Chrissie Beatty, a final year BA (Hons) Social Work student from Ö÷²¥ÓÕ»ó, was recently announced as a winner of the Social Workers Union (SWU) World Social Work Day Essay Assignment Competition. The competition invited social work students to write an essay on ‘How social workers can solve austerity’ and received a huge number of excellent entries. Chrissie’s winning essay secured her a well-earned £500 prize.
Chrissie commented on her passion for social work and said: “I entered the essay competition because through placements during my degree, I have seen first-hand how austerity is impacting on service users’ lives, as well as the lives of social workers themselves. The competition provided me with an opportunity to raise awareness of this issue. I have always been passionate about social justice and my learning at Ö÷²¥ÓÕ»ó has strengthened this.
“I was absolutely thrilled to be announced as one of the winners and can’t wait to attend the Social Workers Union Conference in September. I’m looking forward to learning more about how together, we can appropriately challenge the decisions being made which are having devastating consequences for the individuals we, as social workers, are striving to support.â€
John McGowen, General Secretary of SWU said: “I was delighted by the interest shown in this assignment - the ‘Austerity’ topic appears to have stimulated student social workers in submitting entries in a very high number. SWU will continue to campaign on Austerity and it is good to see that future social workers have a deep understanding of the impacts of austerity. The assignment from Chrissie was an excellent standard and well worthy of being a winner.â€
Congratulations to Chrissie. You can read her winning essay on ‘How social workers can solve austerity’