Your editorial about new ideas in social work (3 September) was right to highlight the power of building relationships rather than pushing people through disconnected services. The examples you gave, and the brilliant work of the Changing Futures programme, show that when practitioners spend time getting to know people, treat them with respect and see and understand the whole person, lives can change for the better.
But calling these projects “pioneers” risks making them sound like rare exceptions. If this way of working is proving effective, why should it be left to a handful of special schemes? Relational support shouldn’t be a side experiment – it should be the foundation of all our public services.
That means thinking differently about how support is designed and funded. Too often, staff are pressured to hit short-term targets or process people quickly, rather than to build trust and stick with them through setbacks. Whether it’s housing, health, jobcentres or children’s services, people need consistent relationships with practitioners who have the time, skills and tools to listen, encourage and challenge when needed.
We know this works. The challenge now is to stop treating it as something radical or unusual and start making it the norm across the board – rewiring outcomes, models, funding and practice so that relational support is the foundation, not the frontier, of support services.
Sarah Owen and Marie Buss
Co-managing directors, Outcomes Star
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