Books about social work
January 26, 2010 4:07 AM Subscribe
Hi i'm intrested in becoming a social worker in the UK i was looking for works of fiction (based on real life) that may give me some idea of what the job may be like. If its a good read that would be ideal! Many Thanks
Well, Michael Dibdin's The Tryst is (like most of his books) a hell of a good read, and a work of fiction, and contains a lot of detail of a social worker's life in Thatcherite UK, so it meets most of your criteria. "Based on real life" only partly, but those parts ring pretty convincing.
posted by aqsakal at 6:49 AM on January 26, 2010
posted by aqsakal at 6:49 AM on January 26, 2010
Do you know what area of social work you're interested in? Also, are you interested in books featuring people with the title "social worker", or books featuring people doing social work? Sorry to answer a question with two more, but I didn't want to recommend a bunch of books on social workers doing clinical therapy if you're more interested in child protection, aging issues, or one of the other 857 things social workers do.
posted by epj at 2:20 PM on January 26, 2010
posted by epj at 2:20 PM on January 26, 2010
Can't help you with the fiction, but oddly enough, I was given the opposite impression of mippy's article (tough to get in) by an American who recently finished a 6- to 12-month placement with them, and was offered to stay. If you are in a similar position (especially the US to UK aspect, since it is not so common) I could help connect you two. (Are you on couchsurfing? that's how I met her.)
posted by whatzit at 8:23 PM on January 26, 2010
posted by whatzit at 8:23 PM on January 26, 2010
Response by poster: Hi epg was thinking more child based work and was after a glimps of what social work would actual be like.
posted by lpoulter at 2:33 PM on January 27, 2010
posted by lpoulter at 2:33 PM on January 27, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Social workers have a very bad press here at the moment - you might be well reading up on the Baby P case, which was very high-profile, to see what the bad end of the job is like. Unless reading about some of this bad press has made you keen to come and work over here - are you currently a social worker elsewhere?
The only fiction that comes to mind is Claire in the Community.
posted by mippy at 4:14 AM on January 26, 2010