Embracing the wounded self in social work practice : leverage on vulnerabilities

Abstract

Despite the reality that many of those individuals who enter the field of social work are wounded healers, research in this field pertaining to the local context is lacking. This dissertation explores the lived experience of wounded social workers and in what ways social workers experience their ‘woundedness’ as facilitating or impeding their practice. The first part of the literature review focused on research pertaining to the ‘use of self’ in social work practice, complimented by the history of this notion. The rationale was to provide an understanding of the pivotal role of the ‘self’ in said practice. The second part of the literature review placed woundedness under the lens, exploring ways it permeates professional practice and thus shifted attention to the wounded part of the ‘self’. This dissertation involved a qualitative study of twelve participants who self-identified as wounded healers. In this study, I implemented a hermeneutic phenomenological design, employing thematic analysis for the interpretation of data. Data were gathered through the use of semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the data resulted in the emergence of five overarching themes imbued with the meanings participants gave in relation to the embracing of their wounded self. These themes were the wounded healer profile, contribution to practice, the negative aspects in relation to woundedness, self-awareness and the healing journey. In conclusion, a summary of the findings, limitations of the study and recommendations for research and practice, were presented.