I learnt early on that social work can easily control you if you let it. I would often find myself losing focus, answering every call, and checking emails the second they came in, even at the expense of taking a toilet break or keeping hydrated! I would move from writing assessments to making calls and this, along with neglecting my basic wellbeing, would lead me to feel fatigued, especially by the end of the day.

Time-batching

Something that helped me was implementing time-batching into my daily routine wherever possible. This involves trying to group similar tasks to improve focus and productivity. I find that assessments tend to be the most intensive tasks, taking a lot of thought processing, and if I mix writing these with phone calls in between, it seems like they never get done.

Considering this practically, I know that the beginning of the day is when I feel most refreshed and focused, which is why I schedule assessments at the start of the day.

Kayleigh Rose Evans © KRE

This also works well as I am a social worker on an adults’ community team and a lot of times I am calling or visiting care homes where they don’t want to speak to me until after breakfast! You can’t always follow this plan, but I have found it useful to keep in the back of my mind.

The book Eat That Frog by Bryan Tracy has also been helpful because it suggests tackling our most urgent tasks first to avoid experiencing increased anxiety and reduced productivity.

I put this to the test and found that it applies to my experience with social work. I find disputes around finances challenging, especially if I feel like the person on the other end of the phone is trying to trip me up or is taking notes about everything I am saying.

As a result, I would often find myself leaving the task I flipped this around and started focusing on these tasks earlier wherever possible, which has transformed my practice. I noticed that as soon as that task was out of the way, I felt more motivated.

Why a ‘to-do’ list didn’t work for me

When we think about organisational strategies it’s easy for your mind to just be drawn to the classic to-do list. However, with the unpredictable nature of our profession, I question whether social work always fits this linear way of working.

Having a ‘to-do’ list can feel great on the days when you are able to get through and tick tasks off. But it doesn’t work as well when – one minute, you are concentrating on writing an assessment, then get a phone call which you need to case note and the next thing, you are flying out of the door on a crisis visit!

This often left me stuck with a load of incomprehensible notes on various pages, even when my list was well-intentioned and neat at the outset. It also led to a sense of confusion with what order to do things in as everything seemed urgent, and this led me to feel overwhelmed and that I was never achieving enough.

My light-bulb moment

I found that categorising the information helped me to feel empowered and in control, safe in the knowledge that every commitment I have made and task yet to finish will be achieved.

Below is the template I use, with pseudonyms and false scenarios to indicate my system. I adjust this template over time, depending on the priorities of my role. This template has helped me a lot as I genuinely was concerned that I couldn’t do social work if I didn’t find a way to remember all the information I was juggling! Hopefully, this stimulates thoughts for you to develop your own trusted system.

Ⓒ Kayleigh Rose Evans

Colour-coding system

The colour-coding system helps to prioritise work. If some cases are progressing well in the ‘fine for now’ column, it can create the headspace to look at those that need to be prioritised, in the red and pink section.

Allowing flexibility is a requirement because situations quickly change and therefore, it can be adjusted through the day, as unexpected events happen. The template is also a useful tool that allows you to reflect on why you may feel overwhelmed on certain days. If you have lots of ‘reds’, it may indicate that you need to get some support.

I try and leave myself a short period to update this table each day, which may seem like a waste of time but in reality, I am far more effective when using it. It also promotes my wellbeing as it means that I don’t have to keep as much in my head, providing a cut-off at the end of the day.

It’s a working document which I save a copy of and date each day. The reality is that I don’t always have a chance to do this daily, but even if left until the end of the week, it works as a tool to run through and trigger my memory from the process of updating it whenever I can.

No one-size-fits-all solution 

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to organising a large and complex caseload in social work. It’s an individual thing and depends on what you are doing and how you work best. It’s also not to minimise the extent to which it is impossible to manage an unworkable workload but under the right circumstances, with appropriate support in place, I hope this can help people think about strategies for thriving in contemporary practice.

Want to read more career development tips, from Kayleigh and other social work peers? Check out our Careers Zone 

Kayleigh provides more tips for practitioners and students on her YouTube channel. 

By Millie Kerr

It is uncomfortable to have uncomfortable conversations about race, but we need to sit with this discomfort if we are to effect change. That means challenging our own fears, beliefs and biases to enhance our social work practice, when working with communities, cultures, customs and religions different from our own.

As the only anti-racist lead practitioner in England, it means that I am having uncomfortable conversations on a daily basis in my role at Brighton & Hove City Council. And after a 27-year-plus career in social care, I felt that I had finally received my calling when, in November 2020, I took up the role as anti-racist practice lead at the council.

Fear of difference

I am a registered social worker and have practised as a team manager and children’s services manager in inner city London and the south east of England for local authorities, hospital social work and third/voluntary sector organisations.

Millie Kerr, anti-racist lead practitioner, Brighton & Hove City Council

I have worked predominantly with Black and diverse communities, from differing cultural and religious backgrounds. This work has covered areas such as safeguarding and child protection, neglect, child sexual exploitation and child trafficking, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, child abuse linked to faith or belief, work with asylum-seeking children/young people, domestic abuse, HIV and palliative care.

Some social care professionals lack confidence in, and sometimes fear, working with people from different cultural backgrounds to themselves, particularly people from Black, African, Caribbean and Asian diasporas.

This has been exacerbated by stereotypes, assumptions, labels, and language that social workers use, in their verbal and written communication/reports, which can contain unconscious bias, microaggressions and racist viewpoints. Some of these arise from distorted perspectives and beliefs, which are perpetuated by the media, about Black people, Muslims and asylum seekers, and about their cultures, religions and traditions.

Anti-racist practice role

My anti-racist practice lead role came as a result of Brighton & Hove’s 2019 ‘Being a fair and inclusive council’ report, and the anti-racist project in children’s social work services. Children’s social work services had completed an audit of work with Black and minoritised families, as well as receiving feedback from Black and minoritised staff, and used this to create an anti-racist project to support anti-racist practice. The project has worked with practitioners to develop an anti-racist action plan.  In doing so, we aim to challenge racism, improve the experience of Black and minoritised staff, and deliver improved services to Black and minoritised families.

Impact on practice

By building the confidence of practitioners to have uncomfortable conversations about race and racism, and by supporting social workers, managers and leaders to listen and learn from Black families and staff members’ lived experiences, the role is helping to enhance working relationships and understanding.

A big part of my role is to offer social workers and managers case formulation meetings and consultations. The aim is to discuss how social workers can consider progressing their assessments or interventions in a way that considers race, identity and culture, including differing parenting styles, for Black and minoritised families.

This support aids anti-racist social work decision making, including in assessments, kinship care work or care proceedings. It has also proven advantageous to white social workers and managers in giving them a better understanding of how to look at and include the identity needs of Black and minoritised children in foster care, who are placed predominantly with white foster carers.

My role includes improving relationships and building trust between the Black and diverse communities we serve and children’s social care. For example, this has included seeking the support of the Muslim community regarding guidance around cultural and religious norms that are important to them, as well as seeking their support with the recruitment of more Muslim foster carers.

Millie speaking at Community Care Live 2021

Facilitating discussion

I facilitate weekly anti-racist discussion groups that are open to all practitioners from across the service, as well as six-weekly themed sessions, and a monthly session for Black and minoritised staff members. The latter meeting enables Black staff members to talk about their lived experiences in a space they feel comfortable in. It is also a space to offer each other support, as well as allowing mutually agreed issues to be raised with the senior leadership team and anti-racist project board for wider discussion or resolution. A particular area has been around identifying specific training for Black and minoritised staff members that has the potential to aid staff progression.

I also attend supervisions, team meetings and monthly reflective practice group sessions. These give social workers the space to talk about their feelings and critically reflect on anti-racist practice, and the impact this has on them as individuals in a wider system and on their wellbeing.

Training and development

My role involves developing, delivering and co-ordinating training and webinars. These have greatly enhanced social workers’ understanding of the lived experiences of racism. This is achieved through hearing and considering the views of Black dads and developing an understanding of what microaggressions look like, for example.

Through Brighton & Hove’s safeguarding children partnership, I have delivered anti-racist/cultural competence training to multi-agency partners across health, the police and education.

In partnership with the Sussex Family Justice Quality Circle, I have also been instrumental in developing a Family Court Anti-Racist Practice statement. This was recently ratified by the Sussex Family Justice Board as a good practice guide for the family court judiciary, lawyers, barristers and guardians.

Giving staff a voice

To ensure that our anti-racist action plan is not just a document that sits on the shelf, we meet regularly to review it and how we are progressing the specific workstreams. These encompass: the voice of children and families, how we work with families, and staff support.  To ensure the board is challenged to address the areas of need, it is chaired by a non-managerial Black or minioritised member of staff.

Image by Melk Hagelslag from Pixabay

The role also includes supporting and facilitating the retention, progression and recruitment of Black staff members within the local authority.  For example, mentoring is now available and offered to Black and minoritised staff members and has proved to be beneficial in retaining and developing our present Black staff members.

Many have grown in confidence in their roles and have been enabled to speak up if unhappy. They have applied for courses to assist in their further development and progression, and this has  enabled me to consider gaps in support for Black staff members and request specific courses/programmes for Black talent to be considered in our annual training requests.  More shadowing opportunities will also be considered for Black and diverse staff members, to enhance, skills, development and staff progression.

We are all learning from each other and realise that anti-racist practice may be a lifelong journey within social work. However, the important thing is to begin that journey and have a vision for what anti-racist social work practice is and could begin to look like.

Will your local authority be the next one to take the leap into anti-racist action?

Read more from our Careers Zone 

I stepped into an assistant team manager role at 24 years old, two years after starting my first qualifying role. The inner child in me almost wanted to cry out to a lecturer at university who had doubted me and say: “Look at me now miss”, to prove to her that she was wrong about me.

Being a young black female manager was not always easy and I have faced obstacles along the way. The things about me that I could not change meant that I had to work harder to stand out, be recognised and respected.

I experienced some resistance from people I worked with who did not want to embrace someone that they had seen qualify fairly recently. I had professionals who told me they wanted to speak to the ‘actual’ manager. On one occasion, one of them called me ‘aggressive’ for challenging them; a micro aggression many black women face when showing any kind of assertiveness.

I had colleagues who trusted me because they could see that the passion I had for what I was doing.

I also felt that my decisions were questioned more than my counterparts in management and that my team did not always follow my management direction. One way I tackled this was by having open discussions in supervision with practitioners about what the barriers may be. I also offered assurances that I was confident in my decisions. It also helped that I had a team manager who trusted me.

But on the positive side, I have been embraced by others who were proud of my achievements and especially proud to see a young black woman doing well in her career. I had colleagues who trusted me because they could see that the passion I had for what I was doing.

Getting into management

Whenever I was asked whether I wanted to go into management, I would always say “Oh! I could never do that” or “I don’t want the responsibility”. I was used to seeing managers finishing late, stressed, overworked and tired and I never really saw the appeal in progressing into management.

“Why would anyone want to do that to themselves”, I would ask. Also, I was not overly confident and assumed that managers knew everything about everything. I was happy being a social worker and felt that this was where my skills were better suited.

But to have managers tell me that they saw my potential despite my highs and lows in the profession was something I really valued.

Image credit: Anna Shvets from Pexels

By my second year, I noticed a change in how I approached the role. I saw that I was more resilient; I was independent and confident in my decision making and was able to challenge professionals and represent my views well with senior management. I was known for going into meetings and not being afraid to be honest about what needed to happen. I was confident in advocating for the people I supported and representing what would be the best support for their family or what outcome was needed to keep a child safe.

I also felt that my practice became geared towards evidencing my ability to step into management. I was working with families with complex needs and had more autonomy over decision making. I even started chairing and leading important meetings.

Along the way, however, self-doubt and the fear of tokenism kicked in. Every workplace should have an active response to dealing with intersectionality. However, at times, I questioned whether I was being pushed into management to be a poster girl for diversity as opposed to it being based on my skillset.

Fear of failure

If you look at the statistics for black social workers progressing to management in adults’ and children’s services, the percentages are low. The Association of Directors of Children’s Services released data last year showing that 6% of directors were from black or ethnic minority groups in 2021, compared with 23% of statutory children’s social workers. . Black practitioners feel that there are often barriers to progression and they are overlooked for roles.

The sector still has a long way to go in recognising and addressing the disparities in how black social workers are treated in interview panels the low representation of black practitioners on social work courses, and, even more worryingly, how many black social workers are subject to fitness to practice investigations. This is where the pressure and fear of failure can manifest. Black social workers fight hard to be seen and included in spaces and that may mean that making a mistake in the role is viewed as a setback or viewed with more scrutiny than how it would be viewed for white counterparts.

Image credit: Alexander Suhorucov from Pexels

Asking the right questions

Prospective students and experienced social workers always ask me how you can become a confident social worker, or manager, or how you can get yourself ready to go into management. But I think the questions practitioners should be asking rather, are why they want to be a manager and whether they have the qualities to fulfil the role.

There are many different strands to being a manager and it is more than just making decisions or telling people what to do. The core of a good manager is being patient, kind, not too proud and trustworthy. A good manager helps to strengthen a team and provide stability and assurance. Social work is hard, and it can be lonely in the field.

You might have back-to-back meetings, numerous reports that need doing or dealing with difficult and challenging people. For me, being a manager is taking on a responsibility to support your team. It is about trusting them and providing assurances that you have their best interests in mind and will defend them in situations that require it. You also need to empower practitioners to be confident and autonomous in their role, but also support their development as required.

Being a good manager is also about being able to stay calm during crisis. How do you manage stress? How do you approach a problem? A manager who reacts based on their emotions or who shows when they are stressed should be aware that that can be a transferable energy. In my experience, this does not create a positive working environment for the team and affects staff morale and retention and can also be unsafe if poor advice is given. Being a manager does not mean that you are without criticism, and it is important that you are able to receive feedback and challenge and reflect.

Being a manager

Management is also about sitting at the proverbial tables and advocating what is right for the betterment of your team, but also being able to have the difficult conversations with staff. Issues around performance can be hard and there may be times when you have to consider whether safe practice is taking place. At such times you need to be assured that you have done what is needed to support that member of staff.

When I ask social workers if they want to go into management, those that say ‘no’ link it to stress, lack of support, responsibility, bureaucracy, and issues around confidence. Truth is these are all valid and are representative of how management can be. But believing in your abilities and capacity to make a difference in management is key. It is all well and good having someone tell you to do something, but if you do not see it for yourself, you are unlikely to survive in the role. Management is not for everyone, and it can be tough.

There have been days when I have questioned whether it is the right thing for me. For example, there are days when I struggle with organisation, and balancing practical tasks with emotional support for the team and a work/life balance. What has helped me is good quality supervision, taking annual leave and keeping my interests outside of work alive. Burnout is more likely to happen if I prioritise work over my mental and physical health.

Photo: olly/Adobe Stock

For those answering ‘yes’ to going into management, it was linked to them wanting to be a leader, career progression and gaining more experience. My attraction to management has always been about being a leader, supporting staff, encouraging development and ensuring we can offer good quality support to our service users.

I encourage practitioners to develop a plan in supervision with realistic targets for progression and start to access training that a local authority is offering. Additionally, look at opportunities to progress into deputy team manager or senior practitioner roles. Training and qualifying as a practice educator, supporting students, may also be helpful as a stepping stone into management.

I found that it is also important to have someone who believes in and supports you. This can be through a manager, colleague, friend or mentor – someone who can give honest and constructive feedback.

Representation matters

 I also remember the difference having a black lecturer had at the start of my social work journey. It was amazing and gave me hope as an 18-year-old student navigating through the idealistic view I had about the social work profession.

In the same way that I needed representation at university, I need to be that representation for others. I am not a social work veteran and I still consider myself to be part of a ‘new age’ of social work where the needs and issues that service users face are more diverse.

However, what I have noticed is that there are more young people taking an interest in the profession, as well as people from different backgrounds with all kinds of experiences. Seeing someone like me in management shows the new generation of practitioners that you can break through the ‘glass ceiling’.

Yewande is a senior manager and practice supervisor. She provides her experiences, thoughts and advice on topics relating to social work on her YouTube channel and Instagram pages @YBSW and @YBSWN. 

Read more from our Careers Zone 

By Kayleigh Rose Evans

The day-to-day pressure of being a social worker can, at times, be so intense that it’s easy to feel like you don’t have the time to develop additional expertise. But you may be surprised at the skills you are building all the time without even realising it.

Looking back at some of my past challenging experiences, such as my first-ever social work university or job interview, at the time, I didn’t feel that I was developing any skills.

I recall one experience where nerves meant my voice disappeared completely during an interview so much so that I had to drink some water for it to resurface. I also remember being so nervous at a panel that I spoke so quickly that the people on the panel couldn’t follow what I was saying.

Despite feeling terrible at the time, these experiences were learning curves that led to some of my greatest achievements – I got into university and subsequently got a social work job!

These experiences, although challenging, helped me to develop my confidence. And though – at times – that confidence is tested, I have developed strategies to build on what I have and pay that expertise forward to other starting out in the profession.

Public speaking 

One of the ways I have been able to build confidence and expertise is through public speaking.

I would never have seen myself as a public speaker but through expressing interest in furthering my knowledge around dementia. I ended up co-presenting a session on the topic with someone who is an expert in this area.

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Then the council asked practitioners to come forward and share their practice wisdom with social work students, as part of the teaching partnership they had with a local university. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and during that time, noticed a gap on YouTube for social work content delivered by practitioners in the sector. I didn’t feel like I had the confidence to speak publicly but found that I could develop it through training. I found a local public speaking group – one of a number of networked clubs through The Association of Speakers and learnt invaluable skills – some of which I believe are worth sharing.

who you are is the most important tool we have in social work

 Thinking on your feet

One of the activities we do in the public speaking group is walking to the lectern in front of the audience and ad-libbing for two minutes on a topic. We are only told what the topic is as we are walking onto the stage, which is so nerve-wracking but the idea is for us to get used to thinking on our feet.

Often, in practice, we find ourselves having to do the same. It may be as a result of a family member ringing and asking about something unexpected. It could also be being asked to speak in a big meeting without much warning. In those situations, I have found that being able to use those transferrable skills to quickly prioritise the most important information effectively is key.

These skills have been increasingly relevant as we see significant shortages in essential care for adults with disabilities.

Keeping your cool

There are situations in my line of work where the people we support ring up and raise their frustrations or serious concerns around current care shortages. I find it difficult that you can assess someone and identify that they need services but are sometimes unable to help them because the services are just not available. Those situations can make me feel quite helpless because I know I want to be able to fix the problem but solutions are not always forthcoming.

Photo by Alexander Dummer from Pexels

So, when you are met with someone screaming at you down the phone, it can be tempting to just respond under pressure or out of frustration. However, actively listening to their underlying concerns can sometimes help you to find a way forward. Sometimes, by just giving the person the space to speak without giving them a knee-jerk response, can dissolve any heightened emotion.

Just being able to be open up to others about the emotional toll they are experiencing often leads to practitioners developing a connection with them, and sharing guidance around how to manage these situations collectively.

This is much like what I learnt in public speaking. Even the most confident people are still fearful about speaking in public but it is about finding ways to manage these uncomfortable feelings and doing it anyway.

Presenting your case

Another skill I acquired from the group was learning how to construct a longer speech. This helped me with preparing for progression interviews in social work. A recent example was when I was applying to be classed as an H2 experienced social worker and had to present a 20-minute case overview.

Developing this skill in public speaking taught me the importance writing down all my thoughts on a topic and identifying the key themes. Once these key points are refined, it is then useful to split the information into manageable chunks. I created a table in Microsoft Word to achieve this. I then practice my speech by recording my voice on my phone and listening to these clips whenever I can. This process has helped me boost my confidence to stick to timeframes, eliminate tangents that can throw you off your path and also help you acclimatise to the way your voice sounds out loud.

Now, I am mentoring first student as a practice educator, I have the opportunity to support them when preparing for interviews and share my learning.

Be yourself

My biggest takeaway from these experiences is realising that often in practice and when doing academic work, it’s about finding ways to break what initially appears to be complex into more manageable chunks.

Sometimes we can feel the weight of these massive decisions but it’s about finding ways to find the simplicity in the complexity. There has been a pattern for me that the more I try to over-read or fit too much into what I am doing, often the worse it ends up.

Photo by Pexels-Pixabay

This may not be the same for everyone but maybe what can be taken from what I have said is that it’s worth finding things you’re interested in, even if they do not appear to directly align with your social work role. Not only is this good for your well-being but it makes you a better social worker because learning and genuine interest make you vibrant and who you are is the most important tool we have in social work.

By Kayleigh Rose Evans

Standing up for ourselves in social work can feel impossible. As empathetic people, social workers are often so busy considering the needs and perspectives of others that we may ignore our own.

The term ‘setting boundaries’ means determining what you can and can’t do. It is a pragmatic response – not an avoidance issue.

Most of us have never been taught how to communicate our boundaries and end up feeling overwhelmed. Below are some tips on how to manage this.

Kayleigh Rose Evans © KRE

1. Tackling anxiety triggers

Self-care is essential and ignoring it for one day can be manageable but doing so consistently can lead to feeling depleted.

I have started making more of a conscious effort to notice the little things that trigger my anxiety throughout the day so I can address them, rather than letting them become a monster.

A negative incident led me to realise the importance of this. I was in a new role and had not had the chance to establish a supportive network. One of the pieces of work I was involved in was becoming all-consuming and increasingly challenging, beyond anything I had managed before.

I worked late every day, often sitting alone and did not take breaks. I felt like things were mounting up and every email and phone call felt like a threat because I just couldn’t take anything else on.  It came to a head after unsuccessfully trying to stifle a panic attack, resulting in me asking my manager if I could go home.

This is something I didn’t think would ever happen to me. Initially, I felt ashamed as some colleagues had seen me so upset. On reflection, I felt that this was not upholding the advice I was giving to others. I considered that I had internalised negative stigma around perceptions of mental health and society’s  pressure to ‘always be in control’. There are always going to be those people who believe that vulnerability is a weakness, but I now believe it can be our greatest source of strength. So too is finding the right people to speak to.

Pham Khoai Pexels

Since then, I have made it known if I feel overloaded and recognise that good quality support and reflective supervision is essential in social work. I speak more openly with others about how I am feeling and was pleasantly surprised about how willing others were to share similar experiences and offer useful advice, as a result. I realised that my earlier actions made me feel alone but ended up helping me establish closer relationships with others and now I feel more confident in myself.

2. Don’t catastrophise mistakes

One thing that always causes that sinking feeling in me is when I am told I have made a mistake. Rather than sitting there and dwelling on it, taking a moment away from my desk or speaking to a trusted person helps me to gain perspective.

This was something I experienced during the beginning of the pandemic, as there were lots of changes to the systems we were working in. Whereas we usually have to seek approval for getting someone placed in a care home, I realised I had quickly got someone discharged from the hospital into a temporary placement without speaking to a manager. With the pressure of freeing up hospital beds, and the need to manage risks of people getting exposed to the virus, I acted with haste. After realising my mistake, I rang my manager in a state of panic. I was lucky that she responded kindly and taught me not to worry so much when these things happen.

She maintained a clear stance so, rather than jumping to conclusions and catastrophising the situation, she encouraged me to take a step back and focus on the fact that I had achieved a lot in my career rather than over-emphasising negatives. She has good principles and instilled in me the view that as long as we are not putting people at risk and trying our best despite challenges, that’s all we can do. I know others have struggled with system changes since the pandemic and talking about it helps us to gain  perspective.

Tirachard Kumtanom © Pexels

3. Find a trusted confidant(e)

Maintaining wellbeing is a joint responsibility between you and the organisation, so appropriate support should be available. There have been times in my early career where I waited too long to tell people I was feeling overloaded. Experience has taught me that it’s important to tell others when you feel this way as otherwise, no one knows you need the support. Having an agreement with someone where you can be honest about things you wouldn’t share with everyone can be extremely helpful.

4. Know how to access support from your organisation

However, it’s equally vital that this support is available to you formally through the organisation. Accessing supervision is important but so is knowing how to access confidential support. I have faced situations where I needed assistance in processing the psychological impact that  I was experiencing.

After receiving threats and harassment from someone I was involved in supporting, I was unsure about how to manage this situation. In that instance, it was clear that I needed the support of someone with expertise around emotional regulation. I received some invaluable support from the employee assistance programme. This then led me to have a constructive conversation with my manager about how to manage the case to best support the individual, but also to ensure I and future workers felt safe when working on a case.

Once I started to be a better advocate for myself, I have become more confident and a better social worker

5. Treat yourself like someone you are helping

“Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping,” says Canadian clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson. This advice has helped me in terms of my self-talk.

If my inner critic is being negative, I now consider whether I would speak that way to someone else in the same situation. That leads to a more reassuring response; that I am only human and I am not going to be perfect.

This often helps me when I need to stop my tangent thoughts around feeling that I am letting everyone down. This feeling can easily arise due to the nature of the contemporary practice: trying to balance managing the paperwork while retaining a clear focus on being there for the individuals we serve.

Something that’s helped me is to remember that I am working as part of a larger system, rather than feeling overwhelmed with the level of responsibility that I am carrying. One practical thing that’s helped me is to always ensure the people I am supporting have various ways of acquiring support when needed. This helps  to remove the feelings of anxiety around missing phone calls.

Madison Inouye © Pexels

6. Plan your week to minimise pressure on yourself

An immediate way to improve  wellbeing and maximise efficacy is to think carefully about how you plan your work and time. My less-experienced self would not think twice about planning multiple complex visits on a Friday. As a result, I would constantly find myself working late and when additional emergencies arose, this would put more pressure on me, particularly as there would be less access to team support at that time.

Where possible, I now try to organise my visits earlier in the week, allowing more time for me to manage unexpected issues.

7. Take charge of prioritising your work

Not responding to emails immediately would leave me feeling guilty. Learning how to organise my workload as opposed to allowing others to prioritise their tasks over mine has also helped.

Instead of dipping in and out of tasks, I am more intentional now and group similar activities together, where possible.

If you feel under attack from tasks coming at you from all directions, just stop what you are doing. Sometimes the best thing to do is just write a list of everything that needs to be done. This helps you to take back control and will equip you to recognise when you need support or when to justify not taking on more work. It has helped me to avoid those moments where I have felt I needed to explain that I was busy even when my diary was empty.

Set it as an ongoing priority to develop an organisational strategy that works for you.

Using a table on Microsoft Word to break my caseload and tasks down, along with a colour coding system for priorities works well, as I prefer having visual aids. Setting aside 15 minutes at the end of the day to add to this helps to avoid worrying that something is going to be forgotten overnight.

Ivan Bertolazzi © Pexels

8. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”

This quote by Eleanor Roosevelt – former First Lady to USA President Franklin D Roosevelt, is one of my favourite sayings.

One of the best things about social work is how much it develops you as a person. I truly learnt to stand up for myself when I realised what a good advocate I could be for others and then questioned why I didn’t do this for myself.

The truth is that once I started to be a better advocate for myself, I have become more confident and a better social worker. I am not new to the profession but often feel inadequate. What has changed is that now, I have developed ways to remind myself that I am valuable and that it’s not about knowing everything but developing trust in my ability to work things out.

9. Keep on learning

No matter how successful you become at setting boundaries, some people will not respect them. Below are a couple of books that have helped me to develop practical tools in this area.

Recommended reading

Kayleigh Rose Evans is a social worker, practice educator and best interests assessor. She provides advice and reflections on social work on her YouTube channel and tweets at @KayleighREvans 

Updated 13 May 2021

We know that social workers have worked harder than ever in the difficult conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Remote working became the norm, legislation and guidance were subject to change and the complex issues families face were heightened by financial insecurity and the stresses of lockdown.

As we come out of the pandemic, many of these issues will continue to shape practice. The Community Care Inform team has produced a podcast series, Learn on the Go, to support social workers and ensure that you get the information and advice you need. These are free to listen to and are typically under 20 minutes long, to help you fit them into your working day.

You can listen to the episodes below, or you can subscribe to the series. Just search for ‘Learn on the Go’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google or wherever you normally listen to podcasts.

Home and online visits

Expert guest Claudia Megele, former chair of the principal child and family social worker network, discusses when it’s appropriate to conduct an online visit, rather than a home visit. Claudia also shares some best practice in conducting visits online, including different ideas for virtual direct work.

Contextual safeguarding

What is contextual safeguarding, and what does it look like in practice? Discussing these questions are Dr Carlene Firmin, who developed the contextual safeguarding framework and leads the contextual safeguarding and peer-on-peer abuse research programmes at the University of Bedfordshire, and Samantha Roper, team manager for the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) at Knowsley Council. Carlene and Samantha also talk about how work with young people has been affected by the pandemic.

Remote supervision

Our expert guest for this episode was Dr David Wilkins, senior lecturer at Cardiff University. David discusses how remote supervision can be effective, talking about emotions, and different ideas for holding group supervision sessions online.

Loneliness and isolation

Dr Sue Cook, lecturer in social work at the University of Plymouth, shares advice on how social workers can support people experiencing loneliness or isolation, whatever stage of life they’re at. She also talks about why practitioners need to creative to find solutions when working with service users online or in person.

Self-care

The expert guest on this episode is Sass Boucher, research director of training provider Self Care Psychology, and a counsellor and psychotherapist in private practice. Sass discusses the small things social workers can do to practise self-care, as well as ways to support colleagues when you’re not seeing each other in person.

Domestic abuse

In this episode, Donna Covey, director of domestic abuse charity AVA (Against Violence and Abuse), talks about how social workers can continue to support vulnerable children and adults during lockdowns.

Community Care Inform subscribers can find additional resources and written transcripts of the episodes on the Inform Children and Inform Adults sites.

People don’t leave jobs, they leave managers – so says the old adage.

Frontline social work managers are often performing the most difficult and high-pressured jobs within a department and many don’t get it right, often because they themselves are lacking support and training.

So how can you determine the quality of your next manager at a job interview?

Community Care analysed the responses from over 300 social workers who took part in our anonymous research on social worker retention with a range of local authorities in England.

Based on what social workers themselves told us, we have compiled the following indicators that an organisation is investing enough in their managers to make them effective:

1. Career development. Social workers said effective managers knew the career aspirations of everyone on their team and were able to help them progress. Managers had themselves been well prepared for their task with helpful training around conducting supervision and conflict resolution. Ask about succession planning and how social workers are prepared when they are promoted to team manager level.
2. Effective managers were generous with their praise and communicated the good work of individuals to senior managers to ensure it was acknowledged. Effective managers were also conscious of perverse rewards, ie good social workers being loaded up with more cases. Ask how good social work is rewarded and recognised in the organisation.
3. Good managers were also those who trusted social workers and allowed them autonomy without letting them ‘sink or swim’. This allowed confidence to develop faster. Ask how managers are expected to balance risk and autonomy and how social worker confidence is developed within the organisation.
4. Social workers who said their manager had been effective said there were clear systems in place to allocate workload that focused on more than just numbers of cases. Ask how cases are allocated and how managers determine if a social worker is overloaded.
5. Emotional distress. Social workers rated their managers highly if they helped them process the fear and emotional distress that is sometimes part of the job. Successful approaches cited were showing empathy, listening, good-quality reflective supervision and taking actions such as organising joint visits or debriefs after visits. Ask about health and safety policies and which situations would trigger action. Ask what actions are taken when social workers experience the emotional distress that is part of the job.

These tips were sourced from Community Care’s free download: How to be a better social work manager. Search team manager career opportunities or use Community Care’s Employer Zone to research those employers who prioritise support for frontline managers.

Updated 21 June 2021

Lots of people take career breaks for a variety of reasons. The good thing about a social work degree is that it is generic and provides with lots of transferable skills. When returning to social work after a long break, it is important to be clear about the kind of role that you are applying for and that it can fit within your life, as well as the criteria you need to tick off to ensure you’re eligible to be employed again. Those criteria are:

1. Are you currently Social Work England registered?

In order to return to the register, social workers need to meet the following requirements, depending on how long they have been out of practice:

• Under two years: no requirements
• Two to five years: 30 days of updating your skills and knowledge
• Five years or over: 60 days of updating your skills and knowledge.
• These requirements also apply to someone who has never been registered with Social Work England and who has never practised (or who has not practised in the last two years) but who holds an approved qualification which is over five years old. Social Work England has more guidance on returning to practice.

2. Have you applied for a return to social work programme? 

Please visit the Local Government Association’s Return to Social Work website. The LGA is currently not running a programme but it is possible that it may launch one for 2021-22 in due course, so regularly check the website.

3. Have you practised in a statutory setting for over a year or more?

This will be a deciding factor in your application as employers will look to see evidence of your practice within a statutory setting, ie a council.

4. Do you have the right to work in the UK?

You will need to show documentation to evidence that you have the right to work in the UK. More guidance is available on the government’s website.

Honesty

It is always best to be honest about why you have had time off in interviews and in CVs. Employers and HR do review references and compare them to CVs to ensure the dates match up. Be confident about your career breaks and be willing to discuss them as that will instill more faith in your employer that you are reliable and that the breaks were for legitimate reasons.

Depending on the type of role you’re applying for, recruitment for permanent employees takes time, so employers may look at someone with frequent career breaks and make the decision to choose someone else with no gaps.

However, if the break can be linked to social work, like volunteering or something relevant to the role you are apply for, then this might work in your favour.

Keep up to date

No matter the reason for the career break, it is important to stay up to date with current trends in the profession. Being signed up to Community Care’s e-newsletters, or other magazines,  websites or blogs to do with social work, will keep you up to date with current trends so you can talk about this in your interview.

It will show employers that you are passionate about the profession and will keep you on par with other candidates who have not had career breaks. Be willing to put in the time to do your research and even consider paying for some training or mentoring to get you up to speed even quicker.

Make sure simple things like your Social Work England registration is up to date – this shows your seriousness. Some authorities offer return to social work programmes so make sure you do your research and jump at any opportunities.

Speaking to friends, past colleagues, and past managers is also a good way to ensure that you have the most up-to-date knowledge of the processes and policies for any job you are applying for. Being on employment platforms like LinkedIn not only help with networking, but gives you access to relevant information people share about their organisations.

Make sure your CV is up to date and current. There is nothing worse than reading an old CV that is not relevant and succinct. When it comes to CVs, less is more, and this in itself exudes confidence in your practice. Remember, you just want employers to shortlist you initially. You will then be able to talk about your skills and experience in your interview. Make sure any updated training or volunteering is within your CV to show you have remained up to date.

Processes in the profession do change and can change quickly. Remain humble about any processes you have to follow upon your return. Once you are back in employment, your opportunities immediately improve, and you can develop within your role.

This article is part of Community Care’s Careers Zone, a part of the site giving social workers and social care professionals advice and guidance about the next steps in their social work career. Like many other Careers Zone articles, this one was produced in collaboration with practising social workers and managers, and in association with the Local Government Association’s workforce and policy team. See all of our tips on the dedicated careers page. Download our social work CV template and advice page here.

You have been successful in being shortlisted for an interview. In order to maximise your chances at being successful in the interview, there are things you can do to set yourself ahead of other candidates.

Ask questions prior to an interview

When you are sent your interview date, it is almost always through human resources (HR). As soon as you know your interview date, you should email HR and ask who will be on the interview panel, and what format the interview will take place, if this is not already stated in the letter. Make sure you are clear with who is on the panel and their role.

Do not be afraid to seek clarification, or to do some research of your own. Knowing these details will give you an understanding of who will be interviewing you and you can tailor your interview prep to ensure you are covering information that will be relevant to all panel members.

Some organisations use children and youth panels. You will want to be able to prepare for this and ensure you have answers and examples that children and young people can relate to. It will also give you the opportunity to show your ability to engage a range of service users, which is a skill needed within social work.

The interview format is also important to know. Most interviews these days consist of a face-to-face panel interview (conducted virtually, if necessary), and then some form of activity, such as a written exercise, or a presentation. Again, if you are not clear, seek clarification from HR on what format the interview will take. It shows employers that you are serious about the interview, keeps the organisation accountable to the interviewees and ensures that the process is fair.

Researching the interview panel

In the days of LinkedIn and social media, most managers or organisations have a social media presence. There is no harm in reviewing anyone on the interview panel and their employment history.

If you cannot find any of the interview panel on the internet, you can look at the employer’s website to give you a better understanding of the day-to-day functioning of the organisation and exactly what role you are applying for.

During the interview, it is always acceptable to ask questions at the end and seek clarification, perhaps on the roles of the interviewers and how you might be interacting with them if you were successful in your role.

Researching the organisation

It is imperative to come to an interview knowing about the organisation you applied for. Again, almost all organisations these days have a social media presence. Knowing about an organisation, and being able to relay facts and information about it during an interview, will not only impress employers, but keep you on a level with internal applicants, who generally have an advantage for having inside knowledge of an organisation.

Most organisations will publish their improvement plans or good news stories. Incorporate these details into responses to show prospective employers that you have a commitment to shared goals and values of their organisation.

Overall, you want to come across as interested, and confident when asking questions of your prospective employer. You do not want to come across as being too difficult or ask too much of an organisation before an interview. First impressions count immensely in social work, as it gives an indication of what service users and colleagues will experience if you are successful.

This article is part of Community Care’s Careers Zone, a part of the site giving social workers and social care professionals advice and guidance about the next steps in their social work career. Like many other Careers Zone articles, this one was produced in collaboration with practising social workers and managers, and in association with the Local Government Association’s workforce and policy team. See all of our tips on the dedicated careers page. Download our social work CV template and advice page here.

This guide will support social work practitioners to understand the key points to consider when preparing for a social work job interview. Social work is about people, communication and relationships; it is important that employers understand your character and personality.

1. Know the KSS and PCF

Social work employers are encouraged to use the professional capabilities framework (PCF) and the post-qualifying standards or knowledge and skills statements (KSS), for child and families practitioners, child and family practice supervisors, social workers with adults and practice supervisors in adult social care to frame their recruitment, workforce development and career progression pathways.

Understanding the standards and expectations set out by both the KSS and PCF will ensure you are well prepared.

2. Study the job description

Job descriptions (JD) and person specifications (PS) will describe the essential and desirable qualities, skills and knowledge required to do the job you are applying for. Ensure you have read these and can say with confidence how you meet these requirements. Make notes and take them to the interview; this is the language the employer is looking for. Often, employers mark questions based on the criteria set out in the JD and PS. Research the organisation you are applying to, taking into account the local demographics and issues relating to social care. Take note of who will be interviewing you.

3. Values

An employer is curious to learn about your values and that you can demonstrate a critical understanding of the factors that form your practice. The Social Graces set out by Alison Roper and John Burnham are useful when thinking about who you are as practitioner. The Graces set out different aspects of identity and self. Considering what is important to you helps you to think about what internal biases you may have and how you got them.

4. Reflective and reflexive

One interesting distinction employers may wish for you to make is the difference between reflection and reflexivity.

5. Supervision

Think about what role supervision could take in your practice. Also, prepare examples of your CPD and areas in which you would like to develop.

6. Relationships

An employer would be interested in your capacity to build relationships and how you do this.

Questions to consider: How do you offer respectful challenge to service users? How do you balance the support and protection elements of your role? How, for example, have you built relationships with people who are different to you? It is important that you offer specific approaches that you may be trained in. This may be active learning skills, Rogerian counselling or motivational interviewing for example.

If you do not have formal training in a specific approach this does not mean you do not have the skills.

7. Time management

Outside of direct practice, employers will be interested in how you can manage your time and maintain a high level of organisation, as well as your grasp of common IT systems and learning tools.

This article is part of Community Care’s Careers Zone, a part of the site giving social workers and social care professionals advice and guidance about the next steps in their social work career. Like many other Careers Zone articles, this one was produced in collaboration with practising social workers and managers, and in association with the Local Government Association’s workforce and policy team. See all of our tips on the dedicated careers page. Download our social work CV template and advice page here.