Last year I was fortunate to be able to develop my own reflective skills further with an opportunity to write a reflective article for the Child Abuse Review Journal. The Association of Child Protection Professionals had advertised asking for practitioner articles to include in the journal, and as I have always had a keen interest in research and academia I felt that this was a fantastic opportunity!
I decided to write about the importance of communication during Covid 19. This topic was important to me as communication is a key element of the project, and many of the discussions that I had been having with workers on the frontline were related to communication. Communication with the children, young people and families that they were now supporting in different ways, and also how communication with colleagues and multi-agency professionals had been affected.
The process was really interesting for me, gaining an insight into the world of publishing. I had my ‘critical friend’ in Dafydd who was able to offer me some constructive guidance and support, and it highlighted to me how important having that person can be: having someone you trust to run things by and reflect with. My first draft was passed on to the editors who gave me some feedback and suggestions on revisions that could be made. This was then resubmitted and returned again for some final minor alterations. It was accepted for publishing and the publishers then had some final alterations that they discussed with me prior to the final version being ready. It turned out to be a longer process than I had anticipated but it was certainly very valuable and I am extremely grateful to have had this opportunity to develop my skills and also share learning with others, which has always been a factor we were keen to promote within the project.
You can access the article at the link below:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/car.2660
