Self-awareness, Mindfulness, and Social Work Practice

Abstract Poor social worker well-being can have serious negative effects on the individual social worker and the organisations they work for. The Mindfulness-based Social Work and Self-Care programme has been found to be effective at improving social worker well-being and social work practice. We are still unclear on how the Mindfulness-based Social Work and Self-Care programme improved these outcomes. Using an explanatory sequential mixed method study design, this study aimed to examine the effects of the MBSWSC programme on key mindfulness-based mechanisms of action: attention regulation skills, mindfulness, non-aversion, non-attachment, acceptance and self-compassion, and then explore if and how changes in these mechanisms led to improved participant well-being and social work practice. Replicating previous findings, MBSWSC programme participation was found to increase attention regulation skills, mindfulness, non-aversion, non-attachment, acceptance and self-compassion. The qualitative findings highlighted how improvements in each of these mechanisms led to multi-faceted and cascading positive effects. These include increased self-awareness of thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, needs and behaviours which supported more adaptive stress coping and deeper, more consistent reflections both in and on practice, which facilitated the utilisation of more productive person-centred practice approaches. This study adds further evidence that if social work service providers, service commissioners, and funding bodies deliver the MBSWSC programme to wider cohorts of social workers that the benefits derived from this programme will extend beyond the individual social worker to the organisation and most importantly to the service users they work with.