Photo: Ellica/Fotolia
For many social work students this is the week they start their courses. Or, if my experience of university is to anything to go by, it is the week they begin small talk with new flatmates before the work begins.
A wide variety of students, mature and young, doing a masters or an undergrad, are taking their first forays into the social work profession.
To support social work students, or possibly warn them, existing practitioners used the hashtag #swfreshers16 to pass on advice to those beginning their long journey into social work.
Here are some of the responses:
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 
Hampshire County Council 
Lincolnshire County Council 
Norfolk County Council 
Northamptonshire Children’s Trust 
South Gloucestershire Council 
Wiltshire Council 
Wokingham Borough Council 
Children and young people with SEND are ‘valued and prioritised’ in Wiltshire, find inspectors 
How specialist refugee teams benefit young people and social workers 
Podcast: returning to social work after becoming a first-time parent 
Podcast: would you work for an inadequate-rated service? 
Family help: one local authority’s experience of the model 
‘We are all one big family’: how one council has built a culture of support 
Workforce Insights – showcasing a selection of the sector’s top recruiters 
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LinkedIn
Instagram
Remember why we do the job in the first place. At the end of each day, find something that went well, no matter how small and hold onto it. This was advice given to me as a young support worker in a NHS unit and it has got me through some awful days.
Inspirational life-coaching advice all good for now but won’t sustain for long. Being research minded and considering the evidence base for all interventions will offer credibility in studies and future practice. The skill of social work isn’t what you know, it’s how you know what you know.
Got on for a last minute interview on Monday. Any help with what may come up on the written test