Becoming a ‘Social Work Coach’: How Practising Coaching Creates Beneficial Agility in Social Work Identity

Abstract

Abstract This article explores how social workers experienced the intersection of social work and coaching roles, and the impact that incorporating dual roles within a child protection context has on social work identity. It discusses the themes from a ‘real-world’ qualitative study conducted in a local authority family support and child protection service in the North of England. Thematic analysis was used to interpret data from focus groups and semi-structured interviews with seven social workers, and semi-structured interviews with six service users. The findings reveal that social work identities initially become disrupted through using coaching, before a more flexible, enriched professional identity is fashioned which is congruent with both the social work persona and coaching attitudes and behaviours. Service users appeared to intuit this shift in professional identity when comparing their received experiences of social work and coaching. They responded by compartmentalising their hostile associations towards their social worker identity and recast them positively as ‘coaches’. The study findings infer significant applied implications for social work practice, education and continuing professional development that includes coaching knowledge and skills training.