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social workers are so over-loaded with day to
day work that they find it difficult to make
time for the assimilation of new methods
however timesaving these may prove to be
in the long run A policy of teaching these
methods on the job' has, however, considerable
advantages, not least when the cost of taking
two hours off a week for such study is
contrasted with the cost of seconding and
sending away workers on full pay to much
longer courses It is hoped that with the
setting up of the new unified department of
social services this question will be given
close examination
A list of various organisations who have
sent their workers for one-day orientation
courses in social functioning at London
University is appended.
In addition to work with the scale much
time has been spent by Professor Heimler
in the last two years on the development of
new and short term methods of interviewing
and of helping the client to call up his own
(often unrealised) resources These methods
are now being taught by experienced social
workers and teachers in the social work
schools of the Universities of Washington
and of Calgary, and by the social work training
staffs of government departments in California
A close eye is kept on any new ideas
originating from Hounslow and Louise Dighton
has been invited to take part in the August
vacation training semina-s of the American
Centre for Studies in Social Functioning in
Seattle, to share something of her recent
experiments in the creative use of the scale
with young people and groups of delinquents
From the centre in Seattle trained workers
are now setting up new centres in Oregon
Arizona and California from which social
functioning methods will be disseminated
In Canada a Government grant of $100 000
to the University of Calgary (where Professor
Heimler holds his chair) will now make
possible large scale research, and additional
funds will cover a planned provincial
demonstration project under the aegis of the
Department of Manpower and Immigration
In conclusion, it can be said that, as a
result of the work carried out in Hounslow
it is now possible to anticipate danger levels
in human social functioning to which social
work resources can be directed and then to
measure the effectiveness of such social
work intervention Social work thus moves
out of the realm of subjective assessment
and begins to find a scientific basis for its
operations At a time when Great Britain also
moves into a new era of unified social services
it can justly be claimed that Hounslow, and
the support it has given to a complex piece of
social research, has contributed significantly
to the provision of new and imaginative tools
and methods of helping people in crisis,
methods which will become historically
important as their full significance comes to
be realised in later years.
Training in Social Functioning
Organisations sending staff to central London
Orientation and Training Courses
Greater London Council - Social Work Adviser
and other officers
Surrey County Council
Richmond London Borough of
Newham. London Borough of, Community Care
Psychologist and Psychiatric Social Workers
Inner London Education Authority
B B C T V Research Department
Maudsley Addiction Research Unit
Church of England Council for Social
Responsibility
The Probation Service
North West Polytechnic Tutor in Child Care
Assistant Principal Probation Officer Cheshire
University of Surrev Lecturer
Home Office, Approved School Headmaster
North West Regional Hospital Board - Tutor
West Middlesex Hospital Mental Health Social
Workers
BBC Central Welfare Department
Spastic Society, Psychiatric Social Worker
Youth Workers with Unattached Youth Richmond
Child Guidance Clinic, Richmond, Psychiatric
Social Worker
General Practitioner Yeovil
Liverpool Family Caseworkers
Greater London Council Care Organisers
University of London Senior Lecturer in Education
I LEA Headmistress
Lancashire. Research Officer
Manchester Assistant Principal Probation Officer
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