Ten years of SASW Awards: Proud to be Social Workers!

The song remains the same....................

There were lots of jokes about La La Land and wrong envelopes at this year’s SASW Social Work Awards.

But this was no laughing matter. It was much more than that - a heart warming and joyful celebration of social work in Scotland.

Teams mingled with other teams, nominees mingled with other nominees and the great and the good mingled as they always do - all sharing their experiences and generally letting their hair down.

More importantly, some of the service users who had nominated the workers were there too - sometimes able to celebrate with those who had won or just genuinely awestruck by the occasion.

IFSW President Ruth Stark could barely conceal her self-satisfaction when she told the audience: “I can’t believe it’s 10 years since we started these awards.”

And so she should be. For it was Ruth - then mere Social Worker Manager of BASW Scotland - who started the ball rolling all those years ago in a modest hotel function room in central Edinburgh. I was there and can still remember that freezing January night. There wasn’t much razzmatazz - just a couple of speeches and three awards - but everyone who took part was truly grateful for being recognised. Over the years the awards have grown and become a bit more glamorous. But the essence still remains - a coming together of people who are dedicated to good social work.

This year SASW Manager Trisha Hall was the relaxed host, overcoming technical difficulties, teasing Chief Social Work Adviser Alan Baird about lapsing from BASW and pointing out her own anomaly as an EU national, married to a UK citizen with children brought up in the UK.

Mark McDonald - the Minister with responsibility for social work - was there to hand out the awards, departing from any prepared speech to join in with the mood and trying desperately (and unsuccessfully) to be non-political. Taking a cue from Trisha, he was worried about not only the social and economic implications of Brexit but also the catastrophic impact it would have on the social services workforce.

Elsewhere, Professor Viviene Cree was plugging the centenary of social work at Edinburgh University, Maggie Mellon spoke about social work leadership and John McGowan and Christina Ramage extolled the virtues of the Social Workers Union. There was entertainment too with a moving poem about hope from Ellen Renton and some inspirational songs (including Destiny’s Child) from the Edinburgh Phoenix Soul & Gospel Choir. You could see the audience was struggling not to jump up and wave their hands in the air.

But this event was really about the social workers and the people who use services who were just happy to be there, to finally be recognised and generally have a good time. Many of the winners were gobsmacked to have been chosen and there were some tearful thanks to colleagues, service users and family. But most moving was Social Worker of the Year Ailsa Rainnie, whose ex-social worker Mum was the proudest person in the room.

So while the SASW Awards may not be as all-singing and all-dancing as some of the awards ceremonies around, the spirit of this truly unique event remains the same as it has always been. And we’re all winners because of it.

David Mitchell