| Summary: | <p class="first" id="d125890e117">Although there is increasing recognition within health and social care policy that
relationships are central within ‘people work’, little attention is given to exploring
the nature and purpose of these within everyday care practice. Social pedagogues appreciate
that human relationships, in all their complexity, are intrinsically valuable and,
therefore, central to everyday care practice. This article explores human encounters
as the foundation of relational practice, and we discuss how the space for true encounter
incorporates spiritual care and a movement from dependence to interdependence. It
proposes that everyday care practice is best understood as a series of human encounters
that requires courage to embrace the complexity and uncertainty of encountering the
essential humanity of those we care for. In order to do so, practitioners need to
develop moral integrity, enabling them to navigate situations of care without fixed
recipes. Drawing on perspectives from care ethics and the Nordic care tradition, this
article contextualises the discussion within the authors’ extensive care practice
experience and, in focusing on human encounters as the basis of relational care, presents
implications for practitioners in diverse everyday care contexts.
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