The theme for World Social Work Day is Intergenerational Solidarity.
On my first Monday as a Team Manager, I went into the Barracks in Hillsborough to meet the team. The Friday before I had been a social worker. Now I was responsible for a patch of Sheffield and a group of people. I was anxious.
My desk was in a bank of two and on the other side was the Team Manager for the other team in the office. Unlike me, she had been in social care for 40 years.
This woman made it possible for me to learn my craft as a manager without all the mistakes and messes I would otherwise have made. She was an ally, an advisor, a challenger and a sympathiser. She was my social work hero.
This World Social Work Day is about intergenerational solidarity.
We need this in our practice. We need to build relationships across the life-course and strengthen communities. We can be part of creating societies that enable connection and overcome isolation.
But we also need intergenerational solidarity in our working lives.
Someone new to remind us of why we got into social work.
Someone who gets what it is like contending with the way we have to work now.
Someone who has seen change come and go, and has found a way of making a difference.
Someone who can put things in perspective.
Someone who makes us question all our habits.
The World Social Work theme has made me think again about who I connect with in my profession.
How do I gain inspiration and wisdom?
How do I offer hope and insight?