Reconstructive approaches

Reconstructive social work is a concept developed by German scholars (Rätz &

Völter 2015; Völter & Reichmann 2017) for research, practice and professional self-reflection. It is based on the concept of ‘Verstehen’ (understanding; interpretation;

reconstruction) as a reconstructive perspective in qualitative research. In reconstructive social work, it is important to attempt to rationally grasp, without appraisal, how things have transpired and how they are connected, that is, the inner logic of actions

75 or institutions. This applies to social workers’ understanding of their clients’ thinking and behaviour and to social processes, as well as to the professionals’ own

self-understanding. Here understanding does not mean unconditional acceptance, showing mere empathy or knowing better. What is to be reconstructed in reconstructive social work is the meaning and the significance of actions and behaviour. (Völter 2017.) The first example of reconstructive social work was social case work as developed by Mary Richmond (1917; 1922). Later, the Chicago School (Riemann 2015), symbolic interactionism (Griese & Griesehop 2015), the phenomenology of Alfred Schütz (1967) and the work of Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss (1965) played a great role in the development of reconstructive social work. The German sociologists Gerhard Riemann (2005) and Fritz Schütze, who worked with Strauss, introduced a type of workshop for reconstructive social research and social work for German university students. In fact, in reconstructive social work, ethnography takes a metatheoretical and metamethodological stance. (Völter 2017.)

Reconstructive social work generally draws on case reconstruction and often uses narrative methods. By studying the structure of how actions and processes of actions are symbolically expressed – orally, in text or in pictures – it is possible to reconstruct different perspectives of the underlying thoughts and actions. Two different

orientations can be distinguished. One is the conception and methods of biographical and pedagogical diagnostics, in which case analyses, based on case records and

narrative interviews, are performed by researchers and social workers before the results are discussed with the clients. The other orientation is the process- and development-oriented dialogic work with clients, the aim of which is to further the clients’ life plans by involving them in a knowledge-creating process which builds hypotheses about action patterns and structures and develops solutions through dialogue. (Völter 2017.) Reconstructive social work is not a complete ideology, but a holistic idea that is based on social science and can be successfully combined with other concepts, theories, methodologies and methods. For instance, it can be combined with client-centred conversation (Rogers 1961), life world-oriented social work (Thiersch et al. 2002) and systemic social work (cf. Fagerström & Karvinen-Niinikoski 2013). It is possible, for example, to understand in a reconstructive way and act in a systemic way. (Völter 2017.) Social workers are encouraged to develop a research-minded attitude and practice, and to see the complexity of clients’ individual problems in a larger social and

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societal context. The theoretical and methodical opportunities for professional (self) reflection imply an attitude that enables social workers to review problem situations, case constructions, interviews, interventions and documentation; and to learn from crises, impasses and disruptions. Narratives about practice, writing and analysing ethnographic practice protocols, narrative supervision, and narrative peer supervision are recommended. (Völter 2017.) The emphasis on self-reflection in reconstructive social work resembles the discussions on critical reflection and reflexivity that are also topical among other social work scholars (Karvinen-Niinikoski 2009; Thompson

& Pascal 2012).

One type of reconstructive professional practice is biographical counselling⁹. Sandra Betts and colleagues (2009, 6–7) describe two types of biographical counselling with clients in vocational rehabilitation: long-term counselling that consists of narrative interviewing and biography analysis, aiming to help clients strengthen their biographical abilities to work through their difficult life experiences; and short-term counselling that sensitises clients to biographical considerations and increases biographical self-understanding in general. Short-term biographical sensitising resembles the idea of working with biographical lenses mentioned in my final sub-study (VI).

For long-term biographical counselling, Betts and colleagues (2009) list six tasks:

reminding clients that they have a unique biographical identity; helping them understand their biographical structuring and focus on trap situations; helping them reflect on distractions from identity development and on self-theoretical distortions in their biography; supporting clients in coming to terms with the problem situation at hand; helping them see their biographical resources and vulnerability dispositions; and encouraging them to believe in their own capacity to work on the problem situation.

Some of these tasks are similar to general tasks in health social work practice; other tasks imply deeper analysis of clients’ biographies. Biography analysis (Schütze 2009b) aims to reconstruct the gestalt of the narrator’s biography, using the biographical process structures mentioned earlier. The idea is that clients’ biographical work advances when they are able to see the gestalt of their own life history.

9 The term ‘biographical counselling’ is also used by, for instance, psychotherapists with a diploma in biographical counselling based on the ideas of anthroposophy (Professional Association of Biographical Counsellors 2017). For a discussion on the use of the English term

‘counselling’ in this context, see Barker 2009, 118–119; Coulshed & Orme 2006, 107–108.

77 Biographical case reconstruction, as suggested by Wolfram Fischer (2004), is intended to help individuals strengthen their biographical abilities to cognitively work through their experiences. This method consists of three phases. First, based on biographical-narrative interviewing, the social worker, in interaction with the client, reconstructs the case. In the second phase, the social worker, preferably through professional discussions with colleagues, analyses the interview by case reconstruction and

interaction analysis and looks for new realistic options for the client. In the last phase, the social worker takes the results of the analysis back to the client and discusses the options that promote meaningful changes in their life. Fischer emphasises that the social worker should not confront the client with their expert opinion but, through an interactive process, should discuss the most pertinent results of the analysis. This and the long-term biographical counselling method described above appear to represent the diagnostic type of reconstructive social work.

C. Dorothee Roer’s biography work (2009; 2015), on the other hand, emphasises process and dialogue with the client more than diagnostics. Her model of biography work is based on Leontiev’s (1978) activity theory, which sees activity as the continuous process of interplay between subject and object. The clients are biographical actors, who are capable of changing their lives and their circumstances; during their lives, they create relations between themselves and their environment; and, through this process, they produce their biography. According to the model, people have the potential to become better experts of their own lives. The task of the social worker is to reconcile the perspectives of human agency and structural constraints and to support clients in finding their own strategies for reconstructing their lives and life conditions and for developing their identity; the goal is an intervention that fits into the client’s life plan.

This is achieved by integrating stories and history and by reconstructing the biography with all its contradictions. The methods used are mainly narrative. In addition to autobiographical interviews, biography work can also be done around certain themes and using nonverbal methods such as painting, drawing, collage and theatre (Roer

& Maurer-Hein 2004, 57). A central aspect of the necessary biographical attitude is respect, which in this context does not mean emotional identification, but respect for the unknown (cf. Riemann 2005), and respect for the autonomy of another person and their own life plan. A political perspective is important; biography work based on A.N.

Leontiev’s activity theory is historical-materialistic.

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Another type of reconstructive social work that emphasises dialogue and the relationship between the social worker and the client is dialogic biography work (Köttig & Rätz 2015). Its aim is, through narration-generating communication, to stimulate clients’ self-reflection and their understanding of the logic of their thoughts, interpretations, and actions in the light of their biographical experiences.

Narrative-reflexive counselling (Schulze 2015) in turn takes a social-critical stance in deconstructing power and identity issues and dominant narratives with an aim to recognise alternative ways of living. In this way it resembles narrative approaches that focus on power issues (cf. Milner & O’Byrne 2002, 153). The narration of older and newer stories can lead to the development of new perspectives and new solutions.

Another aim is to influence processes of social, economic and other exclusion on the societal level. Dialogue and respect are important here, too. This kind of counselling is rooted in a subject- and structure-analytic concept of biography, and in reconstructive social work, based on ethnography and conversation analysis.

As well as in individual-level work, biographical methods can be used in community work. Catherine Delcroix and Lena Inowlocki (2008) describe an action research project in which social workers in a deprived neighbourhood in France used life story interviewing for self-reflection in order to better understand the immigrant fathers of young people showing delinquent behaviour, drug trafficking and addiction. The action research helped improve the fathers’ relationships with their children and help the sons and daughters see themselves in a historical context connected to their fathers’

ambitions for their children rather than as victims of an unjust society.