Making the decision to complete a Masters in Social Work is the most significant ‘career decisions’ in my life so far, although it was a big undertaking I thoroughly enjoyed it and it remains the best decision I have ever made! It was the quickest 2 years of my life!

Close family members and friends.

It was a simple process, I applied through the graduate campaign, attended online information sessions, completed the interview process and received an offer soon after, it was very straight forward.

As a Child Protection and Welfare Social Worker no day is really the same, all the families that I work with present with various complexities. I will attempt to explain a typical Monday morning, I usually have my morning coffee while at home while I read my emails and listen to any voicemails received over the weekend. I try to keep Monday’s diary free as it is usually a day where I will be completing various unannounced visits and follow up with any referrals or concerns highlighted over the weekend. My day can change really quickly depending on what comes up, I try my best to meet with the children and parents that I work with as often as possible to build a meaningful relationship to ensure that they can talk to me about any worries and concerns that they may have.

Managing a case load whereby there is ongoing child protection concerns.

Monitoring safety plans.

Monitoring cases in line with CPNS procedures.

Waiting lists for services and supports for example, play therapy, mental health services etc.

Building relationships with the families that I work with, sometimes once I am first allocated to the case, it can be difficult for the family to open up and trust the service. It is important that we meet the families where they are at and be very mindful of any power dynamics in the relationship.

It can be stressful at times, in particular I struggle with the thresholds, sometimes it feels like we know that the children are not living in the best environment, but we have to wait until the incident happens before we have enough evidence to apply for a Care Order.

I feel that I have great communicate skills and can communicate with anyone in a non-judgemental manner which is really important to the families in which we work with.

I don’t really feel that any of my subjects in school influenced my career path as I had no idea of what exactly I wanted to do once I finished school.

Bachelor of Arts (honours) in Social Care.

Masters in Social Work.

Completing my Master’s gave me the skills and knowledge to be able to confidentially do my job today.

I LOVE when I see a family who have completely turned their lives around. When we start working with families we often meet them at their lowest, to put all the support services in place and see consecutive changes to their lives can be really rewarding.

Kind, resilient, honest, patient.

I love my current job, so I haven’t really thought about any other future posts.

Yes, my job fits in with my life perfectly. Although, we are very busy, the role is flexible to allow for appointments. After working in residential centres for many years, a Monday-Friday working week is very much enjoyable!

Before I applied for this job, I was worried about the staffing levels and the poor reviews that I had been told. I am really happy I did not allow these factors to influence my decision, this has not been my experience at all, my team and team leader are amazing, and I feel really supported in my role! My advice would be if you are interested just apply and go from there!

Continuous professional development is something that I feel passionate about, society is always changing, and new evidence-based approaches are being published.

Any social care experience would be a good start!

Social Worker