Farewell to my practice educator: ‘You set the foundation blocks of my career’

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

In this entry, social worker Yvonne Perkins celebrates the life of her former practice educator, Stewart Russell, whose ongoing guidance throughout the years built her career to where it is now.

To Stewart Russell,

Today we said farewell to you. Probably a hundred people were there to celebrate your life and share their stories of knowing you.

Around 15 years ago, you became my practice educator, when a senior social worker in a care leaver team.

You were bubby and passionate, but had a devious twinkle in your eyes. During our pre-placement meeting, you set out the objectives of the team and provided me with my first challenge – ‘find all your young people and bring them back to the city’.

Challenge accepted; and within six months, every young person on my caseload was found, back in the city and working with us.

That was because you taught me how to adapt my approach so I could engage young people better. You showed me the fine line between pleasant banter and educating young people, and how to be creative with it.

You often spoke of building futures and laying foundations, but what I didn’t know then is that applied to me just as much as to our young people.

You set the foundation blocks of my career. You showed patience during my frustrations and humour during my anxiety, and provided comfort when I experienced personal loss.

Your nurturing chats during my placement and ongoing guidance helped me hone and cement my skills, while your wisdom guided me as I built my career to where it is now.

My parting gift from my placement was a crystal light shade; this was to remind me to always look up and see the sparkles and possibilities the light holds.

I will never underestimate the value of an amazing practice educator or the impact one can have on a someone’s career.

As a team manager with students of my own, I hope to do just that for others.

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.