How to introduce a book on mistakes without making mistakes? It is a question that could block anyone. Failing to write an effective introduction has a cost (the reader could decide not to continue reading this book) but postponing day after day the writing of these lines because of an impossible search for the perfect start also has a cost (the author will never finish the book and send the manuscript to the publishing company). What to choose? It is a dilemma. Social workers have to face similar dilemmas everyday. But in their case the costs are higher, much higher, because the lives of their service users are at stake. And in many situations these are fragile lives.

‘Doing no harm’ is one of the overarching principles mentioned in the very recent update of the ‘Global definition of social work’ and related commentary (IFSW and IASSW, 2014). It is clear that nobody likes to talk about his or her own mistakes because of their negative implications for service users and the professional life of any social worker. In the publishing arena of social work books and journals reflective practice is considered, mistakes are rarely a topic, and the combination of reflective practice together with mistakes is not present at all. But if someone is reading these lines it is because he or she wants to find new ideas on how to deal with mistakes. The book is intended to help readers with tools and strategies to face daily activity in the field of social work. The main basic ideas expressed in the following pages are:

• • Mistakes are an inevitable part of any human reality and also the consequence of limited resources. This is true in social work as well: if in the UK there were 20 million social workers in child protection maybe there would be no cases of abuse or maltreatment at all, but where would the salary of this group of social workers come from and who would do the other necessary jobs?