This week is Social Work Week and Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) are celebrating the fantastic social workers across our Trust.
The awareness campaign is organised by Social Work England and includes World Social Work Day tomorrow (Tuesday 19 March).
Social workers aim to help improve people’s lives, particularly those who are vulnerable or need protection from harm.
They recognise the wider issues affecting people’s lives, such as trauma, discrimination, and poverty. They work with them to identify their needs, strengths and goals and help them make changes and informed choices about their own lives.
We have 156 social workers working across our services. From supporting people experiencing mental health crisis and those who are being cared for in our inpatient units, to supporting people, their families and carers out in the community, our social workers are a vital part of the holistic care that we offer.
Ross Miller has worked in the specialist community mental health team for three years, in Braintree.
He said: “My role as a Senior Social Worker is varied, and offers a great deal of diversity in terms of the service users I support, and the challenges they experience.
“We support people who have severe and enduring mental health difficulties and range in age from 18 to 65 years old.
“I feel the role of social work in mental health care is critical to promoting our service users’ rights, and ensuring they have access to the support they need to promote independence and wellbeing.
“I am also responsible for supporting the learning and development of other people in my team, including newly qualified and student social workers.
“This is also very rewarding and gives me the opportunity to share my experiences with others.
“Since joining the team, I have had many learning opportunities to develop my social work skills.
“I undertook training to become an Approved Mental Health Professional, which is role that is involved in Mental Health Act (1983) assessments.
“The AMHP also offers a level of complexity and challenge, and is equally rewarding in supporting services users who are experiencing mental health crisis.
“As a social worker, my role is valued as part of the multi-disciplinary teams who work within mental health services, because I offer a social perspective of mental health needs and challenge inequalities and discrimination. “
James Sawtell, Associate Director of Social Care at EPUT, said: “I want to say a big thank you to all our social workers and social care staff across the Trust for all their hard work in ensuring that people are at the centre of all that we do.
“Social workers lead the way in promoting the rights of those in need of support, along with those of their carers and families.
“They also lead the way in helping and supporting those we work with to make positive changes and to live the life they choose.”
To find out more about being a social worker at EPUT, to go to our vacancies page.