Mental Health Social Worker of the Year

People who know Dee professionally come back again and again to the way she puts service users’ needs at the centre of her practice, often succeeding as a result in achieving positive change where other professionals may have struggled. Judges commented on her special ability of “being able to stand by the side of a service user without appearing ‘with power’”.

At times this means confidently challenging fellow practitioners’ actions or interpretations of situations. Dee has been able to do so by virtue of her excellent knowledge of the law, finely tuned cultural awareness and willingness to go the extra mile in order to ascertain important details that others miss.

Dee’s route into social work came via roles in a number of other settings such as women’s refuges, offender rehabilitation and an NHS multi-disciplinary community mental health team. The latter helped hone her keen awareness of the links between socio-economic factors and people’s mental wellbeing.

Her work as part of Birmingham’s dedicated citywide AMHP team has been boosted by her ability to operate autonomously with little supervision. Colleagues praise the relaxed, calm approach that enables her both to engage with clients and to help soothe their families’ anxieties.