I had spent 5 years working abroad in my mid-twenties and when I returned to the UK I was planning on becoming a police officer. Whilst I was waiting for the application to progress, I got a job with another local authority as an education support worker. I worked with children who were struggling to access education and their families working to get them back into education. It was clear that I had found a career that I loved and decided to instead pursue a career in social work.
I became a foster carer and was later involved in starting a team that worked to prevent placement breakdown within foster care, eventually becoming the manager of a local authority children’s home.
After completing my degree in Bristol and ASYE year in Somerset, I came to Essex for a fresh challenge. It was in a very different place then and I was excited to be part of the change.
I spent the first 3 years working in the A&I team in Clacton as a Social Worker-this was a great place to really cement my skills as a social worker. I loved the fast pace and the variety of work in my day but I knew that my real passion was in the relationship building and the change work with families, so I moved to FS&P as a senior practitioner.
For the next 8 years I worked as a Senior Practitioner, loving every minute. My team manager was a perfectionist. She pushed me to always really advocate for my families, and to never settle for second best. I hadn’t really thought about the next step because I didn’t want to move away from the work with children and their families. She supported my development to the point I knew I was ready.
It took a few attempts to get a Team Manager role, each interview gave me the experience and feedback that I needed to make sure that I was the right candidate. I finally got the opportunity in 2020 to look after the Colchester FS&P team on a secondment, I had very big shoes to fill and I had no idea of the steep learning curve ahead of me. The 6 month secondment gave me the perfect opportunity to try the role for size and see if it really was what I wanted to do. I finally got the permanent Team Manager role in 2021 and the last 2 years have flown. This is a difficult role without question but I am lucky to have the support of amazing colleagues around me, a brilliant team and a patient Manager of my own who has supported me through my mistakes with patience.
I completed my practice educator training as a senior practitioner and started supported newly qualified staff and students and it gave me the opportunity to start to learn how to support staff. This is an area of the work that I still love watching new workers come through and being challenged by their ideas and attitudes, it’s exciting and keeps me on my toes.
I have undertaken the Frontline training this was at the start of my manger career and really helped me to work out the type of leader I wanted to be, I am now embarking on the Pathways leadership program to start looking at my next steps and how I would like to develop.
I have also applied to take part in the women in leadership program which I hope to be selected for.
My days are always different. I am an early riser up at 5.30, always have to have a cuppa and walk my dog Dolly before heading into the office. I love that early morning walk especially now its light, it really is good for my mental health and wellbeing.
We have an excellent duty system with exceptional seniors who keep the duty tasks running smoothly and need little input from me, which means I can spend my days attending child protection conferences, court and supporting social workers with any tricky dilemmas. I am committed to good quality supervision and am always trying to find ways to balance of case management with really positive and effective reflective discussion whilst ensuring time for staff wellbeing and meaning reflection.
My favourite part of any day is when I get to go out and meet the families, watch my team at work, I am so lucky to work with the best group of people, so caring, supportive and creative. I miss the interaction with children because they never cease to amaze me.
I work collaboratively with my counterpart and we manage the teams very much together meaning that staff feel connected and there is no division, which has proved essential for morale. I love this way of working! We work together to allocate cases always looking to ensure that workers are not overwhelmed. We have worked hard to try and keep caseloads manageable.
I am passionate about doing the best job I can to ensure that the children we work with have the best possible outcomes. I want to continue to support my team to make sure that they are happy and enjoy what they do, whilst ensuring that we strive to build on the brilliant work that they do every day.
Resources can sometimes be a challenge. There has always been a careful balancing act between what we want to do and the money that we have to do. Right now I have to manage staff anxieties about how the cost of living is affecting them, as well as the impact that this crisis is having on our families.
That being said, working with my team; families and children is the most rewarding part of the job. My favourite day of the year is the “It’s my Life Festival”. I’m able to spend a whole day with all the children that we work with and their Social Workers, watching memories being made. I love watching my team grow and become confident practitioners, I am lucky and privileged to work with such amazing people.
It’s the best job in the world, you will experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows but you will never find another job like it.
