Meet Russell, Senior Social Work Practitioner.
Russell is a Senior Social Work Practitioner with a post grad in Adult Support Protection and has worked at East Lothian Council for 21 years. Russell supervises a team that includes social workers and community care workers. A key part of his role is to support staff development. Russell is a member of UNISON and sits on the Branch Committee as an LGBT+ representative.
Russell takes part in the Office Manager rota which deals with enquiries from the public, clients, carers, professionals and others. He screens and decides the appropriate response to Adult Support and Protection referrals and also responds to crises experienced by clients and/or carers.
Russell is also a Mental Health Officer and works as a Practice Educator, whereby he supports and assesses university students on placement while working towards their Social Work degree. He supervises students on placement from a number of universities and writes reports on student placements on a pass/fail basis.
Russell said: “I like my job as I enjoy working with others and I also enjoy the varied nature of my job. I am always encouraged by the East Lothian Way which is the key organisational values of the council and by management. I enjoy the challenges within my job and I get first rate support from my line manager. There are many new exciting innovations and challenges facing the field of Social Work and I recommend anyone to have look at The Feeley report to find out more.”
