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Write for Community Care

We have gathered some tips and guidelines for any social workers who want to write for the website

Photo: AdobeStock/Zerbor

Community Care has always been committed to delivering honest, helpful and relatable content to social workers so they feel supported, represented and heard.  

 

We now want to amplify your voices by publishing more content written by you for you – as no one is more qualified to write about working in social work than a social worker.  

 

So, whether you are a frontline practitioner, at any level, social work manager or student, we want to hear what you have to say.  

 

No previous writing experience is needed; all you need is an idea of what you want to write about, and we can help you from there! 

We are currently commissioning the following types of articles: 

  1. Social Work Diary: this series is about anything regarding your working life. Usually, it will be in the form of a reflection on your role, a significant experience at work or a period of time that had a big impact on you, the people you support or the team you work within. 
  2. Motivational experiences: these should recount an experience or aspect of your working life that has kept you motivated or grateful to work in the profession despite the hardships. This could be, for example: a piece of good practice from you or a colleague;  something that you’ve learned, read or heard about social work that you found inspiring or thought-provoking; a positive experience with a person you support or used to support; a development in your workplace or the profession more widely that has made you feel good about social work. 
  3. Opinion pieces: these should provide a view or argument about a trend or development in social work, for example: government policy, pay deals, current working conditions, how social work is talked about publicly or in the media, equality, diversity and inclusion within the profession or wider issues that have implications for social work.
  4. Case Study series: Have you had any challenging cases from which you’ve learned valuable lessons? We are looking for practitioners willing to write or be interviewed about these experiences to help fellow social workers. Cases must have been completed to take part in this series. For contributors who prefer to write about their experience, these pieces should be 800-1200 words and divided into four sections:
      • What the case was about.
      • The challenges you faced.
      • How you resolved those challenges.
      • What you learned from the case.

Opinion pieces should always be backed by relevant research or experience from your working life.

Proposing an article 

Once you’ve narrowed down what you want to write about, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com. In the subject line, you should include the type of article you want to write and a rough idea of what it’s about – eg ‘Opinion: Banning cake could cause chaos’. 

 

Focus on specific topics, such as the example outlined above or Michael’s piece on social workers sacrificing time with their children for work, rather than broad ideas. If the topic has already been written about by several people, you’ll need to find a new perspective to approach the story from. 

 

If you are linking your article to specific news stories, research or blog posts, please include the links in your email. 

 

We will consider the pitch for your article and get back to you as soon as we can, in one of the following ways: 

  • We accept the idea and would like you to write the piece. We may offer some suggestions about the focus or structure of the piece. 
  • We are interested in the idea but need some further information before making a decision. 
  • We cannot accept the pitch, for example, because we have recently published a piece on a similar topic or we do not feel it will bring sufficient value to readers.  We will always accept further pitches from you in these circumstances. 

We ask that you send us a pitch rather than a finished article in all cases. 

 

Writing your article

  • The articles should be around 600 – 1000 words. 
  • You can write anonymously, under a pseudonym or in your own name. If you are using your own name, please ensure your employer (if applicable) is comfortable with you writing for us. 
  • Please write as simply or creatively as you want. But, as George Orwell said, make sure your writing is as clear as possible and that you are mindful with words – cut out any that can be removed. 
  • Avoid technical words and jargon if you can think of an alternative. 
  • Pay attention to the beginning and end of your article; they should be the strongest parts of the piece. 
  • Use specific examples to back up your viewpoint – based on your working experience or data-driven research. 
  • If you are going to reference an experience with a child or adult you support, or a colleague, please make sure to not include any details that might identify them. 

We welcome considered criticism in relation to sector developments but ask that you refrain from personal or unevidenced attacks. 

 

The editing process 

  • We will edit your piece before publication, to ensure that it fits with our house style and is clear, factually accurate and grammatically correct. 
  • We may ask you questions to clear up any issues during the editing process. 
  • We will always send you the final version of the article before publication.  
  • We will always try to publish your article but there may be cases where this is not possible, in which case we will explain why. 

If you have any questions please email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com 

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