BASW England Conference Round-Up
BASW England Conference: Reimagining Social Work: Recovery, Hope and Pride
Last week BASW England welcomed members, social workers, friends, allies and people with lived experience to their conference, annual members meeting and student/NQSW conference.
The three days of member-led events focused on the challenges we face in the current climate and identified ways for us to find recovery, hope and pride in our social work practice.
Thank you to all the speakers, workshop presenters and everyone who attended and contributed during the week.
As well as celebrating and recognising the outstanding work of our profession in the past year, we had lots of events packed with rich and insightful discussions.
Annual Members Meeting: Wednesday 19th October
BASW England Chair, Vava Tampa welcomed members and thanked everyone for their incredible efforts during what has been a challenging year. Vava also thanked outgoing committee members and welcomed new members, including Katy Jackson who becomes Vice-Chair.
We also heard from BASW UK Chair, Julia Ross and CEO, Ruth Allen who talked about the integral and determined role social work has in standing up to injustices. That has never been more important in the current cost-of-living crisis. BASW England National Director, Maris Stratulis then gave a snapshot of the projects, webinars, development of resources and so much more that BASW England has delivered in the past year.
We were delighted to welcome Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham who gave a speech to members highlighting that the exceptional support, dedication and passion shown by social workers across the country has been a lifeline for so many people. Andy also thanked BASW for its support for the Hillsborough Law Now campaign.
The meeting was rounded off with a Q&A from members and a specially recorded video from the Choir with No Name, who are a charity choir for people affected by homelessness. Find out more here.
BASW England Student & NQSW Conference: Thursday 20th October
This event was split into a morning and an afternoon session.
The morning session explored the lived experiences of students, newly qualified social workers and placement supervisors/coordinators during the COVID-19 pandemic through their spoken histories. The panel considered the challenges of learning and developing skills during this time while also examining the adaptations that were made to studying and teaching which have changed how learning takes place post-pandemic.
The afternoon session considered different social work placement opportunities with a first-hand look at what students can expect while on placement on a day-to-day basis and what types of support may be on offer. The panel offered valuable advice on how to get the most out of placement and gave an insight into what students will experience and learn in different placement settings.
BASW England Conference: Friday 21st October
The theme of this year’s conference recognised the impact on social work of working with people affected by socio economic deprivation, social and health inequalities in a context of increased demand and diminishing resources. The discussion focused on how social work can respond to these challenges and the role BASW England has to support our members and the profession more widely.
Session one featured a panel discussion on the impact of austerity and poverty and the action to be taken by the profession and by BASW. Our presenters included Dominic Watters, who highlighted the impact of food insecurity on families and Pam Shodiende, who discussed the impact of no recourse to public funds on women experiencing domestic abuse.
Session two considered ethics and contemporary social work and the mobilisation of hope. The panel examined how the concept of moral injury can help us understand the impact of our working environment on our practices and our identities.
Resources
BASW has developed a number of resources to support anti-austerity and anti-poverty practice in social work. For more information click here