The importance of social work in mental health care
Social workers play a key role in helping people who use mental health services to live the life they want.
Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) employs more than 150 social workers, who help patients tackle the wider issues affecting their wellbeing and work with them to support their goals.
The Trust runs two main training routes into employment - the Think Ahead Social Work training programme and social worker apprenticeship.
For World Social Work Day (18 March), student social worker Steve Ritson explains why he decided to join the profession.
He said: “Social work is important to mental health because it involves quite a lot of different areas.
“People may be affected by social isolation, family matters, or drugs or alcohol. They could even be involved with neighbours’ disputes. There are lots and lots of different things that can be affecting their mental health.
“As a social worker, you have to navigate and be a bit of a social detective and help people, and basically you can make a big difference to people’s lives and people do rely on you quite heavily to navigate all those different areas in order to improve their mental health.
Steve was previously a housing officer in Salford and in Ipswich, then managed mental health supported housing projects in Ipswich for around 20 years.
He started the Think Ahead programme in July 2024 at Middlesex University and has been on work placement at EPUT’s community mental health services based at The Gables in Braintree since August.
Steve, who is one of four student social workers at The Gables, said: “I was inspired to join Think Ahead because of the excellent learning opportunities that were available and the opportunities in a work-based setting.”
He said combining the academic and work requirements of the course can be challenging at times, but there is good support from colleagues at EPUT, especially consultant social workers Sara Parsons and Justine Massey, and tutors from Middlesex University.
The students also take part in the multi-disciplinary team meetings, which bring together the health and care professionals involved in the care of patients.
Steve said: “There’s a myth that the job can be very challenging with very little reward. However from my experience and that of my fellow three students, we feel there are a lot of rewards, we can help people make some changes, and make a big difference to people’s lives on a daily basis.”
Think Ahead is a two-year training programme which combines academic learning with on-the-job experience. Students will be paid to train and work towards a postgraduate diploma and master’s degree in social work, which is fully paid for.
More information can be found on the Think Ahead website.