The team as a secure base: Promoting resilience and competence in child and family social work

Biggart, Laura ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1233-9787, Ward, Emma ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7579-3215, Cook, Laura ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9882-2365 and Schofield, Gillian (2017) The team as a secure base: Promoting resilience and competence in child and family social work. Children and Youth Services Review, 83. pp. 119-130. ISSN 0190-7409

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Abstract

This paper outlines research findings on the relevance of the Secure Base model (Schofield & Beek, 2014) for developing supportive teams in child and family social work. When the social work team functions as a secure base, this can help workers cope with the emotional demands of the role. The concept of the secure base comes from attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969) in which our relationships with significant others, who are available, sensitive to our needs and reliable, provide us with a secure base to return to when life is stressful and provide us with comforting internal mental models when we are physically away from them. This ‘secure base for exploration’ reduces anxiety and enables us to engage with the world, consider the internal world of others (empathy) and remain resilient when life is stressful. Using data from 52 phone interviews with child and family social workers across eight local authorities in the UK, we show how the Secure Base model has relevance for emotion regulation and resilience for child and family social workers. Data were analysed using Theoretical Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). In the context of the emotional demands of social work, our data indicate that the supervisors and teams provide a work related secure base across five dimensions by behaving in ways which instil these beliefs: Availability -‘People are there for me’; Sensitivity - ‘My feelings are manageable’; Acceptance - I don't always have to be strong’; Cooperation - ‘I can work with others to find a solution’; Team belonging - ‘I am valued and I belong’. Implications for practice are proposed to help supervisors and team members reflect on beliefs and behaviours which can help provide a secure base for their teams.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The data is archived in the UK Data Archive: Biggart, Laura Paule (2016). Emotional intelligence in social work. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-852431
Uncontrolled Keywords:	emotion regulation,teams,child and family social work,reflective supervision,attachment,secure base
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Social Work Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Child Protection & Family Support Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Social Cognition Research Group Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Business and Local Government Data Research Centre (former - to 2023) Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Research on Children and Families
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	07 Nov 2017 06:04
Last Modified:	14 Jun 2023 13:05
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/65349
DOI:	10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.10.031

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