Self-Care Rhetoric in Neoliberal Organisations: Social Worker Experiences

Abstract

Self-care has become an increasingly important practice for social workers to ensure practitioner wellbeing and effective, ethical practice outcomes. However, undertaking self-care activities is often considered the responsibility of individual social workers with limited consideration of how the workplace may influence their understanding and practice of self-care. Based in Southeast Queensland, Australia this paper uses interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand workplaces influences on eleven social worker’s practice and experience of self-care. This study produced rich data about how social workers perceive workplaces’ use of self-care rhetoric to achieve increased productivity and minimise organisational risk. Social workers instead suggested self-care practices and practitioner well-being was more easily maintained in organisations that fostered supportive teams and healthy workplace cultures. This research illustrates how the concept of self-care has become manipulated to meet the neoliberal demands of organisations rather than a mechanism for supporting social workers. Findings of this study suggest more research, practice, policing, and funding should focus on organisational practices and policies which support social workers well-being, rather than focusing on individualised practices of self-care.