To my supervisor: ‘Every supervision session with you feels like a gift’

For Community Care’s 50th anniversary, our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.

In this entry, social worker Noemi Dziatkowska has nominated her supervisor, Sharon Modeste, who she describes as the “heart” of Wandsworth’s early help team.

Sharon Modeste is a qualified social worker with over 20 years of experience working within vulnerable and diverse communities, including in the prison service and various child protection and safeguarding teams.

She is currently a senior practitioner in Wandsworth Council’s early help, targeted parenting and family support service.

To Sharon,

I want you to know just how much you mean to me and to everyone in our team. Your contributions to the social work community are nothing short of extraordinary.

Photo: Sharon Modeste

You bring so much compassion and warmth to everything you do, and your positive spirit makes it a joy to come to work each day. Even on the hardest days, you lift us up and inspire us to keep going.

As your supervisee, I feel so incredibly lucky to have you as my guide. When I joined early help in October 2023, as a nervous, newly qualified social worker, I didn’t know what to expect. In just a year, you’ve given me so much more than just knowledge. You’ve helped me grow my confidence and find my voice.

Every supervision session with you feels like a gift because I always take away something new and valuable. You care so deeply about my growth, always encouraging me to stretch myself and embrace new learning experiences.

I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor. More than that, Sharon, you are the heart of our team.

You’re always the first to offer help when someone is struggling and you consistently go above and beyond when we’re under pressure. Your kindness and dedication shine through in everything you do.

You don’t just do your job, you pour your heart into it, and that makes all the difference.

We are so lucky to have you, and I’m endlessly grateful for everything you’ve done for us all.

I hope that I can take on the learning you passed on and be as successful as you are one day.

Noemi

How to nominate a colleague

For our 50th anniversary, we’re expanding our series My Brilliant Colleague to include 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 either:

• Filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.
• Or sending a voice note of up to 90 seconds to +447887865218, including your and the nominee’s names and roles.

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.