Vox Pop: Should social work training cover substance misuse?
Friday, April 16, 2010
Social care experts have renewed calls for social workers to have compulsory training on drug and alcohol misuse.
YES - Hilton Dawson, chief executive, British Association of Social Workers (BASW)
BASW believes that competence in working with alcohol and drug problems is an essential component of effective social work practice.
Drugs and alcohol issues underlie many of the problems presented to social workers, and service users have a right to excellent standards of practice delivered by well-trained and well-supported social workers.
The BASW Special Interest Group on drugs and alcohol is made up of experienced practitioners from across the field who act as a source of expertise for all interested in these issues and as powerful advocates within social work education for its importance.
YES - Ray Jones, professor of social work, Kingston University
Social workers working with children need to know about the implications and motivations in relation to drug and alcohol abuse.
Social workers need to be able to see the context of what is in front of them. They need to be aware that there is an increased risk with substance abuse and know what the signs of that might be. They need to know the consequences of adult behaviour on children and be aware of the options available.
They will not necessarily be the experts but there is certainly the need for a grounding in drug and alcohol abuse because it is core to the work of social workers.
YES - Steve Lambert, director, Re-Solv
At a time when we focus on the topic of legal highs, most forget we have been seeking to prevent a legal high for a number of years. The practice of "sniffing" is perfectly legal and the products capable of abuse are widely found. Most children and young people therefore believe the practice to be safe. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The tragedy is that when awareness is the key to prevention, many professionals are themselves unaware of the issues and consequences surrounding this unique form of substance misuse and therefore are not best placed to engage with young people on the topic.
YES - Chris Lee, head of youth service, Norcas addiction service in East Anglia
Anybody who works with young people should have some level of substance misuse knowledge.
There should be an element of understanding about intervention so social workers know who to refer to for specialist services.
If we look at Suffolk, it has a team of 10 people with only six frontline staff. Compared with the number of people who need help they just cannot work alone.
Some form of targeted prevention work needs to be developed. Including drug abuse in initial social work training could encourage more people to specialise in the area.