Be aware of the power you have by virtue of the position you hold within a large and powerful organisation, in relation to your clients: power to give and withhold services, to remove the liberty of some clients, to protect vulnerable people from getting hurt, to influence profoundly the quality of your clients’ lives.

Discuss with your team / supervisor ways in which it would be positive and appropriate for you to share some of that power with others; for example, by asking for advice from someone new, by changing your routine about how decision-making meetings are held, by involving clients in producing new publicity information.

Be open to the idea that there are perspectives apart from your own, some of which could be right!

Be ready to challenge your own and other agencies’ discriminatory policies. Write to the director or assistant director, or get your team to send a letter together; tell your shop steward and ask for the union to take action; re-write the policy yourself and send your ideas to others for comments; inform your clients if you think the agency is acting illegally or discriminating against them and help them find an advocate.

Be prepared to give your clients access to advisors and agencies where they can get independent advice, and might even oppose you.