BJSW Advance Access originally published online on September 12, 2005
British Journal of Social Work 2007 37(4):659-680; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch277
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Reflective Practice in Contemporary Child-care Social Work: The Role of Containment
Gillian Ruch is a lecturer in the Division of Social Work at the University of Southampton. In this role, she has particular responsibility for teaching, at qualifying and post-qualifying levels, about social work with children and families. She has recently received her PhD for doctoral research entitled Reflective Practice in Contemporary Child Care Social Work. Her research interests include therapeutic work with children and families, practitioner well-being and reflective practice. She is currently exploring further research into inter-disciplinary understandings of reflective practice and their significance for inter-professional practice.
Correspondence to Dr Gilllian Ruch, Division of Social Work, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK. E-mail: g.m.ruch{at}soton.ac.uk
In recent years, there has been growing interest in reflective practice as an approach that acknowledges the complexity and uncertainty inherent in contemporary social work practice. Whilst attention has been paid to how reflective practice is defined and understood, less consideration has been given to the conditions that facilitate its development. Drawing on recent doctoral research, this paper suggests that a particular type of reflective practice—holistic reflective practice—has the potential to encourage thoughtful and creative practice capable of addressing the challenges of contemporary child-care practice. Findings from this research indicate that for holistic reflective practice to be facilitated, the interdependence of the practitioner, team and organizational contexts needs to be recognized. Practitioners need to work within safe containing contexts characterized by: clear organizational and professional boundaries; multifaceted reflective forums; collaborative and communicative working practices; and open and ‘contextually connected’ managers. Drawing on these findings and theorizing them in relation to Bion’s concept of containment, the paper concludes by proposing a model of containment for the promotion of reflective practice.
Keywords: reflective practice, containment, knowledge, safe spaces
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