Confronting Uncertainty: Lessons from Rural Social Work

Abstract

Communities in Australia and internationally are experiencing massive change. Climate variability is an aspect of change that social workers in Australia, particularly in rural areas, are grappling with. Vulnerable populations will be at increased risk as extreme weather events increase in frequency. Communities will be facing social challenges hitherto unknown. The experience of uncertainty and fragmentation as characteristics of postmodernism has exposed the ambiguous and contested nature of much of social work practice and contributed to a crisis of confidence for the social work profession. The move towards rationality and linear approaches in the postwelfare state is often at odds with the complexity and uncertainty of human situations that has always been social work terrain. It can be argued that social work, with its ethical base, person-in-environment approach, expertise in ambiguity and complexity, and recognition of context, is well-placed to manage postmodern uncertainty. Using the 2009 Victorian bushfire example, I argue that an uncertain future is an opportunity for social workers, those working in rural areas in particular, to reassert social work's moral purpose in working with communities facing change. Implications for social work policy, practice, and education are briefly explored.

Abstract

Keywords:

• Uncertainty
• Social Work
• Natural Disasters
• Rural

Notes

¹Excess deaths are defined as the number of deaths above what would be expected to occur during a specific period of time, for example by comparison with data from previous years. Analysis of deaths during the Victorian heatwave of 2009 shows a 62% increase in total mortality compared to the previous five years, and a 77% increase in deaths reported to the State Coroner compared with the same period in the previous year (Victorian Government Department of Human Services, 2009).