Tuesday, 15 August 2023

From The Archives

Every now and then I find myself trawling through the vast 'back catalogue' of comments this blog has accumulated and in the process come across a gem I don't recall, or worse, maybe never read in the halcyon days of unmoderated comments. A good example is this from 17th May 2020 at 22:52. I wonder if the author is still "being bluntly honest and annoying people and getting the job done."

--oo00oo--

There are still people in the service committed to social work values. Still people committed to supporting people to feel they have value and the ability to change. Still people hanging on in there after 20 plus years because one word at the right time can have an enormous impact on many lives. When I walked into a probation office for the first time oh such a long time ago I was told I'd made a terrible choice, Probation was dying and if I had any sense I'd turn around and leave. I didn't, still haven't, and have no intention of doing so. I still have the values that made my vocation the correct one (for me and hopefully many of my cases) and I share them freely with each and every colleague who cares to listen. And a large number of them do listen. 

As far as I am concerned, the heart of what I do is to really see the person in front of me. No policy or EDM will teach you about that, but quietly going about your day showing compassion and respect can make a world of difference. Am I going to change the world? Maybe....a little.. for a few people. Am I a little oasys of calm in a complex world? Absolutely not - I swear and complain and rage about the same things everyone else does. Have I thought about leaving? Absolutely, but they're not getting rid of me that easily - I'm going to stay and keep being bluntly honest and annoying people and getting the job done. And I'll keep doing it in a way that works for the people I'm working with - at least I still have hope that it does. That one to one relationship hasn't changed in 20 years and it's needed more than ever. And I'm going to share those blasted annoying social values all over the place, and some of them will stick in a few places. And when it gets too overwhelming I'll probably cry and feel de-skilled (a probation speciality) and look at the jobs pages for a couple of weeks, but tomorrow a new case will walk through the door who needs someone to listen to them and I'll do that instead.

I'll admit to being an idealistic young thing when I walked in to my first Probation office. And that was after I'd had to take my last employer to court for their illegal discriminatory behaviours against me. And I'll admit to be being significantly more jaded and cynical than your average person as a direct result of experiencing the metamorphosis of Probation into whatever thing it is. But I also know that these same complaints and moans were being said 20 years ago. There never was a golden age of Probation, it's always been a bit shit at lots of things and people have always tried to shove the next big idea down our necks that's not really that different from the last big idea but with extra paperwork.

And our core is still that time between you and another person who needs you to see them. That's it. Bugger the sodding paperwork though.

Anon

14 comments:

  1. "a little oasys of calm" - intended or not, that is beautiful!

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  2. Looks like the tories might have pushed their boat out a bit too far?

    "The Conservatives have become all but inured to litigation, but a case that the immigration lawyer Jacqueline McKenzie is proposing to bring against them over what she maintains was a defamatory “dossier” they sent out about her to four right-wing newspapers looks as if it will be a cause of peculiar embarrassment both to the party and their chums in the press.

    Tory headquarters have not disputed that earlier this month its press team – apparently desperate to find a focus for the party’s hatred of “lefty lawyers” – emailed a four-page document about McKenzie, the head of immigration and asylum at the law firm Leigh Day, to the Sun, Express, Mail and Telegraph. The immigration minister Robert Jenrick, after writing a piece on this theme for the Sun, compounded matters by once again identifying McKenzie on air as one of the lawyers he had in mind when he appeared on Good Morning Britain." [New European]

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  3. I too still share those ‘blasted annoying’ social work values ! I’m the old git in my team but I’m hanging on in - if for no other reason than to annoy the youngsters ;)

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    Replies
    1. Yes and less of you every month. So any change back ain't gonna happen the new kids like it this way. They don't think of an alternative because their selection for conditioning is all negative control. Robotrons.

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    2. The ageism in the probation service really needs to stop. Older does not always mean a better probation officer and younger practitioners can have “social work values” too.

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    3. Yes that is true……but it’s in short supply

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  4. They are robots no empathy compassion or insight they should join the police and get better pay

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  5. I am the author of that comment and goodness was I surprised to see it pop up again! Yes, yes, yes I am still being all of those things and getting the job done. Yes I still speak my mind and tell people what I really think, bluntly and in words with four letters sometimes. Yes its still awful but the core of what i do is still as i said it 3 years ago . My time and skill is best spent with cases so that's where its spent. I've branched out a bit, and do a bit of training - because it's another way to show people it doesn't have to be like this and it gets me out of worsr excesses of paperwork sometimes. I detest Probation and the civil service. But I am a Probation Officer and I will see this through. Not the sodding paperwork though.

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    Replies
    1. Anon 20:58 Thanks for that and good to hear you are still in the job! Just what I hoped.

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    2. No doubt there are still probation officers out there. However, they're prevented from practicing their skills by a system that is determined to replace them with prison officers in the community.

      I find the following comment extraordinary as another inspection report is published.

      "The next step is turning this ambition into high-quality services for people on probation to deter them from reoffending."

      Wasn't that a reality for probation throughout its history, rather then a modern day ambition?


      https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-66521044.amp?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16922639769864&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com

      'Getafix

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    3. Who said that? Oh... Justin Splinterpants

      Bristol etc - "Despite many positive aspects of the leadership..."

      Score = 6/27

      https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/08/An-inspection-of-probation-services-in-Bristol-and-South-Gloucestershire-PDU.pdf

      Delete
  6. The cult of managerialism, -
    Managers over ruling practitioners - is being slaughtered following the Lucy Letby trial.
    There are so many parallels with probation.
    Manager, non practitioner, not qualified, bean counter etc. holds sway and frontline staff take the hit.

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    Replies
    1. But as the Bristol Inquiry proved, the recommendation that 'managers' should be held accountable & removed when proven to be ineffective, culpable. useless, etc was dismissed & deleted by HMGov & NHS - *they* need managerialism to maintain political control.

      And therein lies the parallel to criminal justice (& what used to be probation) - control.

      Control the narrative. Control the staff.

      Command & Control.

      Nothing will change until UK politics changes; and that won't change because those interested in politics are too greedy & myopic to consider any other option but self-interest, accumulation of wealth & power, and cringeworthy self-congratulatory puff-pieces as above.

      https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/273320/5363.pdf

      https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/bristol-scandal-and-its-consequences-politics-rationalisation-and-use

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001np2h

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001kh27/episodes/player

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