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, practice support and partner liaison manager Jenny Bartlett celebrates her council's adults' principal social worker, Michelle Horlock, whom she praises for creating an environment where practitioners feel supported and empowered.
I am proud to nominate my colleague and friend, Michelle Horlock, whose career journey has been truly inspirational.
She began as a support worker, then qualified as a social worker, progressed to an approved mental health professional, and now leads with integrity and compassion as our principal social worker.
In her current role, she continually strives for best practice across the service, ensuring that social work values and ethics guide every decision and are embedded in all that we do.
Her focus is always on making a positive difference to the lives of the people, families and carers we support, ensuring their voices are heard, respected and placed at the centre of practice.
Her commitment to high standards has fostered an environment where colleagues feel supported and empowered to deliver excellent practice. She leads not only by example, but with warmth and approachability, inspiring others to grow and uphold the values that matter most in our work.
Michelle is both an inspirational social worker and an ethical manager. She truly deserves recognition as a brilliant colleague in social work.
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.
