It is easy to forget something when the majority of your week is a blur of chaos and tension. however, this week I did find an interesting e-mail asking whether I would be interested in running a workshop on ‘Equality and Diversity’ for a group of social work students.

I have to admit that I had to open the e-mail fully to check who the message was for, after all its not every day I receive these messages.

However, my excitement was my managers panic, and how often will you be gone for this? “don’t panic it is only one workshop”. Not that it should make any difference! But I guess that I should be flattered that I will be missed.

Why would I get so excited by this? I guess for me it will be doing something that I enjoy – which is talking about social work in practise, whilst also supporting Social Work Students in their learning.

As a social work manager reading a lot of care plans, pathway plans and assessments I often find myself questioning whether the young people have any diversity needs; and is therefore always a subject that I find myself having with my social workers that I supervise.

But as I gently challenge the social workers to reflect upon each young person and what makes these young people different from their peers. I can see how this then leads on to improve the quality of the assessment or even to a better understanding of the young persons needs. I have also seen an improvement in the outcomes for the young people we work with. Mostly this has been evidenced with fewer placement breakdowns over the past six months.

So I am excited about being able to talk with students alongside an academic to promote good analysis and reflection around an important subject that is relevant to everyone.

photo credit to: estuary.co.uk