The Social Work Community Podcast explores issues that are important to social work practitioners in the UK by interviewing experienced and inspiring guests. Guests include frontline social workers who speak from the heart about topics that affect their jobs, the sector and society.
The Social Work Community Podcast Season Three
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 this episode of our ‘Ask The Experts’ series, Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly, Claire Barcham and Kayleigh Rose Evans discuss the differences between working for a local authority and a trust.
In the first episode of this new miniseries, we speak to Yohai Hakak senior social work lecturer at Brunel University, London who leads on the research on migration of social workers to and from the UK. He shares some of his fascinating findings about how cultural differences impact the way social workers approach their jobs.
What skills have you been able to take from your previous profession into social work? The Social Work Community Podcast talks to two social workers in children’s services who both began their working lives in law about what they bring to social work
The Social Work Community Podcast Season Two
This bonus episode, recorded live at the conference, was on limited access for The Social Work Community members only. Now it is available for everyone to listen to. Find out what the aim of the movement is and why it was not like any other conference.
In this episode of our ‘Ask The Experts’ series, Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly, Claire Barcham and Kayleigh Rose Evans respond to a question on how to secure a new job after receiving a negative reference.
This special live podcast, recorded at Community Care Live 2024, explains how social workers and disabled people are working in partnership to improve care and support. It is presented by Wiltshire Council.
In this episode, we learn more about a collaboration between Hampshire County Council and South Central Ambulance Service is helping to improve the quality of care for adults who would otherwise be taken to hospital.
In the second helping of our podcast mini-series, our resident experts, Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly, Claire Barcham and Kayleigh Rose Evans, give advice to a social worker who has lost enthusiasm and motivation in the area she works in.
The social work sector and the face of Community Care have both changed a lot over the past 50 years. As 2024 was Community Care’s 50th birthday year, we got some of the longest-standing members of the our team together for this one-off special.
Mithran Samuel, editor, Natalie Valios, senior content editor on Inform Adults, and Nicky Davies, head of partnerships and events sat down to talk about what it’s like working for Community Care.
In this thought-provoking and emotive episode of The Social Work Community, recorded at this year’s Community Care Live, you will hear about the importance of a parent’s journey while considering their own child’s life story.
You will hear first-hand the experiences some parents have had and how practitioners can gain a better understanding of the impact positive life stories can have on both parents and children.
In this new podcast mini-series you can hear our social work experts answer your career dilemmas.
Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly, Claire Barcham and Kayleigh Rose Evans respond to a practitioner asking for advice on how to secure an interview for an assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) role.
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, we ask two social workers from either side of the divide about what has driven their career choices.
Two social workers share their experience of returning from maternity leave and highlight how Essex County Council has supported their transition.
How much support did you have when you returned to social work after becoming a first-time parent?
In three episodes of the Social Work Community Podcast, social workers at Essex County Council discuss the various ways the local authority supports its workforce and promotes their wellbeing.
Social workers from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council tell us their different reasons for staying at and joining an inadequate-rated children’s services. Two social workers, Steph and Cyra both left agency work for a permanent role and explain why that offers them more flexibility. Monique tells us what brought her back to BCP Council after a stint in London, and Ruairi and Jamie explain what has kept them at BCP Council for so long.
Independent social worker Gretchen Precey celebrates 47 years in children’s services this year. For the Social Work Community Podcast, we asked what keeps her in the sector.
In the first episode of the new season, Community Care’s careers editor, Sharmeen Ziauddin, spoke to two social workers – Curtis Powell and Jason Barnes – about their experience of the sector, why they choose the social work profession and what they, as men, bring to the table.
The Social Work Community Podcast Season One
Listen back to season one of the podcast:
Workforce Insights
These are our archived Workforce Insights episodes, showcasing social work practice and leadership from around the country. From mid-2024 any new Workforce Insights episodes can be found on The Social Work Community Podcast feed.
Hampshire County Council
Podcast: using new approaches to promote ‘old school’ social work for older adults
When Hampshire County Council’s adult social care teams noticed a doubling of the care packages required for people within its population aged over 85 years, it found a solution through an approach called proactive enhanced care (PEC).
This approach taps into a return to ‘old school’ social work values that focus on prioritising time with the older person and focussing on a person-centred approach to how they are supported.
In this episode, social workers in Hampshire County Council’s older adults teams discuss how older adults are benefitting from this approach.
NCT
Social workers share their experiences of working in a large county
During the Covid-19 pandemic, many families became isolated and levels of need, for example in relation to domestic abuse, went up. The long-lasting effects of the pandemic on service users are still being seen by practitioners at Northamptonshire Children’s Trust.
Guests Brian Browne and Mason Poore, both of whom work in one of NCT’s support and safeguarding teams, discuss the challenges families and young people face.
They also talk about how supportive and visible leadership, and recognition for doing well in your role, helps them do their jobs better and keeps them motivated in their practice.
Wiltshire Council
Supporting adults with learning disabilities and autism post-pandemic
We speak to Dan Wilkins (head of transformation and quality assurance) and Juliana Ameh (learning disabilities and autism team) about their work at Wiltshire Council in adult social care.
They talk about how things have changed for them and the adults they support since the Covid-19 pandemic began. They talk about differences in services offered, how there is more demand for services and the increase in awareness around neurodivergence.
How can practitioners support adults with autism better? And how can local authorities support neurodivergent staff?
BCP Council
Moving on from Ofsted
In 2021 Ofsted rated BCP Council’s children’s services as inadequate. However, many monitoring visits later the provision to children and families has vastly improved.
Sharmeen Ziauddin, assistant careers editor, speaks to the new principal social worker, Leanne Morgan and the children’s rights and engagement manager, Jo Fry, about BCP’s improvement journey.
Leanne and Jo both discuss wellbeing and its importance for a role in social care, and give their tips on how they cope in their demanding jobs.
Wiltshire Council
Working with parents: breaking down barriers to engagement
This episode was recorded at a session, at Community Care Live 2023, run by Wiltshire Council, in front of a live audience. It features practitioners and the care-experienced young people and fathers whom they support and work with.
Wiltshire Council started two projects, Dads Matter Too and Born Into Care, which are run by two of the speakers on the podcast, Helen Tubb and Ceri Evans. Along with them is participation manager Joe Sutton, who runs the Youth Voice team.
Essex County Council
What does it feel like to work in an anti-racist environment?
Essex County Council’s adult social care service started its journey to embed anti-racist practice almost two years ago and is seeing promising examples of change across its workforce.
Hear from Alison Ansell, director of adult social care for mid Essex, deputy manager Ganiyat Asiegbu and development manager for race Phil Chiza about how Essex is bringing a culture of anti-racist practice into its service.
Wiltshire Council
Child-focused case recording
Wiltshire Council’s principle social worker Fiona Hayward and youth voice worker Cameron Draisy explain how Wiltshire has embedded a new style of case-recording.
Keeping the child at the centre, they explain to Sharmeen Ziauddin, assistant careers editor at Community Care, how this innovative approach is helping young people and families in Wiltshire.
Hampshire County Council
What is innovation when it comes to social work practice?
Judy Cooper, associate editor with Community Care, is joined by Katy Burch, assistant director at the Institute for Public Care at Oxford Brookes University.
She and her team have undertaken numerous evaluations of projects funded by the government’s social care innovation fund (and the transformation fund in Wales). Click here for more.
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