Above title by Swheatie of the KUWG
From Community Care magazine online
‘Why I’m retiring from social work to fight the cuts damaging our service’
After 42 years in social work, Terry Skyrme is stepping down to channel his energies into campaigning. Here, he explains why.
Picture: Design Pics Inc/Rex
by Terry Skyrme, social worker and Approved Mental Health Professional
I have been a qualified social worker since 1972, right at the birth
of the generic social services department. In a few weeks time I will
complete my last shift. I’ve felt driven to retirement. This post aims
to explain why.
For the last five years I’ve worked as a social worker for a mental
health crisis team and as an Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP)
in Norfolk.
When I joined, the team had five social workers. We managed to carve
out the space to do proper social work. We worked at times of crisis
with patients and their families to help resolve social and family
problems. We carried out our duties as AMHPs and had a degree of pride
in our work. We truly felt we were making a difference, protecting
patients’ rights, advocating for their entitlement to services and using
our knowledge of local resources.
I realise now we were lucky. When our mental health trust became a
foundation trust in 2009 things changed. The trust claimed this as a
great achievement. In retrospect, it heralded the beginning of serious
cutbacks....
Continue reading on Community Care website....
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