'She was let go for advocating for good practice and agains

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career. It is part of Community Care’s ongoing Choose Social Work campaign, which aims to champion the brilliant work social workers do every day and inspire the next generation of practitioners.

In this entry, a social worker celebrates her former colleague, Elena, whom she credits with bringing social workers' "magic" to the forefront of their practice through guidance and support.

In my time as practitioner, I have been so impressed, inspired, protected and advocated for by Elena.

She is a humble, highly qualified social worker, who has the ability to meaningfully communicate with people and make them feel heard, no matter their age or status, whether that be a two-year-old child or an executive director.

This woman is a trooper. She knows social work theory and guidelines by heart and supports learning in practice in a seamlesss way, helping practitioners' 'magic' (as she calls it) come to the forefront of their work.

She is also amazing in a crisis. Her therapy background allows her to employ different tools to analyse and ameliorate a situation with families.

Unfortunately, her passion for social work is often misunderstood for ambition by the wrong leaders.

Recently she was let go for advocating for good practice and an anti-bullying work culture. So I want everyone to know that social work principles exist in this lady. She is magic.

How to nominate a colleague

You can nominate anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form. This could be with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry.*

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