The Rise of the Attached Professional, and What It Asks of Us as Leaders in Social Care

By: Shrien Dewani 

In every care community I’ve ever been part of, one truth continues to surface: the quality of a person’s experience is shaped not by systems or job roles, but by the emotional availability of the people supporting them.  

At Evolve Care Group, we describe our colleagues as attached professionals. Attached not in the sense of boundary-crossing or over-identification, but in the deeper sense of being emotionally present, human, attuned. They practice empathy, not sympathy, and they do so with purpose: to ensure that every person living in our communities feels seen, heard, valued, and safe. 

This form of professionalism is not detached or clinical. It is relational. It is emotional. And it is, I believe, one of the most powerful ingredients in excellent care. 

But we cannot expect attached professionals to pour emotional energy into the lives of others without creating space for their own emotional expression. You cannot build a human-centred culture while demanding robotic composure from the very people who make that culture possible. 

This is where corporate leadership in social care must evolve. 

The Emotional Labour of Care Is Not an Add-On It Is the Work 

To walk alongside people through illness, dementia, loss, recovery or loneliness is demanding. It draws on the heart as much as the head. The very best practitioners carry stories, hopes, worries, and moments of connection home with them. Not because they are “unprofessional,” but because they are beautifully, meaningfully human. 

The danger comes when organisations create cultures that expect emotional expression from colleagues in their work with residents but punish or suppress that same expression when it’s directed inward, towards a manager, a peer, or a system that needs to improve. 

This contradiction is unsustainable. 

If we want empathy, we must make room for emotion. 

If we want staff to connect deeply with the people we support, we must allow staff to connect honestly with us. 

If we want psychological safety for residents, we must guarantee psychological safety for colleagues first. 

This is the leadership contract of the future. 

Leaders Must Now Learn to Hold Space for Emotion 

For years at Evolve, we have shaped our leadership culture around a simple belief: feelings are information. They tell us about values, boundaries, purpose, and pain. They reveal what matters. But to benefit from this emotional data, leaders must develop the skill of holding space. 

Holding space is not absorbing emotion, fixing it, judging it, or controlling it. 

It is allowing it to exist long enough for meaning to emerge. 

It is where venting becomes insight. 

Where frustration becomes learning. 

Where anger becomes clarity. 

Where sadness becomes connection. 

This is why tools such as storytelling, venting, and recognising emotional triggers are so important. They normalise emotional expression and teach us to use it constructively. 

Storytelling: The Safest Bridge Between Emotion and Understanding 

Storytelling allows colleagues to externalise their experience without fear. When someone is overwhelmed, asking them to “calm down” closes the door; inviting them to “tell the story of what happened” opens it. 

Through storytelling: 

• Emotions gain shape rather than spilling out sideways 

• Patterns become visible 

• Leaders can spot unmet needs 

• The team can learn together rather than fracture apart 

I have seen storytelling transform difficult conversations into moments of genuine human growth. It turns conflict into clarity and connection. 

But storytelling is only one way to allow emotions to breathe. 

Other Practices That Support Emotionally Healthy, High-Performing Care Cultures 

1. Reflective Debriefs 

Brief, structured conversations after challenging events, allowing colleagues to express what they felt, what they feared, and what they learned. 

2. Emotional Check-Ins 

Simple questions at the start of meetings: 

“Where are you today, emotionally?” 

This destigmatises emotion and builds psychological safety.  

3. Boundary-Respectful Venting 

Allowing colleagues to release frustration without judgment, while teaching them how to do so respectfully and without harming others. 

4. Trigger Recognition 

Helping teams identify what ignites emotional escalation, tone, language, topics, and teaching them to pause, name, and redirect these moments.  

5. Compassionate Challenge 

Encouraging colleagues to express strong feelings but also inviting them to explore what those feelings are connected to, so they lead to growth rather than stagnation. 

6. Leadership Transparency 

As leaders, sharing our own humanity, our frustrations, fears, and hopes, signals that feelings are acceptable, not a weakness. 

The Future of Social Care Leadership Is Human Leadership 

The next generation of social care leaders will not be defined by how well they manage budgets or policies, though those things matter, but by how well they manage emotion. 

The ability to: 

• Receive raw emotion without defensiveness 

• Remain grounded while others are overwhelmed 

• Guide emotional energy into constructive conversation 

• Model empathy without collapsing into sympathy 

• Create cultures where people feel safe to feel 

This is the leadership we must teach. 

This is the leadership we must embody. 

This is the leadership that transforms a service into a community. 

A Final Reflection 

If we want the people who live in our care communities to experience value, independence, dignity and purpose, then the people working within those communities must experience the same. And that means building cultures where feeling is not feared but welcomed, treated not as a disruption, but as a doorway to understanding and connection. 

The measure of our success is not only the quality of care we deliver, but the emotional wellbeing of the colleagues who deliver it. 

In the end, excellent care is simply the outward expression of inward humanity. And that humanity thrives only in cultures where emotion is allowed to breathe.