World Social Work Day takes place on the 15 March 2022.
Here we have a general introduction to social workers and how we use their wide range of skills:
What do social workers do?
Social workers support people in meeting some of life’s biggest challenges. They play a pivotal role in building relationships to support and empower children, adults and families to make important choices about the direction of their lives. At times social workers also need to ensure that those that they serve are safe and protected from harm as well as promoting and supporting individual choice and recovery.
“Social Worker” is a protected title by law therefore can only be used by qualified social workers. All practicing social workers within England are required to be registered with Social Work England, the new specialist social work regulator which came into being on 2 December 2019. Social Work England manages the social work register and requires all registered social workers in England to maintain their professional registration by demonstrating adherence to social work values and competencies and demonstrate continued professional development during their professional practice.
Social workers at CNTW:
Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) recognises the valuable contribution that social workers bring to our teams and services, and currently employs about 105 qualified social workers in total. Within CNTW we have some social workers who are employed in specific designated social worker posts as well as social workers working in other generic posts. Our social workers use their social work qualification and skills in a variety of roles including therapists, community practitioners, care coordinators, clinical leads and managers to name a few.
We are especially pleased to be able to celebrate the contribution of our Social Workers at this time by announcing the appointment of Simon Owens to the new post of Trust Principal Social Worker. Simon brings a wealth of experience as a Social Worker, leader and manager with experience in mental health, learning disability, autism, and substance misuse services. He joins us from an integrated local authority and community mental health service in County Durham. In a previous role he led on the national Think Ahead program at Durham, supporting students through a fast track training program within one year, and into their second year at the ASYE capability stage.
The model applied at Durham, being the first in the North East, received national recognition supporting further critical discussion and debate about the ongoing need and importance of social work in mental health practice. Alongside this, Simon supported the wider development of mental health social work practice.
For more information on World Social Work Day and the focus for 2022 click here.