The environmental crisis and social work in practice: Creating spaces to explore awareness in the social work profession in Scotland

Abstract In September 2023, the UN Secretary-General announced that the world is in ‘climate breakdown’, echoing concerns of activists and scientists, calling for the global community to act with a sense of urgency. This article, reports on the findings from empirical research using art-based research methods to create space for discussion with seventeen social worker practitioners based in the Northeast of Scotland. The aim was to examine front line social workers’ understanding of environmental changes and how these changes affected their work with service users. The interviews demonstrated that social workers widely acknowledged the relevance of these issues. However, they expressed concerns about how to address them in the context of their already extensive workload and other professional pressures. Additionally, there was a perceived lack of preparedness within the profession regarding how to respond to these challenges in the future, leading to uncertainty about social work’s role in this area. The evidence provided in this research paper will benefit policymakers, social work practitioners, and social work educators when developing plans to improve the profession’s state of preparedness for climate change.