People often ask me what I see as the future of social work. My response is generally that this largely depends on us as members of the profession. Of course, there will be macro-level developments in law and government policy that will be influential, but these depend in large part on how they are put into practice by professionals. And, of course, it is not only how the profession reacts towards external developments - there is also the proactive work we can do individually and collectively.

So, in terms of the future, I see a worst-case scenario and a best-case scenario. For the former I envisage an older generation of workers who are disillusioned by the way the heart has gone out of social work, how it is more about paperwork than people work, and they have become cynical and defeatist about it all, more or less burnt out. Alongside them is a newer generation of social workers who are puzzled by all this talk of 'real' social work and feel at a loss as to what they are supposed to be doing above and beyond rationing scarce resources. That is the pessimistic outlook.

The best-case scenario for me is that we all pull together to reaffirm our professionalism - a partnership-based, empowering professionalism, not a return to elitist traditional forms of professionalism - and, in doing so, reaffirm the value of social work. We do what we reasonably can to improve the situation and, at the same time, make the best of what we have got, rather than become cynical and defeatist. That is the optimistic outlook.

The reality is likely to be somewhere in between. Where we end up between those two extremes is partly down to us. Social Work Focus can, I hope, be a forum that can help to play a part in moving forward positively. Please do what you can to play your part. Social work is too important to give up on.