Consilience in social work: reflections on thinking, doing and being

This thesis is oriented towards social work practice and the inter-relationship of thinking, doing and being. The thesis seeks to apply the concept of consilience to social work by considering the importance of thinking and doing and the use of being (self) in actual practice. Drawing on professional social work practice, secondary data, critical life experiences and critical reflections on them, a model of social work practice is developed and then using a post-facto reflective approach as a methodology, the model is trialled across the five major areas of social work”individual/family work, group work, community work, social work research and social work leadership/management/ administration. The thesis is, in part, a response to the call for experienced practitioners to document their own initiatives in practice and reflect upon them in a way that builds better social work practice. Dissimilar to some theses, this thesis firmly aims at practice and practice improvement by articulating the conscious and explicit use of `being in social work.