Teamwork in social work centres is very important, and I believe we should address it more often. In social work centres, social workers may find themselves in different situations, which they cannot solve on their own; they have to cooperate with other professional workers and participate in different forms of teamwork in order to find suitable solutions together. In the paper, I study views of social workers on cooperation with other professionals in a team. I believe that, by studying views and experience of social workers, I can paint a comprehensive picture of their good practices and encourage all social workers to think deeply about how they perceive teamwork and to disseminate good practices.
In the theoretical part, I presented literature that is related to this topic. I focused on different authors, who highlight the field of social work, ethics, and the professional role and skills of social workers. I also dealt with different professional profiles that can be found in social work centres. I presented teamwork and defined its types and forms. I went on to portray the characteristics of successful teamwork and effectives teams. In the end, I presented how social work is related to teamwork and cooperation with other professionals.
In the empirical part of the paper, I conducted a research, using semi-standardized interviews, and processed the acquired data, using the qualitative method. The research comprised 6 social workers, who worked in different social work centres across Slovenia in August and September 2020 and who had at last one year of experience in teamwork with other professionals in social work centres.
In the research, I determined that social workers are well included in teamwork with other professionals and that they perceive cooperation with other professions positively. They attach great importance to sharing and broadening knowledge. They like to cooperate with lawyers and psychologists, as what they have to offer benefits them the most. Social team complements teamwork with important contributions: social workers bring empathy and accuracy to the team, as they thoroughly review any agreements and remain professional at work. According to social workers, participation in a team contributes to greater well-being, as they expressed positive emotions. Teamwork can help establish a greater connection and stronger interpersonal relations between social workers and professionals working in the centre. Through cooperation, social workers grow on the personal and professional levels, thus gaining a broad spectrum of information, data, and knowledge. Social workers believe that the more they are experienced in teamwork, the more their confidence grows when performing professional work. With regard to team cooperation, they find important the question of modern social work concepts, the establishment of a working relationship, and equality between them and other professionals. They mainly suggest that social workers keep fostering their positive view on the cooperation with other professionals and broaden their practices; I believe that this makes them even more eager to perform their work effectively. However, more trainings related to teamwork should be carried out in social work centres, as this would help social workers overcome obstacles in different situations.
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