LGBT+ History Month: Intersecting identities and lived experiences

Isaac Samuels is a non-binary member of our National Advisory Forum. They are an established community campaigner and co-production advisor within the sector of health and social care, where they have worked for 25 years supporting disadvantaged people to live their best lives.

For LGBT+ History Month, they spoke to us about the importance of making the lives of LGBTQ+ people better through co-production, and how co-production has made Social Work England a better place to work with. Isaac wants social workers to find the courage to be inquisitive and not fear getting it wrong when learning about the LGBTQ+ community.

How have your intersecting identities influenced your lived experience of social work and lead to your involvement with Social Work England?

As somebody who has had social workers in my life since I was a young person, I have had good, bad, and indifferent experiences with social care and children’s services.

I got involved with Social Work England because it is important for people with lived experience to influence the understanding of the regulator, who’s role is to protect the public, enable positive change and ultimately improve people’s lives.

As I grew up, there was very little validation of who I was, as a brown, disabled, LGBTQ+ person. I was a looked after child in care, and nobody ever spoke to me about sexuality, sex, and relationships, or acknowledged that my intersecting identities made my experiences different from those of my peers.

I look at my friends who had families to model healthy relationships to them and realise that these intersectional aspects of my life may have been ignored because the people around me did not feel equipped to support me with these things.

What do social workers need to be aware of when working with minority groups or people with protected characteristics?

It is important that social workers educate themselves and are comfortable discussing people’s differing characteristics with them, and adjusting their support to fit the needs that may arise from these.

It is tiring to have to constantly come out as an LGBTQ+ disabled person to new people, and there needs to be awareness of the benefits we see from being around our own communities, who have similar lived experiences and can offer validation. Likewise, not everybody in the LGBTQ+ community has had the same experiences. It needs to be acknowledged that as a brown non-binary person, my needs are different to a gay white man’s. The more intersecting identities someone has, the more barriers or marginalisation they may face.

The nursing profession uses the “six Cs” (care, compassion, courage, communication, commitment, competence) to ensure that they treat patients with care and compassion. I think thoughtful and respectful communication between social workers and those receiving social care should be addressed similarly.

Instead of missing opportunities to get it right, social workers should be inquisitive and have the courage to stand in allyship, validate people’s experiences, and allow them to share without being re-traumatised. In being compassionate, they will minimise barriers to success for people. Committing to this creates opportunities for learning and the creation of trust,.
I am always surprised at how much people do not know, but you can make a difference just through your skill and knowledge as a social worker. Have the right training, support, and etiquette, be open, and do your CPD (continuous professional development).

Similarly, you can help the people you care for to learn about and celebrate their identities. It makes a big difference.

Why did this make you want to join the Social Work England National Advisory Forum, and how does the Forum used experience to influence Social Work England’s work?

I became interested in working with Social Work England after reading Kate Metcalf’s blog about social justice, and Colum Conway’s blog about the death of George Floyd. I thought it was refreshing that a government arm's length body was talking about these things.

The National Advisory Forum has several people from intersecting backgrounds, and this combination of differing experiences has been able to influence the language used at Social Work England, and shifts the focus of the work done to be viewed through different lenses, meeting everyone’s needs.

We help bring the person into the work and make sure the organisation is conscious that what they are doing matters to people, and should feel human, nuanced, and authentic.

Can you speak to the historical involvement of social workers in LGBTQ+ people’s lives and how the community may have benefitted from the help of social workers?

In the past there has been some real negatives, such as the medicalisation of sexuality and how homosexuality was only declassified as a mental illness in the 1990s. The social work profession has had a role in challenging things like that.

Conversely, during the HIV/AIDS epidemic some social workers I know played a massive role in helping people. They were gay men; they were trans people. Social workers mirror what views exist within society, and as a profession they need to be serious about social justice and adequately responding to what the community needs.

There is sometimes an assumption that because our characteristics are protected by law, we have rights, and everything is ok. Actually, our communities are still disproportionately affected by things like poverty, suicide, and attacks. Social workers can play their part in changing this.

To learn more about the topics covered by Isaac in this interview, listen to the “professional standard 1” episode of our This Is Social Work podcast, where Isaac speaks about what social justice means to them and how social workers can promote it within their practice.

Social Work England is committed to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in all we do. You can read our equality, diversity, and inclusion action plan on our website.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this interview or require further support and learning, please visit our support pages.

Did you know that you can use this article, or any other on our website, for your CPD? You can reflect upon what you have learned by reading this as one of your 2 required CPD entries for this year.