At the annual Social Worker of the Year Awards, two committed social workers from Wokingham Borough Council achieved silver honours.
Peter Hay CBE, the chair of the Trustees, said: “There is no profession quite like social work.
“As social workers we must help people navigate through challenging times in their lives using both our professional and personal resources.
“We must bring their voice to the fore using tools and advocacy.
“As a profession with abundant challenges, with the truth that some days those challenges feel beyond any one individual, we need each other so that social workers can make a difference, big or small, that gives someone the strength they need to keep moving forward”.
The PA was the BBC journalist Ashley John-Baptist who was in care himself and credits his social worker for helping him get where he is today.
In response to the killing of George Floyd in America and the Black Lives Matter movement,
Jen Daines set up a project she championed called Clumsy Conversations.
She has helped others feel empowered, and created open and honest conversations about the challenges faced, especially by people from differing cultures and ethnic origins from our own.
She made sure we all knew how we could play a part in generating positivity in the workplace as well as supporting ethnically diverse staff. For this, as well as her excellent everyday work, Jen won a silver award for the Adult Social Worker of the Year.
Jan Ledbrook, the team manager for the health liaison team, is celebrating 30 years with the council this year. She was up for the Team Leader of the Year for adult services prize.
Jan moved into the health liaison team in 2017, with her main responsibility being to manage hospital discharge, something where she excels.
Hospital discharge isn’t just getting people out of hospital, it is finding them a safe place and trying to ensure they won’t return to hospital any time soon. Jan is great at this and encourages her team to care, listen, and bother about individuals and make a difference. Again, she won a silver award in her category.
It was a pleasure and privilege to witness these awards and be on hand to congratulate the winners. Social workers don’t receive praise that much, winning these awards is a recognition of individual hard work and a positive reflection of the department.
On another positive note, it was great to see Social Care Futures go before the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee last week.
This means Wokingham Borough is looking to join with a national grassroots movement looking to ensure the care and support that we want for ourselves and our families meets our needs and is appropriate for the future we desire. The Social Care Future movement has five priorities to unlock an equal life for everyone, identify and challenge unacceptable inequalities and reduce, preferably eliminating, them.
They are: Communities where everyone belongs; Living in the place we call home; Leading the lives we want to lead; More resources, better use; Sharing power as equals.
My belief in this is that we are all equal, that we must respect, value and lobby for each other, and that we must all listen and learn from each other, so that we can make lives that each of us enjoys.
Cllr David Hare is the executive member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Services on Wokingham Borough Council and ward member for Hawkedon
