Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

Completing social work assessments in order to create plans to support families during times of crisis.
Safeguarding responsibilities such as completing S47 investigations.
Escalating matters to court if necessary - completion of care proceedings.
Direct work with children and adults with a range of issues e.g domestic abuse.
Practice teacher supporting student social workers through their placements.

Often responding to crisis situations - plans can change very quickly and therefore you have to learn to be flexible.
Statutory responsibilities such as completing visits to children, arranging and chairing meetings.
Writing various forms or reports - court, child protection, risk assessment, child and family assessments - all within timescales.
Supporting and mentoring other colleagues.

Being a social worker is a very hard job with often a lot of negativity and high pressure however knowing that you are helping children stay safe and supporting families through crisis is incredibly rewarding. To be a social worker you definitely need to be passionate about helping children, adults or the vulnerable.

The public's perception of what social workers do and constant negativity about the job from the media. There is a lot of pressure to meet timescales, deadlines all in the midst of having to work with families in crisis who are often highly stressed and dysfunctional.

I have extensive experience of working with families and children since graduating in 2002. I was fortunate to be offered a traineeship with the NSPCC in 2008 and they funded a further degree in social work.

BA Hons Social Work.

Writing skills are essential as well as the ability to relate to families and communicate effectively with them often when they are experiencing high levels of stress.

Organisational skills are also essential as there is a requirement for social workers to arrange meetings, visits, meet deadlines, attend meetings. Constant re-prioritisation of tasks and flexibility when there is a crisis to attend to.

Social work degree.

Play worker during university holidays.

Voluntary work with The Princes Trust.

Children's Support Worker at a homeless families unit.

Assistant Project worker at a supported housing unit for young women and their babies.

Learning Mentor at a primary school.

Trainee Children's Services practitioner NSPCC - 2008- 2012.

Children's Services Practitioner (social worker) - 2012-2014.

Social worker - child protection team 2014-2016.

Social worker - Child sexual exploitation team 2016- 2017.

Consolidation of practice module - January 2017 - distinction.

Social worker - First response team (duty and assessment) current.

Practice Educator module - September 2017.

I plan to become a senior practitioner and therefore have more responsibility for the development of other staff. Training and development is an area I would like to go into at some point.

Try and gain as much experience as possible working with vulnerable people before deciding to become a social worker, it is a vocation and a genuine passion is needed if you want to be effective.