Future social workers celebrate World Social Work Day

“Be curious, improve people’s lives and make things better” – that was the message to future social workers as the University of Chichester celebrated World Social Work Day this week at a special event.

World Social Work Day (17 March) this year highlights the vital role of social work in bringing people together across communities, cultures, and systems to shape a more inclusive and sustainable tomorrow.

Social Work is one of the most rewarding yet demanding careers to pursue, but the future looks bright as current Social Work students from the University of Chichester prepare to graduate later this year. To mark the day, final year students from the BA (Hons) Social Work course at the university shared poster presentations of their work with fellow students and representatives from West Sussex County Council and our Expert By Experience Network.

Caitlin is in her final year studying for a BA (Hons) in Social Work. Her project looks at neurodiversity and how current practices in social work may contribute to the criminalisation of neurodivergent children. Caitlin said: “A high percentage of children in the youth justice system have some degree of neurodiversity. There’s not a great deal of current research in this area, so I am looking at whether social workers protect neurodivergent children enough and if there’s more that could be done to improve this.”

Among other topics on display were the effects of technology on coercive control and how green spaces benefit adolescents’ mental health.

Helen Moss, Co-Academic Lead for Social Work said: “World Social Work Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the achievement of our final year students as they prepare for the next steps in their careers. It is also a chance to recognise the huge contribution that social workers make in empowering and promoting positive change in peoples’ lives, underpinned by principles of human rights and social justice for all in our society.”