Tom’s story

Writing for our 10 year anniversary series, Tom shares his passion for developing the next generation of social workers.

I loved being a social worker in child protection; I think it helped me to grow as a person. It made me realise how strong our tendency is to try and fix other people’s problems.

Being able to be present with people in their problems, pain and stories, enables the development of trusting relationships and, from this, meaningful and collaborative social work.

You know you are doing good social work when you are learning from your service users, not just about them.

Being a listening ear

As a practice specialist, overseeing training placements, I work with many people to ensure trainees are having the best possible placement learning experience.

We know that everyone is doing their best in difficult circumstances in social work, and we work together to help trainees keep moving forward in their learning and development.

The strength of working with our Lived Experience Partners

One of things that I’ve really loved about Think Ahead is how closely we work with our Lived Experience Partners – it’s just such a strength of the organisation.

I’ve seen it more and more invested into and I know the trainees take a lot of learning and inspiration from their involvement in many areas of the programme, as does everyone at Think Ahead.

Training to be a social worker is a challeneing journey where people learn a lot about themselves as well as learning a lot about the job.

And the joy of inspiring students

The joy I get from this role is being inspired by, and in awe of, the achievements (great and small) of our trainees.

Training to be a social worker is a challenging journey, on which people learn a lot about themselves as well as learning a lot about the job.

I also love working with my team and everyone else involved in the programme, in a community of people with shared values and passion for promoting mental health and social work.

Tom is one of our Practice Specialists, our team of in-house social workers.

To mark our ten year anniversary, we’re sharing personal testimonies from people involved with our charity.  From mental health practitioners like Tom, to trainees of ours, people with lived experience of mental health services, and our NHS and social care partners. 

Read more of these on our stories page.