In the second episode of our new ‘Social work around the world‘ miniseries, we continue the conversation with Yohai Hakak, senior social work lecturer at Brunel University, London, who shares some fascinating insights about his time as a mental health social worker in Israel.

In case you missed it, you can listen to episode one – about Hakak’s research into migration by social workers – here.

In episode two, Hakak, who was born and raised in Israel, discusses the differences between social work in Israel and in England. He talks about his work at a psychiatric hospital in Jerusalem, as well as discussing his PhD, which was focused on Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men.

He describes how certain communities, such as Mizrahi Jews, Palestinians and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, are often marginalised in Israel and how those groups made up most of his patients.

As well as this, Hakak discusses a journal article he wrote about social services’ involvement in interfaith relationships in Israel.

A must listen!

A new podcast miniseries focusing on social workers from around the world launches this week.

The number of overseas social workers in the UK has grown significantly in recent years. According to Social Work England data, the number of international practitioners applying to register to practise in England went up by 175% from 2019-20 to 2021-22.

This new podcast miniseries, part of season three of The Social Work Community Podcast, focuses on the differences in social work between the UK and other countries, as well as the challenges social workers have faced emigrating.

It kicks off with Community Care’s careers editor, Sharmeen Ziauddin, speaking to senior social work lecturer at Brunel University Yohai Hakak, who is conducting a research project looking at the migration of social workers to and from the UK*.

Hakak is also part of the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) Diaspora Social Workers special interest group.

Watch the teaser on Instagram. 

He explains why he is carrying out this research and gives an insight into a few of the many differences in social work between England and other parts of the world.

Are migrating social workers being perceived as experts who can enrich local practice with new approaches and perspectives? Or are they seen as a necessary compromise, and are mainly judged by the length of time they require to adjust to local practice contexts? (Hakak et al, 2023).

These are some of the questions that the podcast aims to answer.

What else is coming up?

The second episode continues with Hakak talking about his experience of practising as a mental health social worker in Israel.

Hakak describes how the marginalisation of particular communities, such as Mizrahi Jews, Ultra-Orthodox Jews and Palestinians, can influence their mental health.

Both episodes are out this week.

Future episodes will feature social workers from Australia, America, India and many more countries.

*The Brunel University study on social work migration is ongoing; if you want to take part, visit this page.

Last year, Community Care’s annual jobseeker research found that, of those looking to leave social work, 63% cited stress and 56% cited burnout as reasons.

As well as causing retention issues for organisations, poor emotional health can also affect how social workers practise.

This highlights the importance of social work managers and leaders promoting the wellbeing of their teams and services.

In a new article for the The Social Work Community, social work leader and consultant Clair Graham provides advice for managers on achieving this.

She highlights the skills involved in being a supportive social work leader, initiatives to help staff manage their wellbeing, and the importance of fostering “a culture of emotional intelligence”.

As she concludes: “By prioritising staff wellbeing, organisations can reduce sickness, enhance staff retention, and improve outcomes for the communities that they serve.”

Read the full article on The Social Work Community.

In this episode of the Social Work Community Podcast, senior careers editor Kirsty Ayakwah speaks to two social workers who started their careers in a different profession altogether.

Monisola Osibogun and Pam Shodeinde are both social workers in children’s services who both began their working lives in law.

We find out why they made the move, what core skills they’ve been able to take from their former profession into social work and what keeps them in the sector.

Listen to “Career transitions: From law to social work – the experiences of two practitioners” on Spreaker.

Read the transcript of the interview here.

About the podcast

The Social Work Community Podcast explores the issues that matter to social work practitioners in their working lives.

Kirsty and fellow host, careers editor Sharmeen Ziauddin, interview experienced and inspiring guests, including frontline social workers who speak from the heart about their jobs, the sector and society.

The first season went down a storm and was nominated in the 2024 British Association of Social Workers (BASW) Social Work Journalism Awards.

We have since launched season two, during which we have covered whether we need more men in social work and interviewed a practitioner with 47 years’ experience about what keeps her in the profession.

Although the podcast is available on major podcast platforms, Social Work Community members will get special early access to each episode.

So sign up to the Social Work Community to be among the first to catch each episode and to connect with fellow practitioners in a safe space.

Otherwise, check out the Social Work Community Podcast on the following :

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Spreaker
• Audible (Amazon)

Click ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’ on your podcast app so you know when a new episode is published.

And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram.

What are the pros and cons of working as a locum versus being a permanent social worker?

In this episode of the Social Work Community Podcast, senior careers editor Kirsty Ayakwah asks two social workers from either side of the divide about what has driven their career choices.

Kayleigh Rose Evans has spent her career working in permanent roles, while Le’Siran Edwards has largely worked in agency roles.

Alongside her social work practice, Kayleigh works as an independent trainer and also shares reflections on social work through her YouTube channel, @KayleighRoseEvans.

And Le’Siran has 25 years’ experience working with children and families, and over a decade in children’s social work. She has spent the past 10 years building up her coaching service, Social Work Coaching Hub, and stepped away from locum work last year to focus on it full time. She also runs her own podcast, Dear Social Worker Pod.

Since this podcast was produced, there have been changes to rules curbing English councils’ use of agency social workers in children’s services. You can read more about the changes here.

Listen to “Locum v Perm – what works for you?” on Spreaker.

Locum v perm

Read the transcript here

About the podcast

The Social Work Community Podcast explores the issues that matter to social work practitioners in their working lives.

Kirsty and fellow host, careers editor Sharmeen Ziauddin, interview experienced and inspiring guests, including frontline social workers who speak from the heart about their jobs, the sector and society.

Our first season went down a storm and was nominated in this year’s British Association of Social Workers (BASW) Social Work Journalism Awards.

We recently launched season two and have so far covered whether we need more men in social work and interviewed a practitioner with 47 years’ experience about what keeps her in the profession.

Although the podcast is available on major podcast platforms, Social Work Community members will get special early access to each episode.

So sign up to the Social Work Community to be among the first to catch each episode and to connect with fellow practitioners in a safe space.

Otherwise, check out the Social Work Community Podcast on the following :

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Spreaker
• Audible (Amazon)

Click ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’ on your podcast app so you know when a new episode is published.

And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram.

This episode of the Social Work Community podcast was produced in collaboration with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

In early 2022, BCP Council’s children’s services were rated inadequate by Ofsted following an inspection in late 2021.

Since then, there have been five monitoring visits, which found improvements in many areas.

In this episode of the Social Work Community Podcast, BCP Council social workers tell careers editor Sharmeen Ziauddin that morale is up and increased permanency of staff is making a real difference, not only to them, but to children and young people too.

There are five guests on this podcast. Firstly, Steph, an assistant team manager in a children and families first team, explains what made her switch from agency to a permanent position at BCP Council. Ruairi, a team manager, talks about what has made him stay with BCP Council for a number of years.

Monique shares what brought her back to BCP Council after a stint in London, while Cyra explains why practitioners are leaving locum work to take up permanent roles within BCP Council.

And Jamie, who joined the authority’s children’s services on the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) programme after a career change, shares why doing social work within BCP Council has exceeded his expectations.

Listen now:
Listen to “Would you work for an inadequate-rated children’s services?” on Spreaker.
Read the transcription here.

About the podcast

The Social Work Community Podcast explores the issues that matter to social work practitioners in their working lives. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Our first season was nominated in this year’s British Association of Social Workers (BASW) Social Work Journalism Awards.

So sign up to the Social Work Community to be among the first to catch each episode and to connect with fellow practitioners in a safe space.

Otherwise, check out the Social Work Community Podcast on the following :

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Spreaker
• Audible (Amazon)

Click ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’ on your podcast app so you know when a new episode is published.

And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram.

As Community Care marks its 50th anniversary this year, we wanted to find out how social work has evolved through those years and how that has shaped practitioners’ careers.

For the Social Work Community Podcast, senior careers editor Kirsty Ayakwah spoke to independent social worker Gretchen Precey, who celebrates 47 years in children’s services this year, to learn about her experience of the past decades.

Gretchen qualified in 1977 and spent over 20 years working directly for local authorities before establishing herself as an independent social worker.

In her role, she combines direct assessment work with children and families with consultancy to practitioners.

In this episode of the podcast, Gretchen tells us what keeps her in the sector after so many years and what advice she would offer to the next generation of social workers.

Listen to “Celebrating a longstanding career in social work” on Spreaker.

Read the transcript here

About the podcast

The Social Work Community Podcast explores the issues that matter to social work practitioners in their working lives.

Kirsty and fellow host, careers editor Sharmeen Ziauddin, interview experienced and inspiring guests, including frontline social workers who speak from the heart about their jobs, the sector and society.

Our first season went down a storm and was nominated in this year’s British Association of Social Workers (BASW) Social Work Journalism Awards. We recently launched season two with an episode on whether we need more men in social work.

Although the podcast is available on major podcast platforms, Social Work Community members will get special early access to each episode.

So sign up to the Social Work Community to be among the first to catch each episode and to connect with fellow practitioners in a safe space.

Otherwise, check out the Social Work Community Podcast on the following :

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Spreaker
• Audible (Amazon)

Click ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’ on your podcast app so you know when a new episode is published.

And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram.

In this episode of the Social Work Community podcast, we speak to Omaid Badar, overall winner at the Social Worker of the Year Awards 2023.

Omaid, who was also named children’s social worker of the year, tells his incredible story of coming to England as a teenage refugee. He recalls the night he spent in a police station and what happened the next morning when he met a social worker.

He explains why he became a social worker and how his own experiences affect his practice. Omaid speaks about the importance of restorative practice and building relationships with families and young people.

What made his colleagues at Kirklees Council nominate him? And what drives him to be the empathetic and compassionate social worker he is?

He also offers advice on how social workers can support unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Listen now:
Listen to “The refugee who became social worker of the year” on Spreaker.

This podcast can also be accessed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms, just search ‘social work community‘.

You can read an interview with Omaid here.

The transcription for this episode is available here.

Have you joined the Social Work Community?

Listen to other podcast episodes here:

• Should social workers be on social media?
• Racism in social work
• The pros and cons of being a young social worker
• What is the impact of negative media coverage on social workers?

The Social Work Community Podcast is a new offering from Community Care.

In this episode, we ask whether social workers should be on social media? Sharmeen Ziauddin speaks to two social work YouTubers, Yewande and Kayleigh Rose Evans.

Yewande is an experienced social worker and manager in child protection. Her YouTube channel, Young Black Social Worker, focuses on social work content for students, newly qualified staff and experienced social workers.

Kayleigh has worked in various different adults’ services across some of the most deprived areas of England. She shares all her insights on her YouTube channel, Kayleigh Rose Evans.

Both started their channels at the beginning of the pandemic, back in early 2020, and have large numbers of subscribers and followers on YouTube and other social media platforms.

In this episode, they discuss:

• Why they created a public social media profile about their work as social workers.
• The positives and negatives of having a social media presence.
• Confidence and the advice they would give students and newly qualified social workers on how to use social media personally, professionally and safely.

Listen to “The Social Work Community Podcast” on Spreaker.

Here is the transcipt to this episode.

Have you joined the Social Work Community?

The Social Work Community Podcast is a new offering from Community Care.

This episode is about racism within social work. We speak to Nana and Ash, both children and family social workers, about their experiences of racism. There is discussion about racism from families they have worked with but also from within the organisations they have worked for.

• What should a team manager do if a family asks for a different social worker based on their race or religion?
• How much support is available for social workers who receive abuse from service users?
• How important is allyship? Is there a need for more cultural competency within social work?
• And how much has changed since the death of George Floyd?

They discuss this and much more in this unmissable episode.

More on racism in social work

Over a quarter of social workers faced racism from colleagues or managers in 12-month period, finds survey

My role as England’s first anti-racist lead practitioner

Conference calls on senior leaders to take action to embed antiracist practice

The podcast is available on most podcast platforms, including Spotify , Audible (Amazon) and Apple podcasts, or you can find it by putting ‘the social work community podcast’ into your search engine.

Listen now:

Listen to “Racism in social work” on Spreaker.

You can read the transcription here.

This podcast is also part of our new community site, The Social Work Community, which offers a safe, positive space to share careers guidance, network with peers and exchange experiences of social work. If you haven’t already, you can sign up now!

Did you catch the first two episodes? Listen back here:

The pros and cons of being a young social worker

What is the impact of negative media coverage of social work?