© British Association of Social Workers
On Being Able To Say What We Mean: The Language of Hierarchy in Social Work Practice
Mark Furlong is Senior Social Worker at Bouverie Family Therapy Centre which is a specialist consulting, training and practice unit within Victoria's public psychiatric system. Prior to commencement in this position, he has been employed in hospital and community settings and is currently completing an MSW at Melbourne University.
Correspondence to Mark Furlong, Senior Social Worker, Bouverie Family Therapy Centre, 35 Poplar Road, Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia.
Summary
In all professional contacts social workers make decisions about how to initially describe working relationships with clients and colleagues. Some descriptions imply a hierarchy, for example, ‘I'm here to teach you’. Other terms do not imply hierarchy and tend to suggest equality or even mutuality, for example, ‘I want to support and encourage you’. Initial descriptions may be particularly important as they imply respective roles and responsibilities between participants and this contributes to the establishment of the practice context.
In order to assist active decision making, six of the most common terms describing or inferring relationship in social work are examined: to ‘help’, ‘support’, ‘be concerned’, ‘liaise’, ‘encourage’, and ‘consult’. It is proposed that descriptions with a clear hierarchical dimension are sometimes useful, for example, terms such as ‘expect’ and ‘co-ordinate’, and that these descriptions are often under-utilized. The author believes that the use of hierarchically connotated terms can be both task congruent and outcome oriented in limited but important instances.