Focusing on 'Relationships, Resilience and Recovery'
South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust (SWLSTG) hosted the Sixth Annual Social Work and Mental Health Conference this week.
Speakers included Dr Ruth Allen, SWLSTG Director of Social Work and Chair of the Mental Health Faculty at the College of Social Work; Professor Jill Manthorpe, from Kings College and the Social Care Workforce Research Unit; Dr Sarah Carr, Independent researcher and policy analyst; Lyn Romeo, Chief Social Worker for Adult Services; and Alison Faulkner, a commentator on social work and social policy.
The topic of the conference was ‘Relationships, Resilience and Recovery’ – Why social work matters in mental health and mental health matters across social work.
It brought together social workers working and interested in mental health from across diverse organisations and offered an important regional networking opportunity. It provided an opportunity for social workers across different sectors and specialisms to develop and share practice.
Dr Allen said: “Mental health is becoming increasingly recognised as an issue for all services and this conference focused on that.
“All too often in the past services worked in silos, without working collaboratively. This conference recognised that mental health social workers are beginning to work together, taking a whole family approach.”
The conference held in Tooting, South West London attracted professionals from the NHS alongside others from local authorities and social workers from a variety of voluntary organisations and Prosper, which represents service users across South West London.
June 24, 2014