Reviewed by Pauline Mahon, Family Trauma Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Child Care in Practice, Vol.10(4), October 2004, pp 405-408

In an age when many are questioning the value of social work, this publication could not be more timely. Intelligently structured, Joel Kanter’s presentation of an extraordinary woman’s work as a social worker and psychotherapist has something for everyone.

Working as a social worker myself for almost 10 years and having been involved in practice teaching until very recently, I could not help feeling excited while reviewing this book, imagining it as compulsory reading on social work training courses.

The life and work of Clare Winnicott, a pioneer in the development of professional social work and second wife of Donald Winnicott, gives the rich and enlightening material an authentic context, incorporating the human, practical and theoretical aspects of good social work.

The book has a lot to commend it in terms of refreshing insights about the importance of both inner and outer realities of the children encountered in social work practice.

Kanter has arranged the material in such a way that those not interested in the biographical aspects of Clare Winnicott’s life and the history of social work in Britain (chapter one) can skip forward to the riveting papers that comprise chapters two to nine. However, to skip the first chapter (written by the editor) the reader would miss an opportunity for a very thought-provoking debate about the nature of social work, how it developed and what may have been lost over the years as training has changed from the early specialist trainings (different programmes of care, i.e. child care or mental health) to the standardised generic training as we know it today. I like the first chapter mainly because it provides an overview of the influence that psychoanalysis had in the evolution of professional social work. Kanter also highlights the increasingly bureaucratic nature of social work practice (sadly), as opposed to the more in-depth and personal nature of practice in days gone by.

The next eight chapters comprise papers written by Winnicott herself spanning 1944—1984. This part of the book, in my opinion, would make for excellent learning material in the training of new social workers. Her talent for grasping complex human and theoretical issues and conveying these in a simple straightforward style is one of the main qualities of her writing. A true teacher, she de-mystifies and lucidly describes the needs of hurt and traumatised children, and how as social workers we can best approach our work keeping in mind the reality and limitations that we bring to the work ourselves.

She provides some wisdom for everyone; the residential social worker, the field social worker, the social worker manager, and those involved in youth justice. These chapters offer organised, detailed and practical guidance to every aspect of direct social work with children, including clear and easy to understand psychological explan_ations. Many of the questions often asked by practitioners about how to do the job well are answered in these chapters.

Winnicott emphasises, above all, the importance of validating each individual child’s emotional experiences, however painful. I would highlight chapter seven as an example of her wisdom and common-sense insight. This chapter concentrates, in detail, on the emotionally painful and challenging work of coming face to face with hurt and disturbed children. She warns of the danger to children when we try and rescue them from their painful experience. "We see only too clearly the gaps in their lives and recognise that their basic needs are not being met ... Before we know where we are, we find ourselves concentrating on filling the gaps for the child at the expense of the other part of our job, which is too look at the gaps with them" (p. 169).

How refreshing to read such illuminating insight into what these children need from their social workers!

The last chapters in the book include short papers offering an intelligent view of the personal attributes of the social worker. She suggests what we need to be thinking about in terms of our motivation and what keeps us going in the face of the stresses and disappointments, which are inevitable in this work. Winnicott illustrated her grasp of the impact on the individual worker and challenges us to develop self- awareness, and also highlights for managers the need for front-line staff to have recuperating time away on holidays and peer support.