Social work has never been an easy sector to work in. But it’s one of those professions where the long-term impact someone makes can far outweigh the challenges. One of the highlights of Julia Winkless’s 14-year career was when she was stopped by a young lady in a car park. “She literally parked her car in front of me, jumped out, and thanked me. It was a girl I’d worked with on my first ever child protection case,” says Winkless, who is now a senior social worker and approved mental health professional in Suffolk. “She said she’s always telling people about me and how I helped her.”
Sometimes, it can be the smallest things that mean the most in social care. Leyre Zarobe, deputy team manager for the discharge-to-assess team at Essex county council, remembers one elderly man in his 90s who was in a wheelchair and wanted a ramp installed so he could get out to his garden. He had dementia and there were some safeguarding issues around financial abuse. But the team was able to advocate for him to get him what he wanted. “I remember visiting him on his birthday and he was sitting in his garden having fish and chips, with the biggest smile on his face. That meant the world to me.”
