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Cited by 34Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsSocial Work Education and PracticeReligion, Spirituality, and Psychology

Social Workers' Narratives of Integrating Mindfulness into Practice

Open access
Lynn, Robyn, Mensinga, Jo·2015·Journal of Social Work Practice
DOI 10.1080/02650533.2015.1035237
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Abstract

Mindfulness is increasingly important as a professional intervention in social work; however, little is known about how practitioners integrate a practice of eastern origins into a western context. To explore the integration of mindfulness in social work, we collected written stories from social workers who participated in two workshops in regional Australia. The participants developed their own individual written narratives about their understanding of and experience in using mindfulness, and contributed these to a larger group discussion. We identified four scenarios/plotlines within the collected stories and ‘restoried’ four examples of the participants' written narratives. The stories reveal that participants experience little dissonance when integrating mindfulness into their personal lives, but the process of incorporating it into their practice requires a complex negotiation between the participant's story of themselves as a practitioner of mindfulness, their ‘professional story’, stories of themselves as social workers and the story of social work in their professional knowledge landscape.

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Crossref · 10.1080/02650533.2015.1035237

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  • Evidence is growing that MBPs could help social workers adapt to and recover from stress and burnout.

    “The evidence that Mindfulness-based programmes (MBP) could help social workers to adapt to and recover from feelings of stress and burnout is growing (Craigie et al., 2016; Kinman et al., 2020; Lynn & Mensinga, 2015; Miller et al., 2020).”

    From Testing Mindfulness Mechanisms of Action on the Stress and Burnout of Social Workers (2024) · cites this paper as Lynn & Mensinga, 2015

    The ‘Mindfulness in social work’ section says that literature on mindfulness’s role and effectiveness for social workers is developing and describes mindfulness-based applications as a form of self-care. The Introduction also reports benefits including inner calm. Our copy does not establish that mindfulness-based programmes help social workers adapt to or recover from stress and burnout specifically. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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  • Mindfulness of the present has been found to benefit social workers and their practice through improved attention, better self-awareness, greater empathy and compassion, increased calmness and supporting the development of alternative strategies for better daily functioning and well-being.

    “This mindfulness of the ‘present’ has been found to benefit social workers and their practice through improved attention, better self-awareness, greater empathy and compassion, increased calmness and supporting the development of alternative strategies for better daily functioning and well-being (Lynn & Mensinga, 2015).”

    From A randomised trial of Mindfulness-based Social Work and Self-Care with social workers (2023) · cites this paper as Lynn & Mensinga, 2015

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Hick, SF (2008) 'My personal journey to mindfulness: implications for social work', Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 16 -23.
  2. Hick, SF & Furlotte, C (2009) 'Mindfulness and social justice approaches: Bridging the mind and society in social work practice', Canadian Social Work, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 5 -25.
  3. Riessmann, CK (2007) Narrative Methods for the Human Services, Sage Publications, London.
  4. Wallace, BA (2012) Meditations for a Buddhist Sceptic: A Manifesto for the Mind Sciences and Contemplative Practice, Columbia University Press, New York, NY.

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Authors
Lynn, R., & Mensinga, J.
ORCID
Mensinga, Jo
Venue
Journal of Social Work Practice
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2015-04-27
Volume
29
Issue
3
Pages
255-270
ISSN
  • 0265-0533 (ISSN-L)
  • 1465-3885
DOI
10.1080/02650533.2015.1035237
OpenAlex
W2004823127
Cited by
34
References
38
Citations by year
2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6
FWCI
3.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Social Work Practice (publishedVersion)
  • ResearchOnline at James Cook University (James Cook University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Australian Government
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Public Administration › Social Work Education and Practice
  • Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
Keywords
mindfulness, social work practice, practitioner narratives, professional knowledge, restorying, personal and professional identity

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