Full Metal Cardigan

by David Emery

"Last week, social services referred their client who, once accepted to our team, became a service user and, on further review by the doctor, a patient. He was found not to meet the eligibility criteria; he was a survivor but not with the right symptoms, an expert but with the wrong experience. He was promptly discharged and ended the day as just a person. " Full Metal Cardigan is David Emery s first book and chronicles his adventures in social care, from enthusiastic volunteer to feral frontline worker, taking in abusive popstars, chanting cults, drug runs and interviewing a corpse. He recounts how he gained international notoriety for cheating in a pancake race, encounters with the supernatural, High Court appearances, accidentally booking someone into Dignitas, one-inch death punches in Woolworths, waterboarding, psychotic psychopaths, plunger-wielding pregnant women and suicide attempts with rhubarb along the way. This is a humorous look at life as a social in turns both laugh-out-loud funny and mind-boggling.

256 pages, Paperback

Published July 31, 2018

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! It is written with such humility and the heartfelt warmth, compassion and empathy that is rife in the Health and Social Care sector radiates from every page. Quite often the work undertaken in this area is overlooked by excessive waiting times, service cuts, unsafe staffing and lack of resources and whilst this is also addressed in the book, the overall goodness that is strived for is what shines through.

I work in Child and Adolescent Mental Health services and was able to connect with many of the themes that were explored as well as howl with laughter at the way the experiences Emery had of working with this unique, brave and incredibly diverse group of people were recalled. If it wasn’t for a girls night out, work and attending Uni I would have devoured this book in a day!

Predominately this book is about David Emery’s past 25yrs of working as a social worker. I love the way this book captures the obscure and difficult aspects of the job and balances this with the right amount of humour and respect for what the service users are going through. The reader learns about the fine balance between risk, ethical and legal frameworks and a persons right to express their liberty & fundamental human rights. Emery writes with such honesty about the reality of working with some of societies most vulnerable people.

My favourite line from the book:

“In time I came to realise that we only have a small influence on peoples lives; when someone gets a promotion, moves into their own flat, feels better, it is to their credit, no ours”

I think my job is an absolute privilege & I think this book demonstrates that in spades. More importantly it does so without taking anything away from the strength it takes of the service users/clients/patients…people we work with to face their demons, real or imagined.

[Toby White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven’t laughed out loud so many times when reading a book in so long. A great insight into the world of social care but with enough humour so as not to make it boring. A great read!

[Bucks, Books & Beyond · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s very rare that I actually read a book and I find myself literally laughing out loud, maybe a smirk will cross my face, or a raise of the eyebrows, but not an actual laugh which people can hear but this is what happened with this book.

The authors passion for his work and dedication to his patients shine through in this book from the first page to the last. I finished this book with a real ‘feel good’ sensation running through me.
Although this book does have incredibly funny parts, there are also heart-breaking moments when unfortunately some can not be helped, and when the red tape of the social work system prevents workers from being able to support their patients in the most appropriate way possible.

The author has a magical way of writing that blends these two very contrasting emotions together to have the reader laughing out loud on one page, feeling frustrated on the next, and then back to laughing.

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone who has even the slightest interest in reading an honest account of what actually goes on within our social work system. I think everyone can learn something from this book and maybe even become a bit more enlightened to what life working for the NHS is actually like.

[Lauren Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious and relatable account of frontline social work, this is a book that I struggled to put down and got many confused glances across the office whilst sat giggling away at my desk reading in my lunch break.

Now I just have to hope for a sequel.