified in 1982,” he muses with a nod, “but what has stayed the same is the value of social work, in that when it is done properly, it can make a huge difference to people’s lives. Something else that hasn’t changed is the media.

“I see people getting het up about the public image of social work, but I try and reassure them that it’s not just social work that takes the hit.

"That’s just how the media works; they look for the negatives, and so it’s up to us to put the positives forward - highlighting the value and benefits of the work being done by social workers everywhere.

“One thing that really has changed is that we now struggle with, what I call, a referral culture. I think there’s been a lot of deskilling over the years as social workers have found themselves, at times, reduced to being administrators of sorts, forced to refer someone to B, C, X, and Y, for the interesting, challenging, and rewarding work, instead of being able to take care of certain things themselves, as the skilled professionals they really are.”

Neil, who has worked with thousands of social workers in his years as a trainer, reveals it is this culture he continues to work to change, encouraging a move away from this idea that social workers are just an intermediary between the service user and service provider. Instead, he says, he hopes to encourage social workers to help those they’re working with to think in terms of problem-solving.

“I know from speaking to them that there are social workers out there, driving towards people’s homes already thinking: ‘what service can I direct this person to?’ rather than going back to the basics of: ‘What problem are they struggling with?’

“A big part of my career has been challenging that, and getting people to think in terms of, what today we’d call, outcome focused terms.

“Sometimes I feel like a bit of a fraud, at the end of a conference or training course, when someone says that I’ve inspired them. It’s lovely to hear, but in reality all I’m doing is reminding them of what social work is all about.”

“Low morale doubles the workload, undermining energy levels, and killing creativity. Good leaders are needed to make people feel supported, valued, and safe. I think people can cope with a lot with a good leader behind them.”

“We’ve seen evidence, in the past two years, of people surviving this industry by the skin of their teeth. One person told me about a time when her manager walked into the room and found her in tears, because of all the pressure she was under. The manager just turned around and walked out again, presumably because they just couldn’t take it. Not necessarily because they’re a bad manager, or they don’t care, but because perhaps they felt like crying, too. That’s part of why I co-wrote ‘How to Survive in Social Work’ last year.”

“It’s so important to be able to ask for help. People worry about seeming weak, or people thinking they’re incompetent or can’t cope, but that’s bullshit. It’s also dangerous, because once that culture develops, people feel they have nowhere to go. Stress is not a sign of weakness. Anyone can get overwhelmed.”

“Anti racism has become high profile again, which I’m really pleased to see, but I’ve also seen these gross oversimplifications creep back in again - things like ‘you can’t say black coffee, that’s racist, you must say coffee without milk.’ That’s nonsense. People are so worried about saying the wrong thing, so they end up saying nothing at all. We’ve got to do justice to the complexity of this issue.”

“I’m very active on social media, and I love when people get in touch to ask questions, or even just to engage, so get in touch."

Find out more at neilthompson.info