Employee Spotlight: Solomon Boateng, an Amazing Social Worker

A beautiful story. Kicking off our first instalment in our ‘Employee Spotlight’ series, we chatted with Children’s Social Worker, Solomon Boateng.

Having worked for the council for only a year and a half, Solomon was nominated for the 2023 Amazing Social Worker Award of the Year. In his supporting statement, he was described as ‘a kind and genuine Social Worker’, with ‘an ability to remain calm and steady’ which ‘has such a positive impact on the children and families he supports.’ We spoke to him and uncovered some valuable insight into life as a Social Worker. Solomon also revealed an inspiring story about how he found his true vocation. His compassionate nature and caring instinct lead to a dramatic career change from Bank Manager to Children’s Social Worker…

So, Solomon, tell me a little bit about how you got into social work in the first place. How did that start? What made you think that’s something that you want to go into?

It’s an interesting story because my working background was in the banking sector, where I was a manager at Santander at the time. I was supporting a team member who was struggling with mental health, with an occupational health referral. We managed to drastically reduce her absence, and her mental health improved. It was then that people around me started to say, ‘you’re in the wrong job — you should be a social worker!’

So, from then on, I had that thought at the back of my mind and I said to myself, ‘All right, if I’m able to support this particular person without any formal training and achieve this outcome for her, then with formal training, I may be able to support a whole lot more people!’

That’s what brought me into social work. Initially, I was very anxious to transition because I knew my degree was in a different field altogether, but I had to take the risk of going to university again to gain a master’s in social work.

Well done for taking that risk, that’s truly inspiring and amazing. So why did you choose to work in the Help and Protection team?

It was where I was placed originally, but then I didn’t have any preference, to begin with, so long as I would be working on the front line with children. I’m glad I was placed there because, even though it’s a pressured environment, there’s great satisfaction in helping families on the front line. I believe that with the right kind of approach, the right attitude, showing people respect, and keeping to your promises, even the challenging families work well with you in supporting them to achieve their end goal. So, they engage very well and ‘own their own destiny’, I would say. It gives them a sort of satisfaction to know that they’ve been able to make a difference in their own lives.

You mentioned that the most rewarding thing for you is being able to empower families and young people. Would you say that that’s really at the core of the work that children’s services do?

Yes, I would say so, because we work with vulnerable people, and for them to have that empowerment, to know that they are able to make positive changes to their own lives, I think that that is the bottom line of what we do and the outcome that I always look out for.

When we last spoke, you mentioned that ‘the team feels like a family’. Presumably, if somebody new was joining, they would have that kind of supportive atmosphere and management.

Yes, that’s right, because that was how I felt in the cohort that I was in at the time. I could approach anybody at any time without thinking twice. I felt a part of the family and that whenever I or someone else needed help, there was always someone there to support us. I’ve also given back to the academy by providing shadowing opportunities for the new recruits, where they had the opportunity to ask questions. There was one instance with a core group meeting, for which I invited some of the new cohort too, where it was a new case, even for me. That was the first time I didn’t have much information about the case. I chose to take them along to that anyway because that is something they will also experience down the line. They could ask questions to clarify things to give them a better understanding. It was ‘reflection in action’, which they were very pleased about. I had very good feedback from the practice educators too.

That leads nicely on to the award nomination. How did you feel when you received that? You must have been very proud?

I was very surprised because I never saw that coming! And I was away on annual leave so the email was waiting in my inbox! So, on my first day back I was like… ‘Ooh. Am I dreaming or what?’ It was amazing to be recognised in such a way. I never expected it — it made me feel proud.

It’s fantastic to see the hard work being recognised by the wider team! So, do you have any aspirations for what you might do in the future, and will you be looking into development opportunities for you to achieve them?

Yes, I want to continue to progress within the team, and when I pass my two-year stage, I would like to go back into training as a Practice Educator because I feel that I will be able to formally help and develop others.