Portsmouth paper's positive social work coverage

Under the headline "Unsung heroes get awards for giving up time to help others", Portsmouth paper The News told the story of 22-year-old social work student Aimee Dennis.

Dennis volunteers for three hours a week to Home Start, a charity that helps families. She  began helping as part of her social work degree on a six-month placement but enjoyed it so much she decided to carry on, the paper reports.

At six lines, it is a short mention. And it sits towards the end of the story, following the rather impressive tale of 87-year-old Dot Coley, who has been a volunteer at Age Concern for 21 years.

But it is, nevertheless, valuable coverage. It gives a positive portrayal of social workers, it publicises the crucial fact that social workers are degree qualified and it shows that social workers are real people who do everyday things like volunteering.

This coverage engaged my curiosity, so I did a quick search on The News's website to see how their other social work coverage measured up. I'm pleased to say that "Unsung heroes" was not a one-off.

In the past couple of months the paper has run:

• A day-in-the-life piece about a social worker
• An informative and easy-to-read piece about planned changes to adult care
• A positive piece about foster carers 
• A balanced news story about the pressures of a surge in child protection cases
  
• An interview with Margaret Geary, Portsmouth Counil's strategic director responsible for social care about how the council was learning from the Baby P case

In fact, the list goes on and on. So how has Portsmouth Council managed all this positive coverage? It it likely that Geary's interview is the key: she and the council are clearly open about what they do and are prepared to talk about their successes and challenges. It looks like their approach is paying off.

It is a lesson that more departments and local authorities should heed.

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