Care and support
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week, which this year takes a theme we can all relate to: anxiety (#ToHelpMyAnxiety). It's not only a chance to shine a light on our psychological wellbeing (and how to maintain it) but also take stock on mental health service provision and the evolution of societal attitudes to an issue which affects us all.
Social worker, Gavin Wilson, provides a positive account of his secondment to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) as Lead Analyst in the 'fair cost of care' policy team.
It is one of the privileges of being Chief Social Worker for Adults that my professional colleagues and I can offer our advice, insight and guidance to inform major social care initiatives in England. The People at the Heart of Care white paper, published in 2021, set out the Government’s vision for adult social care. Now, with the publication of Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care, we’re helping to refine and strengthen that vision.
I am so pleased to welcome Ewan King, Chief Executive of Shared Lives Plus, as our guest blogger this week. I am a great fan of this model of care and support and the many ways it helps people make the most of community based options, helping them lead healthy, happy and inclusive lives.
One of the best aspects of my role as Chief Social Worker for Adults is the opportunity to meet so many wonderful social workers applying their knowledge, skills and values in many different settings. Supporting people within the criminal justice system is one very good example...
Earlier this summer , the Department of Health and Social Care's plan for digital health and social care included the assertion that the “long-term sustainability of health and social care is dependent on having the right digital foundations in place, and so digital transformation must be the linchpin upon which all... reforms are based.”
As a lesbian, I always enjoy the visibility that Pride Month brings to those of us who are LGBTQ+ and the support it provides for our communities, families, friends and networks. As a social worker, it reminds me how vital it is for social work practice to protect and promote the human rights of everyone.
"It is part of our job as social workers to be intuitively and professionally aware of the needs of those we serve" says Lyn Romeo, Chief Social Worker for Adults. "Carers Week emphasises the theme of making sure carers are ‘visible, valued and supported’, which reminds us of the principles of our practice."
I am so pleased to be writing this blog, celebrating the publication of ‘People at the heart of care’, the Government's adult social care reform White Paper.
Social work and social care values are at its core. This is about valuing people and what matters to them.
Lyn Romeo has just returned to her role as Chief Social Worker for Adults, alongside Fran Leddra, following time out to care for her elderly mother who sadly died recently following a long illness. On returning to the role, Lyn finds it highly fitting for her first blog, to be posted during Carers Week.
