Newly Qualified Adult Social Worker of the Year

Gary’s strong commitment to community-based social work made his application stand out.

Since qualifying in 2016, Gary has used a range of community resources to help people build resilience. This has included taking the time in his lunch breaks to visit the town centre and speak with shopkeepers about opportunities available to service users.

In one case, Gary’s local knowledge enabled him to support a 40-year-old woman with a severe and enduring mental illness to reconnect with her local community. He knew that a local charity was looking for peer support volunteers and after discovering that the woman had undertaken a mentoring course at college, he was successfully able to link her to the service.

The service user described Gary as “very calming” – a sentiment echoed by colleagues in his application. Gary is valued by his team as a “committed and reliable team player” who is mature, motivated and enthusiastic in his approach, and always supportive of others.

The judges were also impressed by Gary’s appointment to a mental health tribunal panel, and his extensive voluntary experience with St John’s Ambulance, a youth offending team, and as a special constable. They credited him as being a “very competent social worker”.