Moving Social Work

Modern social work is many things, but one of its central tenets involves the belief that everyone should have access to the same opportunities to live full, active, healthy lives, regardless of circumstance and background. In this spirit, the Moving Social Work (MSW) project - part of Durham University Department of Sport & Exercise Sciences - aims to harness the skills and values of social workers to support the health, wellbeing and human rights of people with disabilities. MSW focuses on promoting physical activity and the benefits this generates for mind and body, actively creating resources and co-produced strategies for new and established social workers to deploy as part of their practice. Our research shows disabled people want to have more conversations about physical activity with health and social care professionals, including social workers. Why this group specifically? Because they are trusted. They are trusted because they are empathic, a reliable source of information and knowledgeable of individual circumstances. They also tend to spend more time with the people they support and are best placed to advocate for the upholding of their human rights. That said, conversations in relation to improving physical activity can be lacking. Within this project, a training, delivered all across England, has been co-produced to help social care workers navigate conversations about physical activity with disabled people, empowering and encouraging service users to move more. This training is one of an array of resources and strategies for the education of the social care workers of today and tomorrow.