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ABSTRACT
Issues of power and authority are core to social work. Social workers often grapple with difficult professional and systemic power dynamics with both service users and the other professionals they encounter in multi-agency working. In this essay, I reflect on my experiences of the ethical issues arising from an imbalance in power dynamics – both between myself and a service user and between myself and another professional. I explore the use of power and professional authority, value dilemmas resulting from my role as both a social work student and a youth justice worker, and deontological and teleological issues arising from tensions between professionals with differing objectives.
KEYWORDS:
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on contributors
Leah McComb graduated with a BSc in History from the University of Texas at Tyler. After teaching English around the world, she obtained her MSc in Social work from the University of Brighton in 2019. She is now working as a social worker within a children's disability team in England.
Notes
1 All names have been changed and organisations anonymised to protect the identity of service users and professionals and to ensure complete confidentiality in line with standard of proficiency (SOP) 7 of the ‘Health and Care Professions Council Standards of Proficiency for Social workers in England’ (Citation2017).