Taking it personally: practitioner perspectives on the unfinished business of putting personalisation into practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I foreground the perspectives of a small group of social workers involved in the iterative process of putting personalisation into practice from within local authority adult social care settings. I set out my approach, which invokes a practice standpoint definition of personalisation, drawn from a reflective round table discussion. This definition incorporates the emotional labour of the liminal lived experience of working towards putting personalisation into practice, under constrained and evolving conditions. I consider how certain tropes of transformation engender frustration and associated emotional responses, which practitioners and managers need to acknowledge and be able to engage with. I draw on shame studies, and factors considered most relevant to practitioner wellbeing. I conclude that a greater focus on the elements of lived experience of practice may lead to specific insights, likely to remain of relevance as the future of social care continues to be mapped.