In my experience, this is one of the easiest parts of the social work process to miss, but one that can cause long-term danger to service users. The process of either seeking help or having helped forced upon you can be highly distressing. The assessment process can open up old wounds and bring to light distressing truths that have long been suppressed. Interventions may disrupt old and comfortable ways of dealing with life. The review and evaluation can also profoundly affect people’s self-perceptions in distressing ways.

All too often, having done all of that, the social worker just walks away and gets on with their job leaving behind them a confused, distressed, and sometimes devastated service user.

Therefore, getting the ending right is vital. It starts at point of first contact. Even from that first meeting the social worker should be helping the service user define what needs to change in order for the work to be concluded. As Stephen Covey puts it in his book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, you need to “begin with the end in mind”.

Effective review and monitoring should take place in the light of whether or not you are moving towards the point where the work can conclude.

At the point of closure, it is important to take time to both celebrate success and also recognise that a stage in the person’s life is ending; you will no longer be working with them. In various ways, that might be a time for celebrating and of mourning or adjustment.

In reviewing what has changed, how it has changed, and what lessons have been learned, this allows a chance for ‘relapse prevention’, for preparing for what the person can do should the situation deteriorate in order to prevent them from needing services.

Time taken to end the work well can be a major factor in determining whether an intervention as a lasting positive effect, or whether the social worker ended up, as happens far too often, causes more harm than good in lives of people who are already vulnerable.

Created by M. Allenby. Last updated by M. Allenby 22.8.16