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  • Social work, burnout and racism: one practitioner’s experience

    Social work, burnout and racism: one practitioner’s experience
    2026/03/12

    Welcome to the first episode of Season five of the Social Work Community Podcast!

    This podcast episode, especially recorded for World Social Work month/week/day, features an interview with Nadine KL Boyne, an experienced social worker and author of the book Social Work is Not Self-Harm.

    Trigger warning: in this episode there are references to self-harm when discussing Nadine’s book ‘Social work is not self-harm’. We'd encourage you to look after yourself while listening and use supervision and peer support if it brings up anything difficult for you.

    During the conversation, hosted by Sharmeen Ziauddin from Community Care, Nadine reflects on the pressures of the profession, arguing that systemic issues like high case loads and productivity targets can often lead to burnout and emotional exhaustion.

    She introduces her "SAVY" model, which stands for Self-aware, Authentic, Valuing, and Intentional, as a framework to help practitioners reclaim their well-being and personal identity.

    The theme of 2026's World Social Work Day is, 'Co-Building Hope and Harmony: A Harambee Call to Unite a Divided Society'. The Kenyan concept of 'Harambee' is a Swahili word that means let's pull together or let's unite. Harambee highlights the importance of collective responsibility and community support.

    Drawing from her own experience, Nadine encourages social workers to set healthy boundaries and navigate their careers on their own terms to ensure they can thrive, thus ensuring they are helping their families and children in the best way possible.

    The Black and Asian Leadership Initiative (BALI) that Sharmeen and Nadine mention, focuses on fostering inclusive leadership and equity within the social care and education sector. It was designed and initiated by Patrick Scott, Rosemary Campbell-Stephens MBE and Meera Spillett.

    The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

    Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    36 分
  • Showing kindness takes minutes: social workers in adult social care champion ways to be more trauma aware

    Showing kindness takes minutes: social workers in adult social care champion ways to be more trauma aware
    2026/02/26

    The foundations of trauma awareness are rooted in kindness and compassion and over the last two years, adult social care practitioners at Essex County Council have been on a journey to embed values like these into their direct work, supervision and in shaping Essex’s practice model.

    Listen as practitioners Danni, Melanie Noel, Kayleigh Johnson and Claire McDermid, explain how trauma awareness is applied in practice, why showing kindness can be achieved in minutes, and why its benefits extend also to the workforce.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    33 分
  • A pathway home: how one council is helping children return safely to their families

    A pathway home: how one council is helping children return safely to their families
    2026/02/19

    At the end of 2025, Hampshire County Council’s children’s services introduced a new pathway plan designed to safely support the process of children safely going home to their parents.

    The Going Home Pathway uses pre-screening tools that are child centred, family focussed and backed by evidence to guide the journey in getting children back home to their families.

    In this episode, we speak to two ‘Going Home Workers’ Maharla and Traci and senior social worker and assistant manager Sarah about how this new framework is transforming lives for children and families and creating an environment for families to view social work and social workers more positively.

    Read the transcript here:

    The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

    Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    43 分
  • How digitising work in the integrated front door team has improved workforce efficiencies

    How digitising work in the integrated front door team has improved workforce efficiencies
    2026/01/06
    Introduced initially as a pilot in January 2025, the Council’s Integrated Front Door team tracks contacts and referrals using digital whiteboards that share live data.

    The new technology means an end to time-consuming manual recording, freeing up more hours for practitioners to focus on their work and greater opportunities for the service to invest in the workforce.

    In this episode, Laura Snell, service lead for North East Lincolnshire’s Integrated Front Door in children’s services. and Sam, deputy service director within the Integrated Front Door and Safeguarding , talk about how, almost a year on, – the IFD pilot project became a reality and a valuable resource.

    The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

    Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.
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    25 分
  • How one local authority uses a community social work approach to shape support for families and children

    How one local authority uses a community social work approach to shape support for families and children
    2025/12/17
    North Lincolnshire Council's children and families service is committed to working collaboratively with families through its One Family Approach practice model - an approach that uses co-production to shape support for families and practitioners.

    In the final segment of this three-part mini-series in collaboration with North Lincolnshire Council, practitioners Steve and Shabnam explore the Council's community social work approach and how it embeds into the statutory service.

    The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

    Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    17 分
  • How direct work is transforming support for children

    How direct work is transforming support for children
    2025/11/27
    In the first in a three-part series from North East Lincolnshire Council, social workers from children's services explore some of the changes that contributed to a significant improvement in the authority's Ofsted rating.

    Earlier this year, the council, previously graded inadequate, was rated good overall and outstanding for leadership by inspectors, who found its children's services were "largely unrecognisable" from where they were in 2021.

    Recently, North East Lincolnshire Council launched a direct work toolkit to help children make sense of living with in conflict in their families.

    In this episode, director of children's services Ann-Marie Matson and Hayley Smith, advanced social worker in the children's assessment and safeguarding service, reflect on the impact the toolkit and other practice changes have had on children and families.

    Access the transcript here.

    The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

    Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.
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    21 分
  • Prioritising workforce wellbeing – one council’s approach

    Prioritising workforce wellbeing – one council’s approach
    2025/11/18
    Heidi and Marco from North Lincolnshire Council highlight how they ensure well-being is prioritised in the workforce and integrated into practice.

    Ensuring that practitioners have access to wellbeing support, and flexible working arrangements and the chance to network with the wider workforce through staff engagement events are areas that North Lincolnshire remain committed to.

    In this the second instalment in our three-part miniseries in collaboration with North Lincolnshire Council's Children and Families Service, we speak to Heidi Blakey, senior workforce, engagement and development officer in children’s and families at North Lincolnshire Council, and Marco Torres, apprentice social worker in the courts and permanence team.

    The pair talk about how the council prioritises wellbeing and helps its workforce to achieve a positive work/life balance kicks off the conversation.

    The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

    Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.
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    19 分
  • Hampshire Hive #3: what transferable skills you can bring to fostering?

    Hampshire Hive #3: what transferable skills you can bring to fostering?
    2025/10/28
    Hampshire Hive is a support network funded by Hampshire County Council, that assists fostering families across the county.

    In this podcast episode Hampshire Hive foster carers Andrea, and Johnny and Hampshire Hive manager Amy discuss the transferable skills that foster carers can bring from previous professions into supporting children and young people.

    Johnny used to do youth work, while Andrea used to be a mental health nurse. They both talk about being able to draw from their life experiences as young people, particularly Johnny who was care experienced.

    This podcast is the third and final episode in a three-part series called Hampshire Hive: Fostering Through a Community of Families.


    Fostering in Hampshire
    Hampshire Hive is a support network funded by Hampshire County Council, that assists fostering families across the county. To date, the network helps 27 Hampshire Hive groups with 23 foster care support workers and over 500 registered foster carers collectively.


    If you would like to find out more about fostering with Hampshire County Council, please visit hants.gov.uk/fostering to download their comprehensive information pack. You can also sign up for one of their upcoming virtual Q&A sessions attended by both a member of our recruitment team and a Hampshire County Council foster carer.

    Please find the transcript here.

    The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

    Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.
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    18 分