Social Work Successes

Jun 27 2024

Social Work Successes Podcast artwork

This podcast has been designed to shine a big light on the amazing work that social work practitioners do with children and families every day. Each episode will feature a different practitioner sharing their 'success story'. Their stories will hopefully provide motivation and hope, as well some helpful tips that others may be able to use in their own practice.

You guys do an incredible job, I know that... you know that... but lets tell everyone else!

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Parent With Lived Experience

Jun 27 2024 32 mins

It was an honour and a privilege to be joined by Laura for Episode 12 of the podcast. Laura shares her experience and insight on what worked well in her relationship with her children’s social worker and what didn’t, and why. There are many different factors that influence the outcomes for families, but this episode is another powerful reminder of why relationship-based practic

Episode 11: Care Leaver Healing Journey

Jun 20 2024 38 mins

Episode 11 features Warren Ryans inspirational success story of his time in the care system, the impact his childhood experiences had on him, and his journey to overcoming depression and healing. We get into several issues facing the care sector:1. A lack of therapeutic support for children in care.2. Why fostering should not be seen as a ‘job’. 3. Why fostering needs to be see

The Leaving Care Team

Jun 13 2024 18 mins

Joe Ottman shares his success story of building a relationship over two years with an adolescent boy, who had a challenging relationship with his mum, and struggled with his own mental health difficulties. Joe has been able to build a very positive relationship with him, and he attributes this to working, 'therapeutically' and using a systemic approach to practice.

The Looked After Children's Team

Jun 06 2024 17 mins

What an absolute pleasure it was to be joined by the infamous Nanna Yabbey-Hagan for Episode 9. Nanna is Team Manager making waves in the social work world and is determined to help promote the necessary changes to the system. Part of this determination led him to parliament last year, where he made sure the realities of being a children’s social worker were spoken into the room.

The Family Court

May 23 2024 34 mins

I was lucky enough to be joined by Faye Edwards, who is a barrister in the family courts. We got into lots of key issues with the current ‘system’, and the 26 week timescales for proceedings, I know this episode will benefit so many practitioners.Faye shares a success story where the social workers assessment and support led to the reunification of a young baby with her mother.

Maintaining Relationships with Parents in Court Proceedings

May 16 2024 22 mins

For this episode I was joined by Vicki Shevlin from Social Work Sorted. She shares a story from her time in practice when she needed to recommend removal of a child. As proceedings were paused she had to continue to carry out her statutory visits and maintain a relationship with the parents. She discusses the things she felt helped to make this possible.

Adolescent Edge of Care Team

Apr 30 2024 37 mins

Tom Green, senior social worker, shares a success story from his time in the 'Edge of Care' team. He discusses the mentalization based approach he used, and how this really helped to improve the relationship between a mother and her son and prevented him going into care.

The Dandelions- Part 2 ( Experts by Experience Group)

Apr 23 2024 24 mins

For this episode I was privileged to be joined by two parent experts who share their stories of their involvement with children’s services. They are part of ‘The Dandelions’, and work alongside practitioners to improve service delivery.

The Dandelions- Part 1 (Experts by Experience Group)

Apr 09 2024 30 mins

I am joined by some of the practitioners who have set up a working group with 'Parent Experts' who have previously had involvement with Children's Services. The group have called themselves 'The Dandelions' and have been making wonderful contributions to improving services. Some of these have included making a video to help parents know what to expect at Child Protection conference

Criminal Defence Lawyer

Apr 02 2024 39 mins

Iain Smith, who is criminal defence lawyer, shares his ‘success story’ of a young adult he was representing in the criminal court. This man had a significant attachment-based trauma history and was battling an addiction to drugs. Iain encouraged the Judge to view him through a ‘trauma lens’ and suggested that she should in fact be ‘praising him’ for his efforts to try t