This episode I am joined by Professor Angelika Henschel from Leuphana University of Lueneburg in Germany. Angelika is the Head of the institute of Social Work and Social Pedagogy at Leuphana, with her research and teaching focused on gender studies, inclusion and youth welfare. With a long history in social activism and feminist political work, Angelika is a well-known and admired agent of change in the work of Women’s Health, both throughout Germany and around the world. Angelika’s social work practice led to co-founding the first women’s refuge in her hometown of Luebeck, as well as a rape crisis collective and an organisation to bring together young women supporting each other through mutual aid and active support. I am so grateful to have met Angelika and spent some time getting to know her and learning all about her social work research and practice in this field.
We are back again for another awesome conversation with a social worker using action research to make a big difference in the world. Introducing to you all… Associate Professor Tamara Blakemore from the University of Newcastle!
Tamara is a social worker and researcher who is (along with her research team) rapidly changing the face of family and domestic violence intervention for young people and their families in New South Wales and beyond, with action research project called Name. Narrate. Navigate pathways program (NNN).
Here’s what the UoN University News (2021) has to say about it:
“Taking a unique approach, Name. Narrate. Navigate acknowledges young people who use violence have often been victims/survivors of violence themselves. It uses trauma-informed practice to provide sensitive and culturally safe education, skill development and support to young people who have used or are at risk of using violence. NNN provides psychoeducation, skill development and support to young people and their caseworkers assisting them to a point-of-readiness for targeted recidivist focused interventions. With the support of Westpac, in 2022 the Name.Narrate.Navigate (NNN) Pathways Program will see scale-up of the program through specialist trauma-informed and culturally-safe training, mentoring and support for practitioners across regional, rural and remote Australia to delivery NNN in their own sites and settings. The program for young people will continue with targeted delivery for young women, young Aboriginal people and young people who display sexually harmful behaviours.”
(University of Newcastle, University News 2021)
Tamara and I have a great conversation together in this episode, and we’re so glad you get to hear it! Keep an ear out for the description of action research, along with how she (and her team) work towards creating a research project and intervention program that is trauma-informed and culturally-responsive.
Please, if you can, don’t forget share this episode among your networks, and definitely let Tamara and I know your thoughts on the episode by reaching out to us on twitter using the handle @swdiscoveries
I hope you enjoy the conversation and it spurs you on to do some cool things of your own. Cheers!
Ben.
Tamara’s contact information:
Tamara Blakemore
Associate Professor in the discipline of Social Work, School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Science, Univeristy of Newcastle
Chief Investigator & Project Lead at Name. Narrate. Navigate Pathways Project (namenarratenavigate.com)
This is a great episode for all those who are interested in finding out more about social work and education in the university. In particular, how it is that students are learning about social work in contemporary times. In this episode I interview Dr Mim Fox (University of Wollongong) who explores her recent research in this space, as well as going into detail around her experiences of, and lessons learnt from, the popular Social Work Stories podcast (socialworkstories.com). It’s a long episode today, but we felt that the conversation needed time and space, and we love having a good ol’ chat together.
Special thanks to Kate Draper (Western Sydney University) for all her hard work in producing this episode – congratulations Kate! I hope you are feeling proud of your efforts with this episode, I know that I am.
Welcome to Social Work Discoveries. A podcast on social work, research, and making the world a better place. My name is Ben Joseph. And I’m so glad you’ve made it here!
This is great! Somehow you’ve found your way to the Social Work Discoveries podcast. A podcast that highlights social work research projects past, current and future. We hope to share with you some of the exciting, innovative, evidence-informed projects that social work researchers have developed and implemented within your communities. As well as talk about how social work research is a crucial element in the process of creating sustainable community development, that enhances the lives of the marginalised, the vulnerable, the oppressed, and the forgotten within our communities.
So, Why have I created this? The year is 2017. And social workers have never been more needed. We live in a time when the neoliberal agenda is the status quo, and the welfare state is vastly diminishing. The wealth gap is increasing, the health budget is a perpetual news headline, and we can’t keep up with the rate at which the population is ageing. We’re seeing the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme before our eyes, and are watching with baited breath the push to constitutionally recognise Australia’s first people, as well as playing witness to the debate on ‘Same Sex Marriage’.
As social workers we are knee-deep in the glorious and dynamic quagmire of what we call community, inching our way along the tightrope of social cohesion vs social change, serving the deserved and undeserved, trying our best to give a voice to the voiceless and creating a space for community members to plan the route they would like their futures to take, while at the same time consoling the heartbroken and advocating for those who seek a more just and equitable existence during their short time on this planet.
While my hopes and dreams for this podcast are broad and somewhat nebulous at this point in time, I do have one desire for this podcast… My desire is to provide listeners with the opportunity to hear from contemporary social work researchers on the different projects they have been a part of, including a discussion around the specifics of social work research, and how these projects can effect real, positive social change throughout society, as well as within ourselves. My goal is to elucidate the ways in which social work research can highlight social justice issues within our communities as well as create positive social change.
Now there’s no denying that we live in a time-pressured environment, and I understand that you don’t necessarily have time to listen to a detailed and in-depth discussion around the minutiae of social work research, so we will keep our podcast limited to no more than 10-15mins in length.
We’ll interview a social work researcher each episode who have conducted various forms and methodologies of social work research, so that we can begin to gain a snapshot of the vast mosaic of social work research approaches being undertaken out there in our communities.
We have a twitter account where you can ask us questions or find out more details on each social work researcher’s work and projects, so be sure to follow us on our twitter handle @SWDiscoveries.
Finally, before I say goodbye… I just wanted to give a shout-out and thank you to a few key supporters and important influences that have encouraged me to jump head-first into this adventure of the podcasting and social work research.
Big thanks to Western Sydney University and each and every one of your social work academics who run an amazing social work program. You are building ethical, competent, creative, and highly professional social workers who will change the world for good. We can’t thank you enough.
I also wanted to point you in the direction of some other important social work research and academic research podcasts and blogs that I follow – and I’d really encourage you to check out:
The Social Work Podcast by Dr Jonathan Singer
The Podsocs Podcast supported by Griffith University
Research in Action Podcast by Dr Katie Linder
And finally two blogs that I love to read The Thesis Whisperer & the Social Work Helper
For now though, that’s it from me. I hope that this pod sparks your interest and helps you discover more about the field of social work, social work research, and how we can (through social work research) continue to build stronger more inclusive communities, highlight ways to bring about social justice and flexible person-centred care for the marginalised, the vulnerable, and the oppressed within our communities, and enable social work research to become part-and-parcel of everyday social work practice.
Be sure to keep your eyes and ears out for new episodes coming your way soon of the Social Work Discoveries podcast. Until then. It’s been a pleasure. Goodbye.
Social Work Discoveries 