BASW England and SWU at Compass Jobs Fair, Birmingham
After a 2-year break from in-person events, the Compass Jobs Fair re-started it’s in person programme in March 2022, and we have enjoyed exhibiting at these events over the last 12 months. It was great to meet so many social workers, in various stages of their career, including many students.
These events are a great way for BASW and SWU to connect with social workers and to promote the benefits of BASW and SWU membership. We had a number of BASW members visit our stand, encouraging their colleagues to join BASW. Our members are a great advocate for BASW and for the profession in general.
Liz Howard, Professional Officer and Josh Dixon, Policy and Campaigns Officer, BASW England presented at the event, with Liz talking about the Homes not Hospitals Campaign which is a response to issues with the current system that sees too many autistic people and people with learning disabilities detained in hospital Assessment and Treatment Units (ATUs) or restrictive care arrangements and seclusion units.
Campaign activity includes lobbying local councillors and MP’s to raise awareness of the issues and to push for the change that is desperately needed to prevent the abuse of people’s human rights. A suite of resources have been co-produced to promote preventative approaches in terms of commissioning, human rights- based practice and the role of social work and legal literacy to support best social work practice.
Josh spoke about BASW England’s campaign activity and how to get involved, with a focus on the cost-of-living crisis and what BASW England are doing to support social workers through the crisis. Find out more
Liz also joined SWU’s presentation alongside Professor Jermaine Ravalier of Bath Spa University and SWU General Secretary John McGowan’s workshop “How in 2023 do we improve on stress and working conditions for UK social workers?” which discussed how over the past 5 years there has been a distinct change in how social workers undertake their role and the factors that impact on social workers experiences, health and wellbeing in the workplace Find out more