Blog 3 – British Journal of Social Work lived experience issue
29 June 2022
bloginclusioninvolvementThis is part of a series of blogs kindly contributed by the editorial group working on the lived experience edition of the British Journal of Social Work.
Blog three is by Omar Mohamed.
Throughout being a Guest Editor for the academic papers category, I find myself in a position of shaping identity through both a social work student and as someone who lived with social worker involvement throughout my childhood. My lived experience of feeling invisible, disempowered, and voiceless is a common theme for children with social workers. It has been great to reflect on this and act on this through this role.
Through this process, I have been reminded of the importance of valuing and empowering voices to be heard. This has been an important part of this process. Each academic paper that is submitted has both a lived experience reviewer and an academic reviewer, and it has been transformative to see how reviews can be both focused on academic rigour and supportive to develop the writing of the author.
The learning from this special issue should transcend into other journals to value the voices of people with lived experience, but to also ensure that all people that submit to an academic journal are supported to understand their voice matters, and that a review is meant to support, empower, and bring people up, rather than put them down.
Omar Mohamed is a Social Work Student at the University of Birmingham and person with lived experience of social work services – omarmohamedsw@outlook.com