Neoliberalism in clinical social work practice: the benefits and limitations of embedded ideals of individualism and resiliency

Abstract

Social workers either treat or refer clients to psychotherapies that reflect dominant societal beliefs with neoliberal underpinnings. Despite efforts to adapt treatments to different racial, ethnic and socio-economic groups, deeply embedded values of individuality and resilience remain in most mainstream psychotherapies. While the field is broad, encompassing hundreds of different therapies with various goals, deliveries and indicators of change, most modern treatments draw upon such ideas. Neoliberal values of free choice, creativity, self-expression and permission for people to shape themselves confer many benefits, but they also limit the conception and delivery of interventions, and contribute to inequality in service usage and outcomes. By critically analysing neoliberal cultural ideas of resiliency and individualism, and how they embed themselves in psychotherapeutic theories and practice, social workers may be able to create treatments that are more culturally competent and palatable to underserved populations and those suffering from the effects of structural inequities.