Film about inspiring social worker is a legacy for the next generation
![Daphne McKenna](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_s/public/2023-10/Daphne-McKenna.png?h=e7fdd528&itok=FLY4hp8i)
Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 4 October, 2023
A film about a social worker whose legacy was described as “quietly immense” has been released.
A Life in Social Work (see link below) tells the story of Daphne McKenna following her untimely death in 2020 aged 65.
The film - produced by her husband David Morris with former colleague and friend Marie Diggins and supported by BASW - aims to show what makes a great social worker.
Starting her career as a psychiatric nursing assistant in Surrey in 1977, Daphne became a trainee social worker in 1979, going on to be an influential figure in child safeguarding.
She wrote protocols and guidance still used today and through her consultancy, Training in Practice, shared her safeguarding expertise with a range of professionals.
But according to David, it was Daphne’s ability to navigate the complexities of social work procedures without losing sight of people that was most inspiring.
“Daphne was very modest about her achievements, but I would say her legacy is quietly immense. She was not just one kind of social worker: she had a strong belief that you need to know what the protocol is, what the policy is and how to interpret all these formal requirements of social work practice, but equally to have total commitment to the individual in their community context.
“She believed that bureaucracy should never be more important than the quality of human interaction and relationships, but that you need to know what you are required to do in order to work out how best to do it.
“It is a skilled social worker who manages to do the box-ticking in a way that optimises safety and also works with people at a very individual and empathetic level. She did it. That was a significant gift.”
As a team manager, Daphne strongly believed in the importance of learning through supervision to help other social workers stay on the right track.
“She put great emphasis on supervision,” said David, who met Daphne when they were both social workers in south London. “She always gave others a great deal of support and guidance on how to interpret their role in the face of quite often challenging day-to-day situations.”
The film contains tributes from former colleagues. One said: “The thing about working alongside Daphne is you never forget that experience and it has shaped my practice ever since.”
Another said: “Even now when I’m involved in a project, I often ask myself, ‘and what would Daphne say?’.”
Ruth Allen, chief executive of BASW, said: “This film is part of BASW’s educational role as a professional body to share the authentic stories of what social workers did in the past, what they do now and help us look forward and imagine what a social worker of the future can be.
“It will help in our work to influence public and media understanding of social work because it reflects so positively on what a dedicated social worker can achieve.”
According to David, Daphne was motivated in all she did by a “strong commitment to what is right”.
He added: “She held unswerving personal values, always standing up for what was right. In our personal lives she would never show timidity in the face of threat. She would always intervene if intervening would help someone vulnerable to harm."
David hopes the film will in particular inspire newly qualified social workers.
“I wanted Daphne’s story to illuminate what social work is and what it can be about, especially at a time when, in the context of major resource constraint, there is great professional pressure.
“Working with unprecedented demand and case complexity makes contemporary social work a seriously difficult job, especially if the work environment cannot provide the essential learning and supervision tools to ensure best practice from a staff who are properly valued.
“I hope that the film shows something of how a social work career developed to advance the best of what effective social work can be; how it can address the importance of a learning environment, steadfast support for practitioners and a focus on understanding the importance of the service user - both as unique individual and as citizen in their community.”
David added: “We do need to celebrate the many social workers whose lifetime stories in shaping local services in the public interest often goes untold. In this regard, I hope that Daphne’s story might encourage and inspire.”
BASW members can watch A Life in Social Work by clicking here using the password Remember-InPractice20