For this year’s World Social Work Day on Tuesday 20 March, the Division of Social Work at Brunel University London was delighted to host our alumna, Marcella Phelan who spoke about Innovating Social Work in Hard Times.
Marcella is Assistant Director of Children’s Services in Ealing, West London. A former Brunel Graduate with a BSc in Government, Politics and Modern History and CQSW and an MA from Brunel in Public and Social Administration. Marcella has worked in Ealing Children’s Services for almost 20 years and recently received an MBE in the New Year’s Honours 2018 for Services to Young People. Marcella’s lecture described the innovative ways through which Ealing council managed to improve standards of its services to children and their families despite growing budget constraints and increasing demand. You can listen to the lecture and the Q&A that followed here: Innovating Social Work in Hard Times by Marcella Phelan.
Talking about her experiences at Brunel Marcella commented:
Brunel holds such great memories for me and I still value the lifelong learning opportunities it gave me that set me up so well for my long career.
We were also very happy to receive (on World Social Work Day) an email from a more recent alumna which we share with you here:
Dear Social Work Team Members,
As a newly qualified social worker I would like to wish a very happy World Social Work Day to all social workers (my teachers, mentors and significant others) from the Social Work Division at Brunel University London.
In honour of World Social Work Day, I take this opportunity to thank all of you for being great mentors, role models and for guiding me how to respectfully assist others. I highly appreciate your effort in developing my academic skills, values, beliefs and attitudes and building my confidence to advocate for a fairer social, economic and environmental future. I express my most sincere gratitude and I wish you all the success in your professional and personal lives.
Since November 2017 I thoroughly enjoy working for Essex County Council in a very dynamic Working Age Adults Team as well as an empowering ASYE programme.
Thank you for a great time at Brunel, your kind support and comprehensive training as part of my journey into the social work profession.
Find out more about our Social Work MA programme.