During my secondary and high school years I was always interested in psychology, philosophy , sociology. I was fascinated with the complexities of human behaviour. I remember having a discussion with my biology teacher about different career paths and social work was the one that really caught my attention. I did a 4 years Social Work degree in Romania and qualified in 1997.
I was recruited in 2003 at a time when Thurrock were recruiting quite a few Social Workers from oversees. After practicing in Romania for 6 years, I relocated to UK in November 2003. I started off as a Social Worker in a Looked After Children Team before progressing to Senior Practitioner after 2 years, then to a Practice manager position after 8 months. In September 2009 I became the Court Team Manager. I managed the Court team for 8 years and it was one of the most challenging but most rewarding time of my career! I enjoyed the scrutiny of the judges, lawyers and working with colleagues across other professions such as psychologists, psychiatrists, medical professionals, etc. In 2018 I acted as a Service Manager for the Children Looked After Service for 8 months before interviewing for a newly created role- Quality Assurance and Practice development manager. I have been in this role since. I really enjoy this role as I get to work collaboratively with practitioners and managers from across the whole service and with partner agencies, evaluating the quality of our practice and ensuring we listen to the children and families we work with, to make improvements to the way we deliver our services.
Thurrock has a very robust training offer. We plan our training based on feedback from audits, from children and families; from learning reviews and we try to keep up with the very rapidly changing social work picture, both locally and nationally. I have attended a wide variety of training since in Thurrock, including Leadership, management and mentoring short- and longer-term courses, as well as Signs of Safety and Systemic practice training.
Every day is a new learning opportunity in the job I do. There are quite a few strands to my role, so my days will be filled with meetings, coordinating audits, learning and training activities, delivering Induction to new staff, attending some national and regional meetings with the Principal Social Workers networks.
I have been in Thurrock for 19 years now and I feel very proud of my career journey. I may consider at some point stepping up again into a more senior role and as my absolute aspiration is to support Thurrock to become an outstanding authority. I am a very structured, organized person, however having the time to complete the many priorities which this role entails, is always a challenge. Having concrete examples from children, young people and families about how our work has changed their life for better. Being able to support and inspire Social Workers to acknowledge the hard work they are undertaking every day and enable them to continuously look at their practice and make improvements. I have also got to work with some very inspirational people throughout my career and I am grateful for the way they have encouraged me and supported my career progression.
My top advice would be to know yourself, and be willing to get to know yourself even better! Be open, be inquisitive, be curious to get to know more about the beauty of our multifaceted human nature! Be compassionate and be brave! There will be times when you feel like giving up as there is no secret that being a social worker can be quite stressful, however most of the time you ‘ll feel like you are making a difference and bring positive changes to the lives of the people you work with.
Thurrock is a small Local Authority-come and join us! You will very quickly get a sense of being part of a community which is welcoming, supportive and has a strong commitment to antiracist practice.
