Northern Ireland report - September 2013

The summer holidays are over and it’s time to get back down to business and let you know what we have been up to on your behalf over the summer.

We have continued to make links with other social work organisations including the Northern Ireland Ombudsman Office, The Probation Board for Northern Ireland and the Social Care Institute for Excellence. We have also taken the opportunity to make two bids from the Social Work Strategy Innovation fund and currently await a decision on this. We will bring you details if the bids are successful.

NIASW Student Forum: Siobhan Shaw, our student social work committee member, has been working really hard to set up the NIASW Student Forum. This on-line forum will go live as a pilot via the NIASW website in September and will be available to all student members of NIASW. The forum will be an opportunity for discussion, sharing information, book/journal recommendations, general queries, social work discussion and much more. Please look out for an e-bulletin with details of how to access the forum and share the information with colleagues who may wish to join NIASW and get access to this exciting professional support.

MLA placement: We are busy planning a social work placement for Robin Swann, Member of the Local Assembly (MLA) to the Northern Health and Social Care Trust for 21 August. There will be more details in the next issue of PSW and hopefully lots of interest and coverage in the local press. The scheme offers MLA’s a chance to spend time in a social work office and talk to practitioners about their jobs, both the good and the bad. It is a unique opportunity to help raise the profile of the profession with decision makers and we are offering this to all politicians.

Adult safeguarding conference: NIASW is proud to be partnering with the Northern Ireland Adult Safeguarding Partnership (NIASP) to bring you a conference called Adult safeguarding: Learning the lessons from complex cases in Northern Ireland. This exciting conference will involve keynote speakers, sharing the learning from practice and workshops to develop a practice blueprint. It will take place on Tuesday 26 November, so look out for details in forthcoming e-bulletins and the next issue of PSW on how to book your place.