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, social worker Tim Gray celebrates his colleague, Natesha Yanguba, with whom he co-leads Croydon Council's assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) scheme.
He particularly recalls a time when she had to step up and support him and the service while he was away, coping with bereavement.
I would like to nominate my colleague Natesha Yanguba.
Natesha came to our Croydon Council as a student, stayed for her assessed and supported year in employement (ASYE), and has worked her way up to an advanced social worker post, now co-leading on our ASYE scheme.
During a period of considerable personal challenge due to bereavements, she supported both me and our service when I was absent. She worked tirelessly and selflessly to ensure others (including me) were supported to continue with their social work journey.
Natesha has spent the last few years working on our ASYE scheme, helping to inspire and shape the social workers of tomorrow, and helping us earn a Skills for Care endorsement – emphasising the importance of authenticity, best practice and legal literacy, amongst other things.
She has helped people become confident and competent social workers, but also reflective practitioners prepared to challenge their own pre-conceptions and seek social justice for the people they support.
Her work on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and co-production have added value to both our ASYE scheme and our work as a department. I know our directors have valued her contribution.
Her enthusiasm and positivity seem boundless. Without her support, energy and friendly challenge I very likely would have left my role by now.
I suspect the same is true for many of her newly qualified social workers. Those who have long since finished their ASYE still seek her out for an informal word of advice or support.
In short, she is an inspiration.
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 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.
