Mental Health Social Worker of the Year 2022

Tara Mitchell made a big impression on the perinatal mental health service as a student, described by her now manager as ‘exuding confidence’ rarely seen at that level of experience. When a role became available five years later, Tara was recruited to the team.  

The first social worker in the service, Tara was responsible for safeguarding supervision. She was also instrumental in helping to set up innovative posts, such as a partner peer support role, as well as the recruitment of a further three social workers. Within two years Tara was promoted to clinical team manager of the community team and is valued by her staff as an ‘incredibly supportive’ leader who makes their wellbeing a ‘top priority’. This was further reflected in her team’s very low sickness rates during the pandemic.  

One notable achievement is Tara’s work in 2018 setting up a support group for older siblings, the first of its kind in perinatal mental health services. One of the children won the ‘Radio Aire Young Carer of the Year Award’ and Tara has also spoken about the impact of the group at a national level, encouraging other services to set up something similar.  

Tara is widely regarded as a practitioner dedicated to perinatal mental health who always brings out the best in her team, and who is consistently changing lives for the better.  

Supported by S12 Solutions.