Abstract
The idea that social work needs to be concerned with thinking and acting in a more collaborative way with the people in need is common around the world. At the international level, codes of ethics and social work principles inspire practitioners, researchers, and educators in bridging the gap between themselves and people in trouble, commonly known as service users. Beyond a common agreement around such principle, to realize collaborative relationships in practice is a challenge that requires prudence, coherence, and methodology. The Relational social work method supports the practical development of participation, collaboration, and reciprocity. Through concepts and examples, this article aims to describe how service users can assume the role of collaborators in social practice, research, and education.
Highlights
Nowadays, thinking about the future of social work, practitioners, social work educators, and researchers must reflect on the quality of the relationships that they have established with the people, families, groups, and communities in trouble
During the participatory research process, the researchers experimented with the concept of empowerment, which led to the realization of what Folgheraiter (2004; 2017) calls “relational empowerment,” referring to the coping process that is activated in a helping relationship within the social work field
After lunch, which is shared in the university canteen by all participants, two-hour group meetings occur that mix students and service users and are led by academic tutors
Summary
Nowadays, thinking about the future of social work, practitioners, social work educators, and researchers must reflect on the quality of the relationships that they have established with the people, families, groups, and communities in trouble. Professionals have the responsibilities and competences to do it – they know how to tackle such issues as alcohol addiction, violence, abuse and neglect, or poverty. For this purpose, it is important that service users collaborate with social workers in order to receive advice and treatment. The focus is on the relationship between service users, professionals, and all people that express care toward a family or a situation; it is a matter of formal and informal roles, but above all, it is a matter of care The relationship between those who help and those who need help must be dynamic. The same can be said for those who teach and learn, for those who do research, and those who are the “subjects of the researches.” In the following paragraph, these concepts will be explored in the reality of social work practice, research, and education
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