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Social Work in Action
ISSN: 0950-3153 (Print) 1742-4909 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cpra20
Hope and Helping in Social Work
Stewart Collins
To cite this article: Stewart Collins (2015) Hope and Helping in Social Work, Practice, 27:3,
197-213, DOI: 10.1080/09503153.2015.1014335
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09503153.2015.1014335
Published online: 26 Feb 2015.
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Hope and Helping in Social Work
Stewart Collins
Recently social work researchers and writers have started to explore again the
role of hope. The importance of hope is examined in social work practice with
particular client groups, such as younger, older and disabled people, people
encountering mental health problems, illness and bereavement and for social
workers themselves. The various theoretical and research underpinnings of the
concept of hope are examined. Consideration is given to issues associated with
the concept and how knowledge and understanding of hope might be
developed further in social work. Hope is perceived by some as co-occurring,
co-existing in a relationship with despair and by others as also having a ‘maintenance’ and ‘enhancement’, as well as a ‘repair’ function. The development
of hope in theology, philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, nursing and counselling is analysed. Hope is considered as a virtue, a generalised and particularised concept, as an emotion and as cognition. The content of, and contrast
between, emotion focused and cognitively based hope models is explored.
Implications for social work education, organisations and social work practice
are discussed.
Keywords: hope; clients; social work education; social work practice
Introduction
The social work profession is said to be characterised by poor representation
in the media, increased pressure from administrative demands, lack of
support, growing and changing workloads, limited time for clients, high
demands and considerable stress and burnout (Eborall 2005; Coffey, Dudgill,
and Tattersall 2009; Curtis, Moriarty, and Netten 2010). Furthermore, social
work in the UK takes place within a wider climate of neoliberalism, austerity
and managerialism which challenges social workers. It can encourage feelings
of hopelessness (Evans and Harris 2004; Ferguson 2008). Also, whilst clients
may present to social workers with many strengths in their personalities and
social situations, clients may also present with issues that are both distressing
and debilitating to themselves and to social workers, characterised by learned
helplessness, hopelessness and despair (Frank and Frank 1991; Seligman 1975).
However, many argue that despair and hope are often co-occurring,

2015 British Association of Social Workers
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09503153.2015.1014335
PRACTICE: SOCIAL WORK IN ACTION VOLUME 27 NUMBER 3 (JUNE 2015), 197–213
co-existing, dialectical experiences (Jevne 2005; Flaskas 2007; Flesaker and
Larsen 2010). Despair and hopelessness demand attention and can be seen as
an opportunity for hope and growth (O’Hara 2013). Social workers work with,
and resist, feelings of hopelessness and despair, question current predominant
political ideologies and negative organisational practices, looking forward to a
more equal, fair and just society (Ferguson 2008). As Saleebey (2000) and
Collins (2007, 263) have noted, even ‘in particular problematic situations,
there is always hope, with potential for change’. Hope for a better future for
clients and better quality services inspires us to maintain our commitment to
social work, to have visions for improvements and constructive developments.
Hope is one of the qualities that can contribute to both social workers and
clients’ positive psychological states and resilience; it helps us to persist,
endure and thrive (Collins 2007; Schwartz, Tiamiyu, and Dwyer 2007; Grant
and Kinman 2013; Adamson, Beddoe, and Davies 2014).
Hence, the purpose of this article was to discuss the relevance of hope for
social workers and clients, to explore the theoretical and research underpinnings of hope, to consider some issues associated with the concept, to examine the implications for social work education and practice and how these
might be developed further.
Social Work Literature and Hope
Recently, several authors have considered the role of hope in social work without exploring the topic in much depth or detail and with limited analysis (e.g.
Kondrat and Teater 2012; Featherstone, Morris, and White 2014). Other writers
have explored the role of hope in social work related to younger and older
people, suicidal clients, people experiencing mental health problems and
spinal injuries (Koenig and Spano 2006; Lipschitz-Elhawi 2009; Dorsett 2010;
Heller 2014).
Koenig and Spano (2006) considered the role of hope in social work with
older adults who had lost a spouse or friends, had moved from home or experienced a reduction in physical capacity. They discussed how social workers with
older adults could develop and reinforce hope to improve capacities to manage
changes through enhanced coping skills, strengthening support networks and
using spiritual or religious beliefs to help improve capacities to transcend situations. They also commented that, in addition to individual and family interventions, hope-based work with older adults involved careful consideration of
structural perspectives and agency policies and practices that could influence
perceptions of hope. Lipschitz-Elhawi (2009) explored ways to enhance a sense
of hope amongst social workers working with young people in residential centres in order to find meaning amongst painful experiences and to facilitate successful helping. She suggested that social workers inject realistic, manageable
and flexible hope into unpromising situations, with hope involving an active
rather than passive approach, to mobilise strengths, to solve problems and to
198 COLLINS
find solutions. Dorsett (2010) considered the practice implications of hope for
social workers interacting with clients with severe acquired disability. Hope
was seen as a key component for appraisal and reconstruction of meaning and
in decision-making about setting future goals. It was concluded that social
workers could support the development of hope through an empathic relationship, the restoration of self-esteem, self-confidence and valued social roles.
Heller (2014, 9) has argued that hope is particularly helpful in social work
with suicidal clients who often convey a sense of hopelessness to social workers that ‘things will never get better[with] … no way out [as] … everyone
would be better off without me [and] … life is not worth living’. Heller (2014)
notes there has to be a willingness on the social worker’s part to empathise
and join with clients in despair, whilst still offering some hope, especially
around clients’ feelings related to a sense of being a burden and a need for a
sense of belonging, with the worker’s sense of hope positively effecting the
client’s sense of hope.
In fact, there has been a lack of research on social workers views of hope,
with only a few exceptions; for example, in their qualitative research study of
mental health social workers, Darlington and Bland (1999) found various factors helped the social workers to develop and maintain hope-working within
the client’s frame of reference, focussing on strengths, acknowledging small
gains in the present and past, being genuine, helping with understanding of
their ‘illness’, the importance of achievement and holding on to hope when
the client had little or none. Kirk and Koeske (1995) in an earlier, longitudinal
research study of mental health social work case managers noted that they
achieved better quality work with ‘difficult’ mental health clients if they were
‘hopeful’ rather than realistic. The more hopeful case managers enjoyed better levels of job satisfaction, less emotional exhaustion and were less likely to
leave their jobs. More recently, Schwartz, Tiamiyu, and Dwyer (2007) noted in
a large-scale quantitative research study that client levels of hope were positively correlated with social workers’ levels of hope and the latter tended to
increase with age, whilst the organisational setting was significant. Finally,
Adamson, Beddoe, and Davies (2014) in a small-scale qualitative study of experienced social workers revealed that hope was perceived by them as one
important element in maintaining a sense of self and resilience. We will now
move on to consider the historical development of hope.
The Roots of Hope — Theology, Philosophy and Social Work
Some have perceived hope to be one of the three most fundamental Christian
virtues, and many religious views are thought to draw ‘spiritual light’ from
hope-oriented belief systems (Magaletta and Oliver 1999; Scioli, Ricci, and
Nyugen 2011). Acquinas has argued for the importance of hope, seeing it as
having a ‘good’ object that involves hard work (Acquinas 2006; O’Hara 2013).
Acquinas advocated dedication to, and measured pursuit of, hope; it being seen
HOPE 199
as a passion, an emotional commitment and an essential virtue that enables one
to lead a moral, noble and ethical life. Hence, a passionate hopefulness in social
work involves commitment to high standards of service and behaviour. More
recently, other theologians have also emphasised hope as a social virtue — the
importance of being together in a helping community to provide emotional and
practical support (Moltmann 1995; Kelly 2006). This has clear relevance to the
general, overall ‘community’ of social workers in their joint, shared endeavours,
their mutual support and in working together with clients.
The importance of virtue for social work has been highlighted by several
writers, including Banks (2012). Hursthouse (1997, 279) explains that a virtue is
‘a character trait [needed] to flourish well’, whilst Mcintyre (1985, 19) sees
virtues as qualities, ‘the possession and exercise of which tends to enable us
to achieve good(s)’. Hence, as Banks (2012, 72) highlights, these points are
useful in attempting ‘to articulate a virtue-based theory for professional ethics’ in social work and the idea of what the ‘good social worker’ should be.
Rhodes (1986) has also explored virtue-based ethics in social work, considering
hopefulness to be an important and neglected virtue which affirms and looks
towards the best and the most positive aspects of people and situations. As
Banks (2012) has pointed out, the virtue of hope in social work would need to
be ‘lived out’ amongst other virtues in promoting social welfare and well-being
in the disposition, characteristics, qualities, relationships and behaviour of the
social worker with clients, colleagues and managers. The idea of the attitudinal and behavioural implications, of ‘doing hope’, that is the relevance of hope
to actual practice, has been emphasised by several writers, (for instance,
Jacoby 2003; Flaskas 2007). Hence, hope is seen to involve thinking, feeling
and doing in social work.
Some existential philosophers have considered hope — such as Kierkegaard and
Marcel. For Kierkegaard, ‘hope is best understood as the practice of patience’ (O’
Hara 2013; 35), alongside the idea of ‘becoming’, of developing, in relation to self
and others, with an orientation of positive expectancy for the future (also
explored by psychologists as noted later). Marcel (1995) is perhaps the philosopher
who has placed the greatest importance on, and importance of, hope — again
with an attitude of positive, forward movement. Therefore, in social work, this
encourages positive expectations for growth in the future. Marcel (1995) also
highlighted the importance of participation, action together and committed
relationships as a prime foundation for the pursuit of hope, which has clear
implications for power sharing, empowerment, partnership, relationship-based
work and collective efforts in social work. Marcel placed great emphasis on a
generalised, broad sense of hope and did not see it as a ‘technique’.
Expectancies, Hope and Helping
A great deal has been written about hope not only from the perspectives of
theology and existential philosophy, but also in relation to psychology,
200 COLLINS
psychiatry, psychotherapy, counselling, education, nursing and, to a less
extent, social work. Much psychological literature has emerged focused upon
expectations, which share with hope an emphasis on the significance of anticipation for the future. Client expectations have long being considered a key
ingredient and common factor in successful psychotherapy (Stotland 1969;
Constantino et al. 2010). Expectations refer to beliefs that desired outcomes
would occur in the future, linked to one’s own efforts, or factors beyond one’s
control. They are central concepts in theories of motivation, social learning
and goal setting (Magaletta and Oliver 1999). Hope, optimism and self-efficacy
are associated with positive psychology and ‘are related by the central core of
expectancies’ (Magaletta and Oliver 1999, 451). They are related but different.
Considerable research effort has been expanded on clarifying differences
between them (for instance, Snyder 2002; Bruininks and Malle 2005). Briefly,
self-efficacy involves a belief, or confidence in, one’s intention to perform a
specific, particular behaviour or task (Bandura 1997; Magaletta and Oliver
1999). Optimism involves a very broad, overall outlook about positive, future
expectations that all will be well, assumes goals will be met and gives no consideration to the means to achieve them (Bruininks and Malle 2005). Optimism
and self-efficacy and their links to social work have been discussed in more
detail elsewhere (Collins 2007, 2015). Our focus here will be on hope.
Constructs related to hope began to be introduced into psychological and
psychiatric literature in the 1950s. For instance, Menninger (1959) highlighted
the importance of hope in initiating therapeutic change, motivation to learn
and well-being, whilst Frank (1968) emphasised the powerful role of hope in
both the client and the worker in initiating change.
In summarising research associated with positive helping outcomes, Hubble,
Duncan, and Miler (1999) and Flaskas (2007) suggested four main groups of factors. The first two, said to account for seventy per cent of factors associated
with positive outcomes, are strengths and resources in clients’ lives, factors
associated with the therapeutic alliance and the relationship with the worker.
The remaining thirty per cent of outcome variance is shared between the
worker’s techniques/models and client capacity for hope. Flaskas (2007) has
correctly pointed out that although massive amounts of attention have been
given to the literature and research dedicated to techniques, models and
theories comparatively little attention has been given to hope itself.
Definitions of Hope — Generalised Hope and Particularised Hope
Some critics have described hope as a naive, ‘soft’ and fuzzy concept (Ludema,
Wilmot, and Srivatsva 1997; Yussef and Luthans 2007). One particular criticism
of the role of hope in helping is that it has many dimensions and has been the
subject of various definitions (Flaskas 2007; Koenig and Spano 2007).
Two perspectives considered from illness and nursing research are
generalised and particularised hope. Dufault and Martocchio (1985, 380)
HOPE 201
defined generalised hope as ‘multi-dimensional … dynamic … characterised by
a confident yet uncertain expression of achieving a future good which … is
realistically possible and personally significant’, explaining it as a broad outlook not necessarily linked to a specific object, goal or target. It is a positive
state of mind, life attitude or orientation and has some similarities to optimism (O’ Hara 2013). Generalised hope can be a starting point or an umbrella
concept from which particular hopes can be developed (Dufault and
Martocchio 1985). Alternatively, generalised hope becomes evident again when
particular hopes are threatened, seem unrealistic or are abandoned because of
considerable uncertainty or suddenly altering circumstances. Particularised
hope is focussed on the achievement of an important priority, a specific outcome, with concrete or abstract objects. As might be expected, particular and
generalised hope can exist together and hope scales have been developed
using this model, tending to focus on the needs of people experiencing illness
(see, for instance, Herth 1991).
Definitions of Hope — Hope as Emotion and/or Cognition
Some psychological theorists emphasise hope as ‘non-rational’ emotion, linked
to an individual’s social and systems behaviour (Averill, Catlin, and Chon 1990;
Jacoby 2003; Bruininks and Malle 2005; Scioli, Ricci, and Nyugen 2011). Hope is
seen as an emotion involving longing, yearning and as producing belief that
motivates behaviour, although it is difficult to control, can involve uncertainty,
doubtfulness, vulnerability and anxiety and can be experienced frequently in
potentially negative situations such as accidents and bereavement. Averill,
Catlin, and Chon (1990) found hope was appropriate when the probability of
attainment was appraised as realistic, personally and socially acceptable, an
important priority and accompanied by a willingness to take action. As Averill,
Catlin, and Chon (1990) have pointed out, being hopeful also helps maintain
engagement, the investment of energy and a focus, despite possible limited
likelihood of achieving an outcome.
Others, primarily Rick Snyder, from the late 80s and early 90s, have emphasised the rational, cognitive aspects of hope, seeing it as having a ‘maintenance’ function related to ‘ordinary, everyday agendas’ and an ‘enhancement’
function moving beyond day-to-day expectations to ‘grand’, large-scale goals,
as well as a ‘repair’ reaction to damage, threat or despair noted above.
Indeed, Snyder (2002) has cautioned against placing too much emphasis on
hope as a ‘repair’ reaction to despair. Furthermore, less emphasis is placed by
Snyder on emotion, with the consideration of emotion largely being focussed
on the outcome of achieving or not achieving goals. Snyder has also tended to
be critical of the ‘spiritual’ and ‘virtue’ oriented approaches to hope (Snyder
2002). The emphasis of hope, for Snyder, was on goals and motivation to
achieve goals. Key components of hope were identified as pathways (i.e. the
‘ways’, planning for, and routes to, achieving goals) and agency (i.e. the ‘will’,
202 COLLINS
goal directed determination, motivation and energy to begin and maintain
effort). Previously, writers had seen hope as a one-dimensional concept,
emphasising goals, but assuming they would be met generally, not detailing
the ways or means by which they would be pursued (for instance, Menninger
1959; Frank 1968). Snyder et al. (1991) placed emphasis on the role of goals,
pathways and agency together in combination. However, criticisms and weaknesses in the goal setting approach to hope are the tendency to give limited
attention to situations where a person has little perceived control over outcomes and that the focus on goals can be excessively narrow (Bruininks and
Malle 2005).
Snyder initially produced hope scales based on a general character disposition and consistent ‘personality trait’ in adults, then developed them as a
‘state’ reflecting specific, particular times and events and, later, also with
children. (Synder et al. 1991; Snyder, Rand, and Sigmon 2002). Many research
studies support the reliability and validity of these scales, but they have been
criticised also for tending to focus on ‘achievement’ (Scioli, Ricci, and Nyugen
2011). ‘High hope’ individuals are seen as friendly, happy and confident, having
high esteem, being more energetic, generating more goals and more demanding goals (Snyder, Rand, and Sigmon 2002). ‘High hope’ people have been seen
to have more positive views about attachments, and inter-personal relationships, to have more social support from friends and family and to cope better
with stress, suicide ideation, grief, the birth of an ill child, the death of a
spouse or child, burns injuries, spinal cord injuries and blindness (Snyder
2002).‘ High hope’ people were also more likely to see the benefits of
attempts at coping, being persistent and patient, whilst ‘low hope’ people
were more likely to engage in escape fantasies, that is avoidance and disengaged coping (Snyder 2002). No gender differences were seen in these studies.
An implication of this research is that it is helpful if social workers have ‘high’,
but realistic hope to sustain them in order to maintain patient and persistent
endeavours in their professional interactions and to maintain professional
resilience.
Clients’ General Views of Hope
Snyder (2002) suggests that too much emphasis could be placed on seeing
clients as ‘demoralised’, advocating that in many instances clients may be
temporarily ‘down’, but have considerable hope, desire and motivation. In particular, clients can experience substantial improvement before actually receiving help, consistent with an increase in hope brought about by the decision to
seek help. Also, extensive research suggests early increase in client hopes and
‘symptom release’ in the first and early sessions of helping can be attributed
to increase in ‘agency thinking’, that is commitment and determination to set
goals which in turn leads to an increase in ‘pathways’ thinking, that is how to
achieve the goals (Coppock et al. 2010). Clients with initial low levels of hope
HOPE 203
can benefit from helping (Coppock et al. 2010), whilst several small-scale
qualitative research studies show that professional care giving relationships are
a key source of client hope (Eliott and Olver 2002; Flesaker and Larsen 2010).
Several other research studies suggested that hope theory has served as a
framework for developing successful help with individuals, couples, families
and groups (Lopez et al. 2000; Cheavens et al. 2006 Worthington et al. 2007).
However, client levels of hope have not been invariably related to early behaviour change and better and more positive outcomes, that is high hope alone
obviously does not guarantee positive outcomes to helping — also see below
(Coppock et al. 2010).
Counsellors and Therapists Views of Hope
Many eminent writers and researchers in the fields of psychotherapy and counselling have emphasised the importance of the helper’s hope or belief in the
client’s ability to move forward as a major factor in change (Rogers 1960;
Frank 1968; Miller and Rollnick 1995; Seligman 2000; Egan 2002). Helpers’ hope
in clients has been perceived as positive expectancy of achieving goals, linked
to the motivation and planning needed to achieve them (Menninger 1959;
Cheavens et al. 2006). Coppock et al. (2010, 620) emphasised therapists’
‘hopes in their clients … have a central role in the ways that they implement
“treatment”’. It is important to note that the therapist’s hope is as much, if
not more, predictive of progress than client hope and there is evidence of the
transfer of hope from worker to client (Coppock et al. 2010; Flesaker and
Larsen 2010). Helpers’ hopes in clients can affect them in various direct or
indirect ways, such as by the use of interventions to instil hope and clients’
reactions to these efforts. High agency in helpers can correlate with high
agency in clients, whilst hope from the helper can be ‘contagious’, positively
influencing change (Farran, Herth, and Popovich 1995; Snyder et al. 2000;
Coppock et al. 2010). In Coppock et al.’s (2010) study of short-term work with
43 clients, therapists’ hopes in the client at the first and last session were positively related to outcome. However, the helper’s hope can also be influenced
by several elements such as the client’s readiness to change, their ‘symptoms’,
the strength and security of the therapeutic alliance and the availability of
appropriate practical resources (Frank and Frank 1991; Prochaska and
DiClemente 1992). Hence, clearly, the role of hope does not operate in
isolation; it is one element or ingredient in the helping relationship.
Research, Hope and Client ‘Groups’
Research studies linked to hope have been undertaken with a wide range of
client ‘groups’ including children and young people, older people, disabled
people, those experiencing mental health problems, illness and bereavement
(Snyder, Ilardi, and Cheavens 2000).
204 COLLINS
Amongst people experiencing mental health problems, hope has been
described as ‘an essential but understudied component of the strengths – based
recovery model’ (Hodges, Hardiman, and Segal 2003, 1and 3). Starnino (2009)
commented that one part of clients’ conceptualisation of recovery in
mental health is marked by an internal shift from hopelessness to hope and
self-management or self-care. Hope is also related positively to problemsolving skills, psychological health, coping with stress and recovery from
depression (Kadashan et al. 2002), whilst hope amongst those experiencing
schizophrenia and other mental health problems is not related to the severity
of psychiatric symptoms (Landeen et al. 2000; Hodges, Hardiman, and Segal
2003) and social support is a key factor in maintaining hope (Fonte et al.
1990).Darlington and Bland (1999) identified hopefulness in carers as a crucial
part of coping with a family member experiencing mental health problems.
In relation to physical health, people with higher levels of hope are seen to
be better motivated to use self-management strategies and health-promoting
behaviours (Dorsett 2010). Furthermore, hope has been identified as a central
feature of recovery from chronic physical illness, predicting better outcomes
from treatment and for cancer patients’ psychosocial adaptation (Gottschalk
1985; Farone, Fitzpatrick, and Bushfield 2007). Elliott et al. (1991) have suggested hope has two main components for people recovering from severe traumatically acquired physical disability — the will to survive and as a means of
coping and adjustment. Dorsett (2010) has also written about the importance
of hope in assisting people coping with severe acquired disability in a ten years
longitudinal study, finding that three quarters of participants identified hope
as an essential factor in recovery. Three foci of hope emerged. These were as
follows: hope for a complete recovery, for a cure and for satisfying quality of
life.
Dorsett (2010) went on to note that in the field of palliative care, knowing
that one is dying but hoping to live is not seen as incompatible, with hope contributing to a greater sense of control over disease, a better quality of life and
improved coping outcomes. Farran, Herth, and Popovich (1995, 151) noted
‘significant positive relationships between hope … social support and locus of
control amongst terminally ill patients’, whilst hope has been seen also to
enhance the physical and psychological well-being of those diagnosed with terminal illness (Hong and Ow 2007). Cutliffe (2004, 2006) found bereavement
counsellors inspired hope in three ways: firstly, by forging relationships and
maintaining connections with the client; secondly, by facilitating cathartic
release of feelings; and finally, by providing a positive experience of ending.
Further Implications of Hope Theory and Research for Social Workers
It is now appropriate to consider further the implications of hope-based theory
and research for helping in social work. Hope can be useful from the three perspectives noted above. Firstly, it is seen as a wide ranging, philosophically
HOPE 205
based ‘virtue’ underpinning the attitudes and behaviour of social workers. Secondly, from the health based and emotion centred models of hope. Finally, it
can be helpful from the cognitively focused, specific, goal-oriented work of
Snyder. Hence, hope can have appeal to the social worker from a wide ranging
humanistic, faith-based, values and feelings linked perspective, but also from
a more ‘scientific’, narrower, cognitive perspective linked to evidence-based
practice (Scioli, Ricci, and Nyugen 2011). Hope, therefore, can have many
‘meanings’ for social workers and be used in a flexible manner, involving a
wide range of systems ranging from the structural context for social work to
group, family and individual interactions with clients (Flaskas 2007).
Consideration should also be given to the place of personal and professional
hope. Each social worker will have their personal views, philosophies and values related to hope, which may be explicit or implicit. Hepworth, Rooney, and
Larsen (2002) and Koenig and Spano (2007) have argued that developing hope
in clients’ potential for growth and change depends on the social worker having awareness of the place of hope in their own personal life; how they have
used hope to cope with their own ‘maintenance’, ‘enhancement’ or ‘repair’
work. For instance, hope could be linked to thoughts and feelings about early
life and later life developmental experiences of relationships involving attachment, loss, transitions and illness within one’s own family, with friends and
with colleagues. The underpinning foundations for personal hope may be linked
to positive experiences of living, to philosophical, political, religious and spiritual beliefs. Each individual social worker will have different thoughts and
feelings about the need for action to be taken, or possible goals to be set, to
instal or maintain hope. Hence, some social workers may find the idea of setting explicit goals in their personal lives to maintain hope and pathways to
achieve the ‘hope’ goals, as suggested by Synder, to be appealing, meaningful
and helpful — or to be of limited, marginal value. This will have an impact on
how social workers view hope in terms of offering professional help to clients,
that is from a more general philosophical, emotional, spiritual orientation, to
a more particularised, cognitive and specific goal-oriented view — or some
combination of these.
The importance of professional hope, as we have seen, has been strongly
emphasised in the literature on helping. Clients come to social workers with
various expectations, but often with some hope that emotional and/or practical circumstances may be improved. Professional social workers need hope to
perceive a better future, be it at societal, community, organisational, group,
family and individual levels. Hope for political, structural and policy change,
and for this to have an effect in the local community, can be a strong motivation for some social workers. Some, for instance, may be influenced by the
ideas of Friere (1996, 91), who was speaking on behalf of oppressed people
worldwide, when he wrote In Pedagogy of Hope: ‘there is no change without
the dream, as there is no dream without hope’. Also, similarly, Tierney (1994,
11) pointed out the importance of social workers linking hope to ‘communities
of difference, interpreting difference related to race, class, gender and sexual
206 COLLINS
orientation [with] the concepts of hope … grounded in understanding (social)
conditions and delineating how we might change them. Hope is not devotion
to an abstract principle, but rather the commitment to a dimension of human
existence that offers meaning across differences’.
Hope for change in more direct social work practice should also be evident.
Hope is positively related to coping with stress for social workers and coping
with both day-to-day, and sometimes extraordinary client situations are likely
to require a healthy level of hope (Schwartz, Tiamiyu, and Dwyer 2007;
Flesaker and Larsen 2010). As we have noted, as well as strengths, clients may
present personal, family and resource problems that can be daunting for many
social workers. Some sense of hopefulness is needed to encourage clients to
work on these problems in order to change and grow. Social work’s traditional
focus on strengths (for instance, Smalley 1970; Smale, Tuson, and Statham
2000) is one source of hope, but even these writers have tended not to expand
upon, or discussed, hope at any great length, although Saleebey (2000) has
seen hope as one of the ‘root’ principles of a strengths based approach.
Therefore, there is a need for social work students and social workers to
develop greater knowledge, skills and understanding of the role of hope in
social work. At present, the concept of hope receives only limited attention in
both qualifying and post-qualifying social work education and could be considered either as a specific topic in post-qualification workshops and/or, at qualifying level, integrated in human growth and development, social work theory,
social work process or values modules. For instance, hope theory and practice
have clear relevance to social work intervention linked with existential, crisis,
task centred, solution focused and narrative approaches.
Jevne (2005) has pointed out that hope can be learned about, whilst
research has demonstrated the effectiveness of cognitively based interventions
to teach hopeful thinking skills (Cheavens et al. 2006; Flesaker and Larsen
2010). Hollis, Massey, and Jevne (2007, 53) have clarified ‘the identification of
affirmative resources and strategies to support ‘learned hopefulness’’, whilst
Larsen and Stage (2010) and Koenig and Spano (2006, 2007) note the benefits
of experiential learning about the ‘will’ power and ‘way’ power aspects of
hope, for example, linked to exercises, role plays and video interviews. They
also highlighted reflective questions to support an explicitly hope focused perspective, for instance: What kinds of relationships and environments have
developed hope for you? How has hope helped you overcome such situations in
the past? How can you apply hope here? What would a hopeful person do in
this situation? How do your feelings affect your use of hope? What is the role
of spirituality in helping to develop and sustain hope?
Furthermore, the modelling of hopeful behaviours is also important in social
work practice teaching and the supervision of qualified social workers, where
practice teachers and supervisors can provide experiences of their own efforts
in maintaining hope during supervision discussions and model the provision of
appropriate and realistic hope in interview and other situations (Bandura
1997). Equally, practice teachers and supervisors’ consistent expression of
HOPE 207
hope in a student or social worker’s ability to ‘master’ a particular task and
the provision of positive feedback on tasks achieved are other means of engendering hopefulness. In addition, hope scales might be used by students and
social workers to explore their own levels of hope near the beginning, and
reviewed at later stages, of social work programmes and near the beginning,
and during the mid and later stages, of a full-time career.
It is particularly important to think around how social workers can engender
realistic hope in relationships with clients, as many clients can come to workers
with low self-esteem and sometimes be in despair as a result of poverty, deprivation, poor housing, limited education opportunities, crises, abuse and very
seriously restricted access to financial and material resources. Snyder (2002) has
discussed false hopes, the dangers that expectations can rest on illusions rather
than reality, and hence, unsuitable goals might be set and inappropriate strategies proposed to achieve the intended goals, whilst Lipschitz-Elhawi (2009) has
highlighted the importance of small achievements and partial success with
hope-based goals in social work with young people in residential settings. It is
clearly very important for social workers to acknowledge, explore and validate
negative experiences, to respect and empathise in depth with clients’ possible
feelings of fear, anger, sadness, loss, disillusionment, resignation, despair and
hopelessness — ‘to walk the paths of pain and emptiness and acknowledge this
experience … for hope work often [involves] a journey through dark caverns’
(Lipschitz-Elhawi 2009, 457), rather than offering false reassurances and
attempting to ‘inject’ hope in an inappropriate, over-reassuring manner (Jevne
2005; Flaskas 2007; Constantino et al. 2011). This can be emotionally demanding
and draining in itself. Also, it is often difficult to achieve an appropriate balance
between acknowledging negative feelings, containing them, offering hope and
alternative frames of reference- —a reframing in the direction of realistic hope.
Additionally, social workers will often be balancing hope and risk together (e.g.
Kondrat and Teater 2012). Therefore, realistic and honest hope is needed in
statutory settings on occasions in work with children and adults where care, protection and control issues are to the fore, when there is a danger of excessive
hope influencing and distorting the sound judgements required for effective
assessments. Hopefulness should clearly be linked to ability to question, to
challenge oneself, critically reflect on experiences, attitudes and behaviours in
order to maintain a sense of realism, flexibility and openness to changing one’s
perceptions. Indeed, openness and flexibility are seen as characteristics of those
who are committed to hopeful approaches (Ludema, Wilmot, and Srivatsva
1997).
Clearly, all social workers operate within organisational contexts. Yussef and
Luthans (2007), for example, have written extensively about positive organisational behaviour, emphasising the important, particular contribution of hope,
its sound theoretical and research foundations, capacity to be measured and
openness to development. Ways of encouraging social workers’ hope within
the organisational context include enhancing opportunities for individual
autonomy, for developing a greater sense of organisational justice and fairness
208 COLLINS
in procedures and practices (Webb and Carpenter 2012). In particular, to
enable social workers to maximise opportunities to be involved, to participate
in, and to influence organisational decision-making, to work on resolution of
problems such as communication and administrative issues and improving
contacts with other agencies (Webb and Carpenter 2012).
As has been noted by many writers and researchers, such as Koenig and
Spano (2006), realistic hope involves a key need for mutual support for social
workers from team members, colleagues, line managers, mentors, professional
associations and unions in order to avoid despair and burnout. The support
from team members and colleagues is acknowledged to be especially significant; frequent opportunities for both formal and informal colleague contact
are essential to share stressful events and celebrate good practice (Collins
2007). Good, ongoing professional development opportunities and regular, frequent, emotionally sensitive, supportive, responsive, positively affirming and
practically helpful supervision are also crucial (Collins 2007; Adamson, Beddoe,
and Davies 2014). The role of BASW, Unison and the Social Workers Action Network also offers other potential, collective channels for sustaining social workers in communities of shared hope at local, regional and national levels.
Finally, positive opportunities to place social work in a wider perspective, with
sound family support, good friendship networks, distractions in leisure activities and regular breaks are other well-known ways of maintaining hope in
social work helping endeavours (Collins 2007).
Conclusion
Hope is an essential quality in social work. It helps maintain faith and belief in
the future — the potential for transformation and change in societies, communities, organisations, families, individual clients and social workers themselves.
It encourages vision, movement, working towards development of, and
improvement in, the political context, agency services, self-competencies and
capabilities. It can help to maintain resistance and persistence in the face of
difficulties, by adopting an active, positive orientation that looks forward to
progress and growth. Hope is important for clients in helping to look beyond
possible feelings of despair and hopelessness and in maintaining commitment
to change. Clearly, hope does not exist in a vacuum; it operates in interaction
with, in relation to, many other elements. The maintenance of hope in social
work requires support from within the context of the organisation and from
other systems. A hope-oriented approach, a combination of broad, wide ranging philosophical, virtue- and faith-based hope and more specific hope linked
to particular goals, and the motivation and pathways to achieve them, can all
offer future-oriented, positive and significant ways forward for both clients
and social workers.
HOPE 209
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Stewart Collins is a Honorary Research Fellow at Bangor University and an
associate lecturer at the Open University. Correspondence to: Stewart
Collins, 19, Milton Hill, Milton by Dumbarton, G82 2TS, Scotland. Email:
[email protected]
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