‘We don't expect our staff to do anything we wouldn't do ourselves’

Responding to crisis is what immigration social work is all about. 

But staying out of crisis yourself means you will bring your whole self to work and be most effective for the people you help.

As manager of the People from Abroad team in Norfolk, Simon Shreeve extends the principles of community social work to staff as well as the refugees they assist, to ensure everyone on the frontline is being supported.

The team, which is based in a friendly local library setting in Norwich rather than intimidating council offices, has previously picked up an award for creative and innovative social work.

Formed in 2016 in response to the crisis in Syria and migrants arriving in Norfolk, there were initially just four members of the team.

Now it has grown to a 47-strong department, reflecting the ongoing need for its services arising from crises in Hong Kong, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Burundi, Somalia and most recently, Gaza, causing people to have to flee.

Simon cut his teeth as a generic social worker in a frontline duty team during the Kosovo crisis of 1999 and believes passionately in the community model.

"I come from a background of looking at the 'whole family' - this is embedded in the generic social work approach,” he explains.

"There's a saying that it 'takes a whole village to raise a child' and equally it takes a whole community to help people in need.”

And so, the "whole family" approach extends to staff, because looking after your team means they will then perform at their best looking after others.

"I and the other managers operate an open-door policy, so if someone is stuck, they can always jump on a Teams chat, and someone will always come back to them. This is very much a community social work model for staff, too, and it's important to be very supportive."

Frontline immigration social work requires a deft approach to tapping into the broad skill set social workers possess, as the nature of the work is always shifting.

New crises continue to erupt around the globe, and in addition Simon has seen a rise in certain areas of practice in recent months.

“Honour-based abuse has become much more common – something we were aware of happening in urban areas, but in East Anglia we are now seeing it a lot more.

“There’s also been an increase in identifying cases of modern slavery and human trafficking, with the exodus of people from Europe since Brexit, discovering they are not able to settle.

“We find, as a team, that the skills are transferable, so when presented with something new you need to stop and think, ‘This is a new problem, but what skills can I use, what can I adapt?”

It’s also important to maintain clear boundaries in order to fend off burnout, something Simon himself admits he struggled with about ten years ago.

“I got a bit jaded around 2015,” he says. “I was on frontline duty, and it was feeling like it was all the same.

“I felt I couldn’t make an effective difference, and was thinking ‘do I go independent?’ or ‘do I move abroad?’”

Then the role in Norfolk came up and Simon adds: “I felt finally that I could make a real effective difference, something I had felt from my work during the Balkans crisis and working as a duty social worker with EU migrants.”

What Simon remembers most from back then is a mixture of highs and lows: “I remember the successes and how people overcame adversity, but also the times when things would go wrong - you can look at both and learn from it all. 

“I remember working with some young Kosovan UASCs and getting them through their GCSEs and graduation events, being there for them when their parents couldn’t be.

“I recall going to a DIY store to get one young person I was helping kitted out with decorating gear, and we painted his bedroom together so he could learn new skills.”

These moments are only possible, of course, if your schedule allows, and Simon is acutely aware of the importance of not overloading his team.

“It’s about balancing caseloads so social workers don’t just have all the complex ones. You have to give a mix, so people have variety.”

Boundaries

Maintaining strong personal boundaries is also important if you are to thrive rather than just survive as a social worker, Simon believes.

 “You can’t rescue everyone, and if you try, you will burn out.

“So instead, you do things to the best of your ability, and then you have to know when to stop.

“You need to be quite boundaried, and as a manager I am particularly aware that new staff can get drawn in.”

Simon believes it is important not to leave social workers, particularly the less experienced staff, struggling on their own.

“Good induction means that people get to shadow those workers who exhibit good practice, so they can learn from people doing the job well.

"In social work, we are often dealing with complaints, with criticism, we have senior management and budget restrictions, and lots of rules where teams are being tightly-managed.

"We don't do that. We want to make staff feel valued, so when they have done good work, like an assessment or a review, we will say so. 

"We also document the good work, sending copies to an evidence bank so we have got a library of best practice. We also talk about our achievements and successes in team meetings.”

Simon and the other managers also maintain caseloads, albeit smaller than their staff. But it helps them stay alive to frontline practice, and to the challenges their staff are themselves facing week in, week out.

Simon is still warranted as an AMHP, though he says: "I don't detain many people - often we use trauma-informed approaches and look at alternatives.

"There is one Afghan man who has PTSD, issues with alcohol and self-harm, but rarely would we consider assessing to detain him.

"We use trauma-informed practice when he shows signs of not being able to cope - he's on a short fuse so it's about being attuned to that, and also to the effect it has on his wife and family.”

Getting out there and helping people helps Simon stay connected.

"We don't expect our staff to do anything we wouldn't do ourselves," he adds.

"So I'm going to the airport this week to pick up a family.

"I try at least once a week to do frontline social work because it means I can relate to the challenges the team is having. 

“I'm not so remote that I've lost touch.”