by Sophie Baker

This is the fourth installment in Sophie Baker’s ‘What I wish I had known…’ series, where she reflects on her approach to practice when she started out – and what she would tell her younger self now.

Watching Adolescence this month brought back many memories of my early career. I was struck by the powerful acting, especially in an intense scene between Jamie (played by Owen Cooper) and his psychologist, where he was shouting, swearing and knocking over furniture.

It reminded me of my experiences with Shauna, a ten-year-old girl who spent much of her childhood in and out of care and who was one of the first children I worked with.

Shauna’s mother, who had bipolar disorder, provided loving care when well. But during her low periods, she couldn’t get out of bed and struggled to meet her children’s needs. In her highs, she took risks, falling into debt and forming unsafe relationships.

During these times, Shauna experienced physical and emotional neglect in a home environment that was dysregulated, chaotic and volatile.

Each time their mother’s mental health declined, Shauna and her siblings were moved to a temporary foster home, waiting for the moment they could return to her care.

As a result of her experiences, Shauna was often oppositional, impulsive and confrontational. It also meant that it became harder and harder to find her a stable foster placement.

Looking back, the memory of one afternoon I shared with Shauna leaves me contemplating what I wish I had known during my work with her.

Children won’t always behave in a way you expect

Sophie Baker has over 20 years of experience working in children’s social care

Some of my most treasured memories of my early career were spent with Shauna. For the most part, our interactions had been positive.

However, this afternoon was different. We were sitting in my car when I broke the news that she would be moving to another carer.

Abandoned. Again.

She immediately started shouting and screaming, banging her fists against her head and the car dashboard. I could feel my heart beating in my chest as she moved her face close to mine. She glared at me and then spat on my cheek.

Shauna spent the next five minutes or so in what I can only describe as white rage.

She took out my CDs and snapped each one.  She bent my sunglasses out of shape and threw them out of the car window.

Lastly, she got out of the car and climbed on to its roof. As I tried to encourage her down, she jumped up and down, denting it in the process.

Children with trauma will struggle to regulate their emotions

I can still remember the emotional and physical responses I experienced during her outburst. Initially, I was shocked.

I had been told that Shauna got angry, but up until that point had never experienced it firsthand. I was frightened that she would not only hurt herself but also hurt me as she hurled herself around.

My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest, and I could feel my cheeks burning red. My hands were shaking and as I tried to calm her down, my voice was trembling. I felt helpless to calm the situation.

What I learnt over the first few years of my career was that children that have experienced trauma like Shauna often struggle to regulate their emotions and behaviours. They can have impulsive and intense reactions to stress.

If I were able to turn back time, I would tell myself that Shauna was communicating in the best way she knew how. My role in that moment was to listen and to reassure her that I would stay with her until she calmed down.

No judgement – just unconditional support.

Their anger probably feels as frightening for them as it does to you

I am not ashamed to say that I was petrified during those moments. What I wish I had known was that Shauna was probably very frightened too, struggling to recognise the huge feelings she was experiencing.

Even as an inexperienced social worker, I knew it was imperative that I stayed calm and did not get caught in any kind of power struggle with Shauna. She needed time and space to calm down.

I knew that I needed to validate her feelings and show her I could contain her (and myself!). I needed to remain a positive role model by handling my own feelings in a calm way and modelling a healthy response to stress.

That was easier said than done, but I took deep breaths and kept reminding myself that I needed to be a source of strength for her.

Work to help a traumatised child to feel safe

There are some techniques I have learnt along the way that I wish I had known then. These start with seeing beyond her immediate behaviours and asking myself, ‘What does Shauna need?’, rather than, ‘What is wrong with her?’.

Looking back, I now see I should have helped Shauna feel safe. Instead of immediately trying to calm her down, I wish I had started by reassuring her that she was safe.  She was safe with me as a trusted adult, and I wasn’t going to leave.

I also wish I had asked Shauna if there was anything I could do to help. Then and there. Did she need a hug?  To hold my hand? A drink of water? For me to put on some chilled-out music in the car? Letting her have a bit of choice and control over the situation may have helped her calm down a little easier.

In hindsight, I probably tried too hard to offer solutions to Shauna during her outburst.

I was trying to make her feel better, but offering solutions to problems in a time of absolute crisis was not helpful. Mentioning how a new foster placement could be great or that they had a dog (she loved dogs) was not an appropriate response for that moment.

Managing professional guilt

I remember the feeling of overwhelming sadness washing over me as I watched her. She was distraught.

The sensible part of me knew that it wasn’t my fault that Shauna needed to move to new carers, but I was wrought with guilt.

I felt like she had been failed by a ‘system’ that was unable to match her with foster carers who would offer her unconditional care; failed by the social workers who had come and gone over her short life; failed by me, who hadn’t been able to visit her as often as I would have liked.

I was devastated.

As I matured in my practice, I came to realise that there is a real danger for social workers to hold feelings of guilt. Much of our work relies on resources that are often lacking and can be hard to manage.

However, with good supervision, I got to a place where I felt I was practising in the best way I could and felt less guilt about the constraints of the resources available to me.

Is that good enough? Sometimes it has to be.

More than half of social workers feel unprepared to tackle the impact of social media on children, a Community Care poll has found.

This follows the release of Netflix drama Adolescence in March, which sparked a national debate in the UK around the growing influence of online content on children – particularly young boys.

The four-episode series follows the aftermath of a 13-year-old boy being accused of murdering a girl from his school and explores children’s exposure to misogyny and incel (involuntarily celibate) culture online.

‘An emerging and growing problem’ – Starmer

In the wake of the show’s success, prime minister Keir Starmer described the online radicalisation of boys as “an emerging and growing problem” and backed screenings of Adolescence in secondary schools.

However, he cautioned that there was not a “lever” he could pull to solve the problem, adding: “Only by listening and learning from the experiences of young people and charities can we tackle the issues this groundbreaking show raises.”

With social workers often supporting children who spend long periods online, how equipped do they feel to tackle the influence of online culture?

A Community Care poll with 640 responses found that one-third of practitioners didn’t feel “at all” equipped to address the influence of social media on children, while 25% said they were only “a little” equipped.

Only 15% stated they were “very” well-equipped, and 27% said they were “somewhat” so.

If you’d like to share or write about your take on Adolescence and working with children who spend long periods online, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

Do you have a colleague, mentor, or social work figure you can’t help but gush about?

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how the person has inspired you.

*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Social workers believe racial bias greatly affects child protection practice, a poll has found.

This follows a recent report by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel on the impact of race, ethnicity and culture on cases where children have died or suffered serious harm.

The case reviews studied, which involved mixed-heritage, black and Asian children, were “silent” about the presence of racial bias in professionals’ decision making and on the role of racism in services’ responses to families.

The panel found that children’s race and ethnicity were often not recognised, appropriately explored or understood by practitioners, resulting in them not having a full understanding of children’s lived experience and the vulnerabilities they faced.

Only 7% said racial bias affected child protection practice “not at all”, while 5% believed there was “little” influence.

The national panel’s report is the latest in a series of studies to highlight issues with the way the social care system responds to children and families from black, Asian and ethnic minority communities.

Practitioners did not sufficiently consider children’s needs in relation to their race, ethnicity and culture in responding to child sexual abuse, found a review last year carried out for the panel by the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse.

Meanwhile, a 2023 Nuffield Family Justice Observatory study identified significant ethnic inequalities in the use and timing of care proceedings.

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

Do you have a colleague, mentor, or social work figure you can’t help but gush about?

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

by Gemma S.

I have been a qualified social worker since July 2021, and ten months ago, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

An estimated 40 million people live with bipolar disorder worldwide, yet this is often viewed negatively in society. Stigma and discrimination are widespread, both within communities and health services.

‘I found myself hiding my diagnosis’

When I received my diagnosis, I really struggled emotionally. In truth, I mourned for my former self.

I strove to be open, raise awareness and show there was no shame in being bipolar. But I soon discovered it was not as easy as I initially thought. I found myself hiding my diagnosis and feeling ashamed of it.

At the beginning I was even unsure about disclosing my diagnosis at my workplace, out of fear I would be regarded negatively.

As a social worker, I pride myself on showing kindness, challenging injustice and working with people who feel on the margins of society.

But I was not giving myself that same kindness and understanding or standing up for what I thought I needed.

Ultimately, talking to my team felt right – I had built a good relationship with them and had a desire to support others in understanding mental health conditions.

A third of people with bipolar disorder face workplace discrimination

According to a 2020 survey carried out by mental health charity Bipolar UK, while 90% people disclosed their condition to their employer, 24% ended up regretting it.

The reasons for this were evidenced in a follow-up 2024 survey, where nearly a third (32%) of over 1000 individuals with bipolar disorder revealed they had faced workplace discrimination.

This time a quarter chose to keep their condition private.

A 2024 Community Care poll, meanwhile, found that over half of 625 respondents had either experienced or witnessed mental health-related prejudice.

However, one commentator on the related article spoke about how disclosing a diagnosis could help model authenticity about anti-discriminatory practice. That resonated with me.

I do feel that sharing my story with my manager and team has allowed me to be my authentic self.

‘They huddled around me like one big hug’

Having the right people in your corner is paramount.

I feel very fortunate to have an amazing team at the council I work at. They have shown understanding and care about my wellbeing.

On one occasion, when I was experiencing a depressive episode, I messaged my team and manager that I was struggling and feeling low, but that I still felt able to work.

They huddled around me like one big hug; checking in with me, offering a listening ear and recommending support services like occupational health and counselling/support groups within the local authority.

My team supported me with my workload and even brought in snacks and pop. It meant the world to me, and I truly appreciate them all.

Most importantly, this allowed me to continue working full-time and progress in a job that I love.

It makes me sad to know this is not everyone’s experience.

Receiving services as a social worker 

Adapting to my new identity as ‘someone who receives services’ has been a challenging experience.

As a person with lived experience and a professional, I was able to fight for the care I wanted. But there have been times when I felt vulnerable and powerless.

I have had to really fight for person-centred care for myself, to have a say and be part of the co-production around my own care.

When picking up my prescription from the pharmacist, medication changes were made without my input or any notification. I challenged this and asked the community mental health team to work with me, not for me.

I requested regular reviews and asked to be included in all discussions and decisions, as this is what I advocate for the people I support.

‘It’s important to be kind to yourself’

Currently, l feel positive about my future in social work and am returning to university to enhance my learning.

I am managing my bipolar disorder through medication, with support from my mental health team, practising good self-care and managing my wellbeing.

I have realised that being kind to myself is so important, especially when navigating life as a social worker. It requires much self-love, empathy, kindness and understanding.

‘Reach out for support’

I am sharing my experience to raise awareness that, even as a professional working within health and social care, I have faced difficulties with receiving person-centred support.

Working in a pressurised and demanding environment can be a challenge for anyone, but particularly for people with a mental health condition.

It is so important to reach out for support and have the backing of a marvellous team.

‘My Care Story’ is a new series dedicated to amplifying the stories of care-experienced individuals and providing social workers with vital insights to improve the support they offer.

Rebekah Pierre, deputy director at children’s rights charity Article 39, has dedicated her career to championing the rights of children in the social care system.

Formerly a professional officer for the British Association for Social Workers, she has consistently used her platform to challenge the use of unregulated accommodation for children in care and the language used by practitioners in children’s case notes.

This included sharing her own experience of reading her case files in a widely shared open letter to her former social worker. In it, she criticised the practitioner’s “cold and formal” language and multiple writing errors, including over 100 misspellings of her name.

In 2024, she published Free Loaves on Fridays, an anthology of letters, stories and poems from 100 individuals, aged 13 to 68, with experience in care – offering a powerful reflection on the system.

Rebekah’s advocacy is deeply rooted in her own time in care and, speaking to Community Care, she shed light on what she wished her social workers had done differently.

How would you describe your time in care? 

My experience of care (if one can even call it that) was incredibly unstable.

I was always fearful of settling after my first placement ended unexpectedly, when four days before Christmas, my foster carer left me a note on the kitchen table informing me that I had four days to find ‘somewhere else to live’.

It was completely out of the blue, and with no apparent reason, which led me to anticipate rejection wherever I went. From this point on, I bounced between sofa surfing, informal fostering arrangements and unregulated accommodation.

Whilst it would be clichéd to say this was character building – because I certainly could have done without these experiences at such a young age – I am full of gratitude for the few caring and committed adults who carried me through this time.

My experiences with social workers were mixed. While I received genuine care and dedication from a residential social worker, who believed in me far more than I believed in myself (and was a large part of the reason I applied to university), the same cannot be said for others.

I was ghosted by one, victim-blamed by another and cheerily told to return to an unsafe environment by two more.

But what applied across the board was that each social worker, regardless of their treatment toward me, appeared always to be in a rush. They were not fully present, and were always racing to the next call or appointment.

It’s why I feel so passionate about campaigning for more manageable workloads.

What is something that has stayed with you from your time in care? 

Without a shadow of a doubt, my tendency to use writing as a coping mechanism.

Between placement breakdowns and the revolving door of professionals, my diary was a rare constant in my life. It was a sounding board whereby I could pour my heart out without fear of being labelled or judged.

I published some extracts back in 2021 to demonstrate the harms associated with unregulated placements.

Keeping a diary fostered a love for language, which has stayed with me ever since and helped my editing process for Free Loaves on Fridays.

It felt wonderful to be able to pass on the baton to up-and-coming writers of all ages, given that the book featured dozens of care-experienced people who had never seen their names in print before, alongside seasoned authors such as Lemn Sissay and Kirsty Capes.

Can you give an example of a time you received good support from a care professional?

A wonderful woman named Debbie, my sixth-form pastoral worker, springs to mind.

While she technically wasn’t a ‘care professional’, she certainly cared. It was the combination of emotional and practical support that made her so effective.

Firstly, she had an open-door policy, which meant I could seek support no matter the mood I was in (or whatever lesson I had escaped from!).

It sounds so simple now, but she was one of the first people who ever really validated me – who told me that I didn’t deserve what I had gone through. The impact of this cannot be overstated.

This was coupled with what I like to call street smarts – the knowledge that no amount of emotional support alone could overcome poverty.

While I was living in unregulated placements and struggling to make ends meet, she made sure I had basics, such as a bus pass, free meals and train tickets to visit university open days.

Without these things, I would have needed to drop out of school.

Can you give an example of a time you received bad support from a care professional?

A few years ago, I wrote an ‘open letter to the social worker who wrote my case notes’, which went viral on the app X at the time.

The letter speaks to poor support, including a culture of disbelief, adultification and poor record-making.

What would you have wanted to be done differently?

Firstly, to have been believed.

As a child, it takes an incredible amount of courage to make a disclosure of any sort. To have made such a leap, only to be vilified and written about as if I was complicit in what had happened to me, was painful in the extreme.

Secondly, how professionals write about children holds up a mirror to the way in which they think, feel, speak and act toward them.

Therefore, my care records speak volumes about the lack of respect underscoring my social worker’s whole approach to me as a young person.

Reading them made me feel powerless and invisible – my voice was completely absent.

It’s why I advocate for children to contribute to their records in their own way (whether through words, pictures, art or even voice notes), rather than have their wishes and feelings being shoehorned in at the end of a report or assessment.

The key takeaway is to imagine how you would want to be written about, and to write accordingly.

What would you tell social workers today?

Use your voice to stand up for children in care at every opportunity, and don’t make the mistake of assuming that somebody else will.

Forget about any imagined hierarchies or pecking orders. There is no guarantee the other professionals in the room or your service have, or ever will have, access to the child’s world in the way that you do.

You’re in a unique position to do immeasurable good, which often involves challenging the status quo.

Oh, and get a copy of Free Loaves on Fridays.

My experience does not represent the masses and I can’t speak for anyone else past or present.  But in this book – proceeds of which go to Article 39 and fellow children’s charity The Together Trust – you’ll find 100 accounts from diverse backgrounds, written by care-experienced people aged 13 to 68!

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

Do you have a colleague, mentor, or social work figure you can’t help but gush about?

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career. It is part of Community Care’s ongoing Choose Social Work campaign, which aims to champion the brilliant work social workers do every day and inspire the next generation of practitioners.

In this entry, Debbie Elsheikh, service manager of Salford council’s workforce learning and development team, celebrates workforce development officer Vicky Wright.

She praises Vicky for ‘revolutionising’ practitioners’ approach to life story work, embedding it earlier in the process of their practice with children.

Vicky is the most creative person I know and highly passionate about children and supporting staff.

I recently involved her in a project to improve our life story work and she went over and above in what she did.

She listened and collaborated with staff, who told us that they needed help with templates and asked that the work started earlier in the journey of the child. Vicky responded to the need.

She did not just create one template for life story work, she created three for under-10s and three for over-10s, to support children at different stages of their journey. The templates are beautifully presented.

Some cover examples of Vicky’s life story books for social workers. Photo by Debbie Elsheikh

Vicky thought long and hard about what the social workers needed, given that they are busy and time-poor, but we want them to start life story work earlier.

She designed the books to be used for direct work and for getting to know the children, as well as for life story work. This meant social workers were not doing additional work, but had tools to use at each stage with children.

When she launched the project, she did a briefing and was so enthusiastic and passionate that practitioners immediately seemed to take on board what she said.

They loved the child-focused templates and we have seen beautiful examples of work since.

Vicky has really revolutionised the way we work in Salford. Her passion and talent have shone through and impressed not just us, but also colleagues in Greater Manchester.

She has gone above and beyond her original ask and given her whole heart to the project, because she wants to better the lives of children.

We are very proud of her!

How to nominate a colleague

You can nominate anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry.*

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Social workers’ caseloads do not align with the average calculated by the Department for Education, a Community Care poll has found.

Based on submissions from councils, the DfE calculated that, in September 2024, the average caseload for children’s social workers in England was 15.4. 

This was down from 16.0 twelve months earlier and 16.6 in 2022.

Social workers’ caseloads ‘well above’ DfE calculations

However, social workers have rejected the DfE’s calculations.

A Community Care poll with almost 600 votes found that the department’s average was “well below” 78% of respondents’ caseloads.

Only 15% said it was in line with their experience. 

‘I have never had a caseload as low as 15’

Social workers commenting on the related article also dismissed the figure, deeming it “misleading”.

“Numbers of children allocated to social workers is very misleading,” said Stella Potente. “How many families? What is the intensity of the work? How many of the families are in court proceedings? How many require parenting assessments?” 

Many admitted they never had a caseload of 15 cases, with Linsey Parker calling the number “a pipe dream”.

“If you double it, and add the extra hours outside working hours, it would be more realistic. Social workers just keep calm and carry on until they mentally can’t,” she said.

Jemma added: “I have never had a caseload as low as 15, and still don’t. I am also confused as to why the focus is on the number of cases and does not factor in the complexity. Social work should not be based on numbers and figures.”

Another practitioner, Roisin, who qualified in 2017, said she had been allocated 20 cases in her assessed and supported year in employment – a number that has not decreased since.

“[I have had] between 20-25 looked-after children cases. It’s not easy maintaining complex cases and families on a long-term basis with those numbers.”

‘Figure includes non-case-holding practitioners’

One social worker, Kelly, noted that the figure failed to be “a true reflection” of the reality because they included cases held by managers, who would generally be responsible for far fewer children than frontline practitioners, depressing the average.

Similarly, Guli said the DfE’s average was “artificially low” because social workers were, in practice, supporting unallocated siblings of children on their caseloads.

“The ultimate responsibility for safeguarding all these unallocated children falls on your unpaid and unrecognised overtime,” they added.

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

Do you have a colleague, mentor or social work figure you can’t help but gush about?

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Social workers undergo continuous performance evaluation through supervision, management meetings and annual appraisals.

While managers are similar appraised by those at even higher levels of seniority, some have argued that practitioners should be able to have their say on the performance of those they report into.

A 2024 Community Care poll found that social workers were more likely to leave an employer over unsupportive management than pay – and enabling them to appraise their managers may be one way of addressing this.

“All managers should be accountable to workers and service users, and we should be able to give feedback on their performance, as they do on ours,” said one practitioner, in a recent article about social workers’ views of management.

But do social workers agree?

A Community Care poll of around 1250 respondents found that 86% believed managers should be reviewed by their staff as part of their annual appraisals, in order to “ensure accountability”.

Only 14% felt this would add to “the already significant pressures on managers”.

‘Managers should be subject to scrutiny’

“Social work managers should be subject to much more scrutiny than they are, because ultimately their team depends upon them and looks to them for advice and guidance,” commented Mark.

Another social worker, Sara, described management in the sector as “out of touch” with frontline realities.

“If you raise an issue about workload, it is your fault,” she added. “If a client complains, it is your fault.

“I love social work, but hate the office politics, blame culture. If you speak up, you are classed as a trouble maker, then you are ostracised by managers and in the worst case get moved to another team.”

‘The very best managers know what it means to be compassionate’

Rose highlighted the stark contrast between good and poor leadership, stressing that “the very best managers” are those who are “compassionate and encouraging.”

“I have had the very best and very worst of managers in my 13 years in children’s social care,” she said. 

“The difference between them was not what pressures they were under themselves, or issues of having to meet unrealistic targets. It was a sound understanding of what it means and looks like to be compassionate, empathic, supportive and encouraging.” 

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

Do you have a colleague, mentor, or social work figure you can’t help but gush about?

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.

In this entry, Tony Mushrow celebrates his manager, Sarah Humphray, and her work within Sefton’s Team Around The School initiative, a collaboration between schools and a range of professionals focused on delivering early help to families.

Dear Sarah,

I have today nominated you for My Brilliant Colleague for several reasons. All jokes aside, I think you have been brilliant with Team Around The School (TAS).

You have worked tirelessly to improve this new service and bring in changes that will benefit the children and families we work with across Sefton. 

We know this has not been easy and you have had to manage pushback from both schools and partner agencies.

You have led on several new initiatives and had a hand in everything – from the logo and the referral process to creating a handbook for families, schools and partner agencies that explains our work.

I came into post a couple of months after you joined and, although busy with your own role, you found the time to support me, taking me out to meet staff, involving me in meetings and being there for me when I struggled with understanding this new structure and service. 

You always find the time to help and support both the staff on the team and those in partner agencies.

Your organisation and presentation about TAS to the new cluster was brilliant.

There were a couple of hundred people in that room, including local councillors, senior managers, the head of service and the director of children’s services. Yet you remained confident, informative, relatable and personable throughout – all the things you need to be a brilliant communicator.

At 59, I have been in social work for 25 years and, to be honest, was feeling quite burnt out and flat about my old post.

But working with you and witnessing your enthusiasm, dynamic energy, focus and drive has definitely inspired me to work harder and do better.

I want to learn more, do more, and help and support you to transform Team Around The School into an even better service for the children and families within Sefton.

Thank you, Sarah. Keep being the brilliant you.

How to nominate a colleague

You can nominate anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry.*

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From the Front Line is a new series where social workers share their experiences on various topics and running issues within the sector. To express an interest in taking part, email us at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Frontline social workers operate within hierarchical organisations under the guidance and direction of managers at various levels.

Yet, the relationships with managers are complex; the inherent power imbalance can blur the line between advice and instruction, making open dialogue difficult.

Mentors can serve as an impartial guide – a trusted sounding board who offers wisdom, support and space for professional growth.

But what defines a good mentor? And how do you find one?

Three experienced social work professionals described how mentorship influenced the course of their careers, and provided advice on where to find one and what it takes to be one.

Tiffany Green, practice development lead, 22 years’ experience

I’ve always pushed myself to try different things, but that also goes back to my mentor. I got my mentor through the College of Social Work because, back then, I wanted to be a director of social services.

I didn’t know what that looked like or what steps I needed to take to get there, so I was allocated a mentor who had been in that role.

She’d have me write out actions I needed to take and taught me how to use the resources I already had to get the skills I needed and create opportunities.

For example, if you want to be a director, you need management experience. One way is to become a practice educator, where you can learn your threshold around balancing your daily work while managing someone else’s.

She also had me do one-year, three-year and five-year projections as to where I wanted to go and look at job descriptions for directors to see what skills I needed. Then we’d work backwards – what roles in the local authority could give me those skills?

She also made me think about what was good and bad about the managers I had. How do I avoid becoming the bad manager? And could I integrate the skills and the practice of the good ones?

It was an enlightening, insightful, and challenging experience, but in a good way. It challenged me to think about who I wanted to be.

It was the first time someone showed me that I get to choose how I do things.”

Your supervisor or manager will talk to you about opportunities for training, but you’ll rarely get a manager who’s comfortable if you say, “I want to be a manager”.

Having that separate person, who was just focused on me and what I wanted professionally, was really helpful.

Andrew Gambrill, independent practice educator and trainer, qualified in 2007

All my mentors were informal. I’ve always had at least one or two at any time and some of them stayed with me throughout my career. I guess it’s about, when things are going wrong, who do you call?

I might not speak to them for months but they’re your go-to people who can help you make sense of things.

As you progress, you leave one job for another, but you retain some people – it’s friendship slash mentorship. I think the difference here is that a friend would say you’re brilliant no matter what, while a mentor would go, “Actually maybe that’s not the right approach. These are your strengths but this is what you need to work on as well.”

It’s also good to have someone outside the organisation because, otherwise, you can get a corporate answer, even from a mentor. From the outside, they might be a little more critical and look at it from a different point of view.

At one point, I was going through a bad spell, a bad relationship with a manager, and when I spoke to a mentor outside of that organisation they offered a good balance of “Yes, that’s not fair how they’ve been treating you,”, but also, “Be a good professional. The reaction you described wasn’t good either. Avoid getting petulant and stick to your values.”

So having that balance was great.

You need mentors who can be positive and encouraging but equally have the courage to be critical.

You need someone saying, “Here’s your strength, build that strength, but you’ll hit a ceiling with certain elements. Don’t try to be that version of you because that’s not where your skills lie.”

On a practical level, I’ve always struggled with comprehensive writing. I’ve always been quite succinct in my writing, when sometimes more elaboration was needed, and having someone help me was really encouraging.

I’ve also had good mentors who didn’t wait for me to say, “I’m struggling”. When you start to struggle you’ll always wait and think, “Oh maybe I’ll get better and is it a weakness to say it?”

There is a relief of somebody else saying, “Listen, you’re struggling,” and offering support. Those are the good mentors. I’ve had one tell me, “I’ve been through these situations as well and I wanted to be the person I needed then.”

Managers can double as mentors, but it’s incredibly difficult because the ideal mentor is almost separate from this corporate process.

I’ve had some who have been good mentors for a lot of the time but sometimes it was a challenge because of the balance of the role.

What I’ve learned is that you’ve got to reach out and recognise who is able and willing to be your mentor. It is tricky because, as newly qualified staff, you get a lot of formal mentors, like managers and leads, but sometimes the informal ones are those who count. They are the ones who sit in the corner and tell you the stuff you need to know that no one else tells you.

But it’s about being appreciative as well. You could send back some love and say, “I really appreciate you, thank you”.

That can be a good reward for the mentor and encourage them to keep going, because we all need the feedback. We all need the positive strokes.

Jane Mathew-Byrne, national professional lead, over 30 years of experience

Eight years ago, Farrukh Akhtar, my colleague at Kingston University, where I was a lecturer, became the BA course lead so I worked closely with her.

She got to know me and pushed me to try new opportunities. She’d say, “Oh Jane why don’t you take up the mentoring scheme? You’re already mentoring students.”

She recognised that my strengths and skills were in building relationships with people, mentoring and championing them, not telling them what to do.”

I was able to go to her and chew things over. I don’t think it matters how experienced you are. It’s always good to have a sounding board. She wasn’t my supervisor or manager, but even if she had been, that wouldn’t have been a problem because of her style of work. We built up that relationship.

She inspired me to encourage other team members to do that as well. Her mentoring was an excellent example that helped me further my skills.

Looking back, she supported me to realise it was time to move on. Part of me knew that, but I left it right at the back of my mind.

As a mentor, you don’t tell people what to do. You don’t have that authoritarian aspect, what you want to do is develop the individual.

It’s very much being with the person. You can give them the space they need and reflect together and they don’t fear saying something wrong.

I would advise new mentors to always listen. Don’t direct and be supportive. And if it’s too much, then go speak to your senior.