Intrusive Kindness

In this episode, I take you back to the moment I left Australia to become a social worker in the UK the leap, the fear, the uncertainty, and the unexpected lessons that shaped my entire career.

This story explores what it really feels like to start over in a new country, navigate a collapsing job market, and rebuild your professional identity from scratch.

From airport panic to the harsh reality of UK social work cuts, to door‑knocki...

A first‑year social worker joins me to reflect on their first twelve months in practice the values they walked in with, the moments that shaped them, and the emotional labour of early career social work. Elle shares how her own family, who work in the profession, inspired her to pursue social work and helped shape her understanding of what this work can be.

In this episode, we explore themes familiar to anyone in the field: psycholo...

In this season finale of Intrusive Kindness, PJ reflects on his first year in social work — not from inside it, but years later, with the hindsight that only lived experience can offer. This episode explores the truth that one person’s story is never a singular story, and that social workers are rarely the main characters in the lives they enter.

Through the lens of intrusive kindness, narrative therapy, and the “NPC” metaphor, PJ u...

This is the real beginning the moment my social work practice cracked open for the first time. The Prequel (the real first) traces the early shocks of my first placement: a messy removal, the emotional labour of ED social work, the collapse no one saw coming, and the hidden skill that surfaced before I had language for it.

Inside the chaos of hospital corridors, crisis work, and the unpredictability of emergency departments, this ep...

In this episode, PJ returns to his first year of social work and the “small idea” he thought was just filling a gap a side quest he wasn’t sure he was ready for. What he didn’t realise was that this little program would become the first legacy of his career, teaching him what social work truly is: backing yourself before anyone else does, trusting young people as experts in their own lives, and creating spaces where their voices ar...

PJ returns to the early days of group facilitation those first uncertain sessions where the goal was simply to stay steady, learn the rhythm, and build confidence one group at a time. Working alongside colleagues with different styles, he slowly found a way of holding the room that felt genuine. But just as things began to feel familiar, real life delivered a left‑field moment no guidebook could prepare anyone for.

Through honest s...

In this episode, PJ returns to the early days of practice the first impressions, first challenges, and the first colleague who quietly reshaped his understanding of advocacy. What began as confusion and avoidance becomes a defining lesson in confidence, integrity, and standing firm for families.

Through honest storytelling and reflective practice, PJ explores how kindness and authority can coexist, how early mentors shape our voice...

The early years of social work are full of firsts — uplifting, humbling, and unforgettable. In this episode, PJ explores the moments that shape practice: gratitude, mistakes, overwhelm, boundaries, and the emotional labour of walking alongside people in their hardest seasons. Through honest storytelling and reflective practice, he traces how these firsts reveal the tension between rupture and repair, and how they quietly teach us t...

The journey into social work often begins long before the first day. In this opening episode, PJ returns to a Tasmanian car park where a quiet phone call set his path in motion. Through immersive storytelling and reflective practice, he traces the childhood moments, community influences, and early acts of care that shaped his understanding of human connection.

What follows is a raw account of the shock of stepping into practice: th...

In this episode, PJ returns to the moment every social worker remembers: the first visit to a family. From the weight of the referral to the tension of the knock, he traces the uncertainty, imagination, and quiet fear that shape our earliest encounters in practice.

Through honest storytelling and reflective practice, PJ explores how expectations collide with reality, how we learn to listen differently, and how these first visits re...

This is your invitation.  

Intrusive Kindness is a different way to tell our stories in the care profession through the eyes of a social worker, where empathy and authority collide. This trailer offers a glimpse into the emotional terrain, narrative rituals, and quiet power of reflective practice.  

Whether you’ve walked these corridors or never stepped inside, you’re welcome here.  

Pause.  

Reflect.  

Feel seen.  

The fault line begins...