Can there be a humorous side to social work?

3rd February 2011

Does humour have a place in the social work office?  Writing for Community Care, Mark Drinkawater discussed that very issue. 

In his article, he highlighted the potential ability of humour to diffuse a tense situation, break down barriers, and help practitioners cope with stress.  However, he did also stress the chance of controversy, offence, and crossing a line which can be very difficult to judge – read his article here.

Following this, a topic was started on the Community Care Forums, asking for contributors to share their views on humour in the social work office.  You can catch up with the discussion here.

One of our favourite examples of humour in social work is Harry Venning’s cartoon strip ‘Clare in the Community’ which generates its laughs from office politics, hot topics in social work, and other key news stories.  To view the series on the Guardian website, click here.

What do you think? If you would like to share your views, or have a humorous social work story of your own, let us know.