This week’s leadership message comes from Rob Mitchell, Head of Service, Adult Social Care and Principal Social Worker

Hello my name is Rob.

Hopeful things

Throughout my working life, I have been struck by those who are able to reflect on humanity, see the humour in things, and crucially help keep the hope alive. Those who inspire, burn bright, provide the spark and consequentially provide the hope are, for me, our most authentic leaders. Often unassuming, unaware of the power of their words or their influence, their integrity resonates. At this time of year, as our integrated systems grind their way through post-Christmas winter blues, in the cold and dark, betwixt the deepest of frosts and the stormiest storms, I find I need this inspiration and this positivity more than ever. Hope is an eternal search.

During this time, what gets me through as an avid reader, are my books. They bring stories and light back into dark nights. Below is a small taster sample of some books that have positively impacted on my professional thinking as a social worker.

Get Steven Home by Mark Neary

Mark Neary is the father of Steven Neary and wrote the book Get Steven Home in 2011. Steven, a young man with autism, was placed in a care home for three days respite in 2010 to help give Mark a break from caring for Steven because Mark was suffering from flu. However, to Mark’s surprise and Steven’s anguish, nearly a year later Steven was not returned home to his dad. Mark’s story is that of a dad who lost his son. A very personal and at times raw account, exceptional in its authenticity, it takes the reader on a journey through the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, campaigning, the amplification power of social media and finally the High Court, as he tirelessly worked to get Steven home, driven by his love and with guile. It is beautiful and a must read for every social worker. I often reach for this book because as a social worker I understand the subject detail well. It’s easy for me to read. But moreover, I read it because of Mark. Despite battling with the authorities, who as the book illustrates, can be seen as faceless, illogical, and downright unfair, he is able to get Steven home due to his own honesty, humour, connection and his absolute love for Steven. The book is everything that is hopeful about families.

Love, Learning Disabilities and Pockets of Brilliance: How Practitioners Can Make a Difference to the Lives of Children, Families and Adults by Sara Ryan

Sara Ryan has written a book of brilliance, filled with humanity. I find this book an extraordinary gift to my profession, especially given that Professor Ryan’s own son, Connor Sparrowhawk, died whilst in the care of the NHS. From the perspective of families she has spoken to, she has poured her love for Connor into brilliant descriptions of where practice shines brightly in the minds of those it was designed to support. Sara, with every reason in the world to distrust and critique our systems, chooses practically on every page to channel that into a stream of reminders of just how we can all be brilliant, loving, human and helpful. The cover alone is a joyous addition to my bookshelf. A book that everyone who is supporting learning disabled or neurotypical children, young people and adults should read.

Untold Stories by Alan Bennett

Following a lecture I delivered some years ago, I was asked by a social work student which author I recommended in terms of the student wanting to work with older people. I surprised myself with my answer, but then I feel like I have always known Alan Bennett. From his series of Talking Heads to his plays and autobiographical work and diaries, he is, for me, exceptionally funny, at times provocative and passionately honest. As a proud social worker, I have always enjoyed Alan Bennett’s snippets about our profession, and he features social workers on a regular basis. In the play Say Something Happened, the moment the social worker leaves the house of the older couple she has been visiting, the woman turns to her husband and says “Social work? It’s just chiming in”. A fantastic line that will never fail to make me smile!

In Untold Stories, Alan Bennett reflects on his parents, and in particular his mother’s mental ill health in adulthood and her dementia prior to her death. His searingly insightful comments about the care staff in the nursing home, where his mother spent her last few years, remind me of my first job as a care assistant all those years ago. He recounts holding his mother’s hand one afternoon, desperately seeking eye contact with her in an effort to elicit some sort of communication and recognition long gone. He looks around at the comings and goings of the carers, bright and bubbly, flirtatious even, smiling and laughing between themselves, and comments that they are playing their parts as if they are in a ‘Carry On’, whereas he is sat there playing it like it’s Brief Encounter. The pathos, often seen across health and social care settings, there in a sentence. The book, and probably moreover the author, are a treasure to me and a national treasure for the country, I hope.

All these three books are a challenge to my profession. They do not spare us where we get health and social care wrong. But crucially, despite our collective failings, all three books choose instead to focus on the answer, and this is hope, people making a difference, things getting better and the richness of humanity. A reminder that even in the darkest of places, brighter days are coming, and they are always worth hoping for.

Thank you for reading and have a good weekend,
Rob