PSW Wolverhampton

Principal Social Worker - City of Wolverhampton Council

[Dr. Jessica Taylor @DrJessTaylor]

Just a thought but maybe the reason so many psychiatrists say that they find inpatient psychiatric facilities and wards so difficult to work in, and so complex/dangerous is because of the environment and system itself.

In front line work, I’ve worked with people in utter crisis. I’ve talked people down from ending their lives many times. I’ve called the ambulance whilst someone deeply injured themselves after they were raped. I’ve talked for hours with someone who believes the FBI lives in their walls and their TV is spying on them. I’ve been the person who called emergency services whilst the person attempted to kill themselves. I’ve been 1:1 in a room with a guy whilst he graphically described how he stabbed his ex wife. I’ve been coaxed into a room by a sex offender who had joked about raping me moments before. I’ve sat with a girl who became extremely distressed after ECT, because she couldn’t remember where she was. I’ve calmed a woman down who was screaming at me because she thought I had called the police on her, when in fact, they had traced her phone after she made a bomb threat.

Not once have I felt the need to restrain them, inject them, sedate them or lock them up.

Were all those situations frightening? Of course, I’m only human. Were those people in crisis? Absolutely.

However, none of them were locked in a ward, being medicated, being restrained, being cornered, being isolated, being locked away, being forcibly injected. All of these situations I describe occurred in third sector and local authority settings - where we have absolutely no power to medicate, restrain or lock anyone up.

All we have is our people skills. Thousands of professionals and volunteers work in these settings every day.

I hear psychiatrists on this platform all the time say, ‘you wouldn’t last five minutes with actual patients’ - because for some reason, they believe that their wards are the only places that people in total crisis are found.

They don’t realise that our soup kitchens are filled with people in crisis, our homeless shelters, our rape centres, our child abuse charities, our youth work, our prisons, our police stations, our schools, our PRUs - are filled with children and adults in utter turmoil, displaying violent, aggressive, confused, scared, traumatised, self-harming and suicidal behaviours and thoughts.

Do they think that only they work with humans in crisis? That only those sectioned and in hospital are truly struggling?

And how does the secure hospital environment contribute to the feelings, thoughts and behaviours of someone in crisis?

Maybe those wards and departments are chaos because if you put 20 people in trauma and crisis in a ward where they can’t even have privacy and safety from each other (or staff), whilst they are gaslit, and medicated - maybe, just maybe, it makes them feel worse.

Maybe it scares them to death. Maybe they have nightmares. Maybe they think their families hate them. Maybe they think they’ve gone crazy. Maybe they think they will lose their jobs or their kids now they’ve been sectioned. Maybe they worry they’ll never be ok again. Maybe being pinned down and forcibly injected with a tranquilliser is one of the worst things that ever happened to them - and they know that if they spiral again, it will happen again.

We’ve created such inhumane responses to human suffering, no wonder psychiatrists speak of their work in the ways they do - but make no mistake, this is not because they are simply working with ‘the most mentally disordered patients’ - it’s because they’ve created a punitive environment to put traumatised humans in, and then when they don’t adjust to that terrifying and unfamiliar environment, they diagnose them with further mental disorders and start forcing them to take more medications.

[Wolves Council @WolvesCouncil]

Services for children and families in Wolverhampton 'remain a high priority', and 'aspirational plans are in place’ to improve them further says @OfstedNews following a recent focused inspection. Full story 👉 https://t.co/AxBMOPkDca

[PSW Wolverhampton @SocialworkWolvs]

Amazing to see so many of our amazing social workers in Wolverhampton recognised for the fantastic work they do #BeTheSocialWorkerYouWantToBe

[Wolves Council @WolvesCouncil]

👏 👏 👏 Congratulations to all our colleagues who have been named #AmazingSocialWorkers by the British Association of Social Workers @BASW_UK! 👉 Full story https://t.co/dsy4jVOo8q

[Wolves Council @WolvesCouncil]

👏 👏 👏 Congratulations to all our colleagues who have been named #AmazingSocialWorkers by the British Association of Social Workers @BASW_UK! 👉 Full story https://t.co/dsy4jVOo8q

[Lyn Romeo @LynRomeo_CSW]

Please have a look and consider applying !
Chief Social Worker for Adults - Civil Service Jobs - https://t.co/K8qL89QIQQ https://t.co/tinaxfP7Ww

[PSW Wolverhampton @SocialworkWolvs]

Such an amazing session with @SingleDadSW helping us to think more about food and fuel insecurity - we will be peeling back that wallpaper! #WSWD2024

[Dominic @SingleDadSW Watters @SingleDadSW]

Tomorrow is #WSWD2024 and @SocialworkWolvs has taken the brave step to get someone actually living in council estate poverty to talk about the gaps in SW frameworks & the possibilities for transformative change

[COMPASSevents @COMPASSeventsUK]

⭐Coming up next: The Engage Model: How to effectively engage perpetrators of domestic abuse with @mycwacharity.⭐

📍Room Discover
⏰1.10

[Laura Carter @LCarter0212]

A really fantastic event, thank you @JasonHSchaub @dr_dora_jandric and everyone involved. So much to take away 🌈 @SocialworkWolvs

[PSW Wolverhampton @SocialworkWolvs]

Such a fantastic session planned with @SingleDadSW this world social work day in Wolverhampton on such an important and impactful subject @LCarter0212

[Dominic @SingleDadSW Watters @SingleDadSW]

This World Social Work Day I will be discussing how social work can be a vehicle for transformative change through co-design, developing an understanding of the living experience of poverty and food insecurity in our practice at WolverhamptonCouncil #WSWD2024 @SocialworkWolvs

[#socialcarefuture @socfuture]

Watch this @RachelKelso12 joined us at our Oct gathering at her own initiative. Hear how she connects with the people she supports but is massively constrained by a system that just has to change. It’s one reason we are calling for changes to commissioning & better support models

[LOASCA @LOASCA_LGBTQ]

Calling practitioners, senior professional leaders and policy makers dedicated to fostering understanding and awareness of the LGBTQ+ community - we have spaces left for our LGBT History Month Conference on 23rd Februray. Register via link: https://t.co/gLtYjQYTn6
@JasonHSchaub

[PSW Wolverhampton @SocialworkWolvs]

"Social work is truly transformative" - final inspiring post from our Chief Social Worker 👇

[Lyn Romeo @LynRomeo_CSW]

This is it ! do have a read of my final post @AdultPSWNetwork @BASW_UK @skillsforcare @1adass
https://t.co/yx3N1eVoAt

[PSW Wolverhampton @SocialworkWolvs]

@LCarter0212

[Donald Forrester @DonaldForr]

I am excited this book is coming out in March. I hope it will be useful to practitioners, students & academics as a different way of thinking about social work.

You can preorder here:
https://t.co/6LCP5uxCuE

[Laura Carter @LCarter0212]

Absolutely brilliant morning at @SocialWorkUoB, with @Dee_on1980 sharing what we have on offer for Newly Qualified Social Workers completing their ASYE at @WolvesCouncil

Fantastic engagement and feedback from the students. Can’t wait to see you soon!
@SocialworkWolvs

[COMPASSevents @COMPASSeventsUK]

👥 Get ready to meet the exhibitors at the Compass Jobs Fair, Birmingham 18 March!

Don't miss the chance to engage with employers in social work and social care, and explore a variety of career opportunities.

Sign up for your free ticket 🔗 https://t.co/OKJBeJUVe1 @BASW_UK

[Department of Health and Social Care @DHSCgovuk]

Care workers are the heartbeat of our social care sector. That's why we've announced measures, including a new qualification, to recognise care work as a skilled profession.

Care Minister @helen_whately met staff and residents at Peartree Care Home to see how this will help.

[Neil Crowther @neilmcrowther]

Our wellbeing comes from leading a life from which we gain belonging and a sense of purpose. The role of social care should be to help us to live that life. So we asked people what life that would like to lead if the right support was available. #IWouldLoveTo #SocialCareFuture

[#socialcarefuture @socfuture]

What you would love to do if the right support were available? #IWouldLoveTo

[Wolves Council @WolvesCouncil]

Wolverhampton has won the honour of hosting the knockout stages and final of the men’s and women’s Kabaddi World Cup in March 2025.

Cllr Bhupinder Gakhal, Cabinet Member for Visitor City shares more in this video and further details are at https://t.co/aRMnsZTlwi