News

Tuesday 18 March is World Social Work Day, an opportunity to celebrate social workers around the world and our nearly 90 social workers at the North London NHS Foundation Trust. 

The day is marked every year and this year’s theme is:  Strengthening Intergenerational Solidarity for Enduring Wellbeing.

The theme, set by the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), acknowledges that intergenerational care and connections are essential to everybody’s wellbeing and fostering functional economies and societies, yet they are too often overlooked or ignored by governments and policymakers. Through this theme, the social work profession recognises the need for societies to strengthen and more actively support respectful intergenerational solidarity for the enduring wellbeing of all.

At the North London NHS Foundation Trust, we are proud to have nearly 90 social workers across the Trust supporting our service users and carers and our local communities. 

One of them is Ferenkeh Jalloh, who is a consultant social worker and the social care lead for Barnet, and has been working for us since 2001. 

We spoke to him recently about his role and what he enjoys the most from his work:

My role is key to ensuring a preventive approach to community transformation and one that is person-centred, and to ensuring an integrated approach to the future of mental health services in the trust.

I am responsible for negotiating all aspects of our working relationships with the London borough of Barnet social services and strengthening relationships with voluntary care sector partners.

As the social care lead for Barnet, I represent all aspects of social care-related issues at the Barnet Senior Management Team board, I lead on supporting trust-employed social work developments, I oversee and I sit on the Barnet Safeguarding Board and I am responsible for promoting carers' engagement and safeguarding practices in the division.

He added:

Having come from a high-performing organisation, I am motivated by the idea of promoting cultural change, focusing on collectivism and leadership for all staff who are carrying out frontline activities, so they feel they own what they do.

 

We would also like to give a special shout out to Ferenkeh who has received a nationwide award from the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the social work profession. Ferenkeh was nominated by a colleague who said:

"Ferenkeh is a hardworking, visionary leader who is dedicated to quality improvement and doing the best for both clients, teammates, and colleagues. He is fair, fearless, and won’t hesitate to stand for what is right, whether it directly affects him or others. Having worked with and supervised him earlier in his journey, I can only be thankful for having met and worked with Ferenkeh."

Congratulations to Ferenkeh on this recognition and we want to thank all our social workers for everything they do and the difference they make to people's lives.

More information and other events

If you are a social worker or you are interested in social work, there's a lot of events and webinars taking place this week including:

• Social Care Assessments with Older LGBTQ+ People: Findings from the LOASCA Study – Wednesday 19 March, 11am.
• Inherent Jurisdiction Challenges: Secure Accommodation of Children vs Deprivation of Liberty – Friday 21 March, 11am.

To register for these webinars,  please fill in this form.

(BASW) and  Social Work England  are also running a number of events:

• Safeguarding, identity & wellbeing in the age of social technology and AI - Monday 17 March.  Sign up here.   
• Think Family: collaborative working across the life span – Wednesday 19 March. Sign up here.
• Childhood trauma: Why was my world invisible in sight of professionals? – Wednesday 19 March. Sign up here.
• Assisted Dying: What’s being proposed and how does that affect social workers? by Dr Luke Geoghegan - BASW’s Head of Policy and Research and Annie Ho Chair of BASW’s Policy, Ethics & Human Rights (PEHR) committee – Monday 24 March. Sign up here.

The  International Federation of Social Workers  is also hosting an event on Wednesday 19 March. The event’s theme is around advancing social rights for persons with disabilities.  To register for the event and for more information about go here.

For more information about Social Work Day and social workers, please visit the International Federation of Social Workers website.