Using Psychoanalytic Ideas in Social Work Practice

It gives me great pleasure to write a preface for this book, which I hope will make a significant contribution to the further development of social work in Britain and other countries. The book is published at an important moment in the history of the social work profession in Britain. For the first time social care workers are now part of a registered profession. In past decades the question of professional registration was often a subject of heated debate between those who were convinced of its need if social work was to establish itself within the multidisciplinary professional field, and those who saw this as a kind of betrayal of the marginalised and often powerless people who use our services. In my view this is a false antithesis. To be professionalised does not imply blind conformity, or complacency. Service users need professionals to be politically and professionally potent if they are to work, and advocate, successfully in their interests.