Shape-shifter and Agenda Setter: The Influence of Emotion in Social Work Practice and Practice Education

As an interpersonal profession, operating within and between amyriad of nebulous psycho-social worlds, a significant proportion ofsocial work's currency resides in emotion, providing impetus for actionor omission. This paper asserts that due diligence must be exercisedtowards emotion within social work training and practice, givingconsideration to the journey towards qualification, fraught as it canbe; emphasising the need to bring emotion out of the shadows andinto the light. This is not simply a ‘how did that make you feel?' task,rather one of acknowledgement and acceptance, which lends itselfto an exploration of the layered interface where emotion comes intobeing, prodded and poked, twisted and contorted, by the powerfulforces of politics, sensationalism and reductionism, which seek toorchestrate simplicity and control