Northern Ireland’s social workers honoured at 2016 awards ceremony
Northern Ireland’s social workers have been honoured at the 2016 Social Work Awards ceremony in Armagh this week.
Hosted for the first time by the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, the Awards celebrated the contribution of service users and highlighted the rich and diverse range of people social workers work alongside.
A record number of 93 applications were received from social work teams and individuals from all across Northern Ireland. Over 5,300 social workers currently practice in the province, and social work teams and individuals were nominated from across NI with 24 shortlisted as finalists.
The nine award categories and their winners are:-
- Children’s Services (Team Award)
Specialist Fostering Team, Northern Health and Social Care Trust - Adult Services (Team Award)
Dementia Home Support Team, Northern Health and Social Care Trust - Partnership (Team Award)
Regional Adult Safeguarding Programme, Belfast, South Eastern, Northern Health and Social Care Trusts and University of Ulster - Learning and Development (Individual Award)
Jane McCullough, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust - Children’s Services (Individual Award)
Geraldine Boyce, Southern Health and Social Care Trust - Adult Services (Individual Award)
Angela Wilson, Southern Health and Social Care Trust - Newly Qualified Social Worker (Individual Award)
Jonathon Dillon, Northern Health and Social Care Trust - Lifetime Achievement Award sponsored by the Northern Ireland Association of Social Workers
Jean O’Neill, Probation Board for Northern Ireland
Fionnuala McAndrew, Director of Social Care and Children at the Health and Social Care Board congratulated the award winners: “The Social Work Awards give us a chance to honour and reward inspirational teams and individuals who make a difference to children, adults, families and communities on a daily basis.
“I feel honoured to work with so many talented and hardworking social work professionals who often deal with people in sensitive and complex circumstances. I have been consistently impressed by the standard of entries, finalists and winners over past years and was pleased to see the same high calibre of nominations in this year’s awards. Well done to our worthy finalists and winners who today have demonstrated excellent examples of outstanding practice and commitment.”
Led by the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB), the Social Work Awards are organised in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC), the Northern Ireland Association of Social Workers (NIASW), and the five Health and Social Care Trusts in partnership with social work organisations from criminal justice, education and the voluntary and independent sectors.
Pictured – Award winner Jane McCullough with Colum Conway, NISCC.
