Social Work Consultancy
Sometimes the difficulty is not knowing what to do next
Health, disability, education and social care systems can be difficult to navigate, particularly when you are already dealing with something complicated in your own life or family.
Sometimes you know that something is not working, but you don't know what support exists or where to begin.
Sometimes several services are involved and nobody seems to be looking at the whole picture.
Sometimes you have been given a form, a process or a decision that you don't fully understand.
And sometimes you simply need somebody who understands how systems work to go through it with you and help make sense of what comes next.
I am a CORU-registered social worker, and I am used to thinking about people not only as individuals, but in the context of their families, services, communities and wider circumstances.
Social Work Consultancy at Shoreline offers independent professional support to adults and families who need help understanding a situation, identifying possible options and deciding what to do next.
What I can help with
There is no single reason why somebody might seek social work consultancy. Depending on your circumstances, I may be able to help you with:
Understanding and navigating services
If you are unsure which services may be relevant, what a particular service does, or how different parts of a system fit together, we can look at that together. This may include helping you understand the options available to you, what questions you may want to ask and what your next steps could be.
I cannot guarantee access to a particular service or a particular outcome, but I can help you understand the landscape you are trying to navigate.
Making sense of a complex situation
Sometimes the problem is not one isolated issue. There may be family circumstances, mental health needs, disability, education, caring responsibilities or several professionals and services involved at the same time.
Part of my role can be to help you step back from all of those moving parts, identify what matters most at the moment and think about what may need to happen next.
Forms and professional documentation
Some applications ask for information, supporting documentation or input from a professional, and the request itself is often unclear. I can help you understand what is actually being asked for, work out who is best placed to provide each part of it, and organise the information you already have so that what you submit is coherent and says what you need it to say.
Where a form specifically requires input from a social work professional, we can look at what that requirement actually means and whether I am in a position to provide it.
What I do not offer is a professional signature as a service.
Any professional statement I make has to be something I can reasonably support from work I have actually done. In many cases, the person who should be completing a professional section is somebody who already knows your situation. Where that is not obvious, we can work out together who that is likely to be.
Being a social worker does not mean I can responsibly certify something I have not assessed or do not know to be true.
Reviewing information and preparing for meetings
You may have reports, correspondence or other documents that are difficult to make sense of, or you may be preparing for a meeting with a service and feel unsure about what you need to ask. Where appropriate, consultancy may include reviewing relevant documentation with you, helping you identify the important issues and preparing questions or points you want to raise.
Preparing for contact with services
Sometimes what is difficult is not the information itself but the conversation you are about to have. Where it forms part of the work we have agreed, we can prepare for that contact together: what you want to ask, what you want on record, what you need the service to understand, and what your options are if the answer is not the one you were hoping for.
I do not contact services or professionals in your place. Social Work Consultancy is not formal advocacy or representation, and if what you need is somebody to act for you, I will say so rather than doing it halfway.
How consultations take place
Social Work Consultancy is offered online by video call, wherever you are in Ireland. This means that we can work together without you needing to travel. Where documents or other material form part of the agreed work, we will agree a secure way for these to be shared.
What happens first
We begin with an initial consultation. You do not need to work out in advance exactly what service you need from me. That is partly what the initial consultation is for. Before we meet, I will review the information you have provided through the enquiry process so that our time together can be used well.
The consultation lasts approximately 60 minutes.
I will ask you about what is happening, what you have already tried, which services or professionals may already be involved and what you are hoping to achieve. We can then decide whether Social Work Consultancy is appropriate, whether I am the right professional to help and what the work is likely to involve.
Following the consultation, I will provide you with a brief written summary of the main points discussed and the possible next steps we identified. Sometimes that is all that is needed. In other situations, further work may be useful.
That could involve reviewing documents, researching appropriate services or pathways, organising information, working out what a form or application actually requires, preparing for a meeting, or continuing to work together on a more complex situation.
I will not assume that because you have had an initial consultation you want to continue.
First we understand the situation. Then we decide what, if anything, needs to happen next.
Confidentiality and its limits
What you tell me is confidential, and I take the privacy of the information you share with me seriously. There are, however, limits to confidentiality, and I would rather you knew about them before you tell me anything or send me documents.
As a CORU-registered social worker, I am a mandated person under the Children First Act 2015. This means that there are circumstances in which I have a legal obligation to report child protection concerns to Tusla.
Confidentiality may also need to be limited where disclosure is necessary to prevent harm to you or another person, or where disclosure is required by law. Where information needs to be disclosed, I will only share information that is relevant to the purpose of that disclosure.
I will explain the limits of confidentiality before we begin working together, and you are welcome to ask about them before sharing information or documents.
How documents are shared
Please do not send reports, letters or other documents with your first enquiry.
If we agree to work together, we will agree a secure method for sharing documents before anything is sent. I will explain how information is stored, how long it is retained and what happens to it when the work ends.
Much of what you may want me to read contains sensitive information about other people as well as you, often including children. That is worth handling properly from the start rather than sorting out afterwards.
Fees
Social Work Consultancy does not have a single fixed fee because the amount of professional work involved can vary considerably.
Initial Consultation — €150
The initial consultation fee includes:
reasonable preparation before our meeting
a 60-minute online consultation
a brief written summary of the main points discussed and possible next steps
Sometimes the initial consultation is all that is needed.
If further work would be useful, we will discuss this separately.
Further professional work — €120 per hour
Additional professional work is charged at €120 per hour, calculated in 15-minute increments.
This may include time spent with you as well as agreed professional work undertaken outside meetings, such as reviewing reports or documentation, researching relevant services or pathways, working through forms or applications, organising information, or preparing material with you for a meeting.
Before any additional work begins, I will explain what I think is required and give you an estimate of the professional time and likely cost. We will also agree a maximum amount of work that can be undertaken without coming back to you for further approval.
For example, if a piece of work is estimated to require between two and three hours, I may quote an estimated cost of €240–€360. I would not undertake work beyond the agreed maximum of €360 without discussing it with you first and receiving your agreement.
If the scope changes while I am working on something, I will tell you before undertaking additional chargeable work. You are under no obligation to proceed with further work after the initial consultation.
There should be no unexpected piece of work followed by an unexpected bill.
Social Work Consultancy is not psychotherapy
I offer both psychotherapy and Social Work Consultancy through Shoreline, but they are different professional services.
Social Work Consultancy is practical and systems-focused. Its purpose may be to understand services, organise information, explore options, prepare for contact with services, make sense of documentation or work through a particular social care situation.
Psychotherapy has a different purpose and therapeutic relationship. There may be circumstances where either service could potentially be useful, but I will be clear with you about which role I am working in. I will not quietly move between the two.
What I cannot promise
I think it is important to be clear about the limits of this service. I cannot guarantee that an application will be accepted, that a service will make a particular decision or that you will receive a particular resource or outcome. I cannot provide a professional opinion or statement simply because one has been requested.
This service does not include reports, assessments or professional opinions for legal proceedings, court, child protection processes or any other formal decision-making process. If that is what you need, you need somebody instructed for that purpose, and I will tell you so rather than taking the work on.
Taking on Social Work Consultancy does not mean that I am agreeing to provide formal representation, legal advocacy, case management or an ongoing social work service. If what you need falls outside my professional scope, I will tell you.
Sometimes useful professional advice is also knowing when somebody else is better placed to help.
Is Social Work Consultancy right for me?
You do not need to know before contacting me. You may have a very specific question, a pile of documents you don't quite understand, a form you need professional help with, or simply the feeling that your family has become caught between several systems and you no longer know where to start.
Send me a brief enquiry explaining what you are looking for. I can then let you know whether it sounds like something I may be able to help with and whether an initial consultation would be appropriate.
You don't have to understand the whole system before asking for help.
Sometimes the first piece of work is simply working out where you are in it.