Social worker's winning wisdom!

Social workers of the future will need to personify humanity in the face of systemic dehumanisation, according to award-winning postgraduate student Wisdom Mensah.

Wisdom, a MA Social Work student at LJMU, was named joint winner of the Social Work Union annual essay competition with a look into the future of the profession.

It is his thesis that the profession demands a combination of trauma-informed practice, digital literacy, anti-oppressive ethics, legal fluency, and reflective consciousness.

“My essay argues that the future of social work demands professional preparedness and a recalibration of what it means to be human in the face of systemic dehumanisation,” said Wisdom.

He and hundreds of social workers in training were posed the question: What are the most important things social workers should get from their professional training?

He emerged a winner with a prize of £500 and praise from Tina Peterson, executive member of the SWU and one of the judges, who said: “I feel confident and encouraged that the future of social work is in safe hands.”

Wisdom said: “This piece was born from the conviction that social work must reclaim its prophetic edge. In a time of poly-crisis and systemic fracture, I believe our profession must not retreat into bureaucracy but rise as a morally imaginative, intellectually rigorous, and justice-driven force. I am humbled to contribute to this emerging vision.”