Social worker self-care – more than a personal responsibility

Kim has worked in the field of occupational health and safety for over 30 years including work in the NHS, police, and retail sectors.  Since the late 90s she has held national roles in trade unions including the GMB, Society of Radiographers and the Royal College of Nursing. 

Her current role is National Officer for Health and Safety at UNISON, the UK’s largest union, serving more than 1.3 million members who provide public services.  

Kim represents UNISON on a number of national health and safety forums and is the staff side chair of the NHS Staff Council’s Health, Safety and Wellbeing Partnership Group.

Kim is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Management.  She has a particular interest in improving the health and safety of women workers and in encouraging women and those from underrepresented groups to take up trade union safety representative roles.    

Kelly has worked in the Trade Union movement for over 20 years, 12 years with public service trade union UNISON. She works in a specialised team in UNISON which provides advice, support and advocacy for UNISON members across a number of regulators including social worker members who are registered with Social Work England (SWE). A Social Worker who is referred or is considering self-referral to the regulator is fully supported by UNISON through what can be a stressful process. From representing social workers Kelly has gained first-hand insight into some of the many pressures they face such as increasing workloads, redundancy, restructures, shared service and outsourcing.

Kelly also work directly with SWE influencing policy and process on behalf of UNISON social worker members. Her enthusiasm for her role derives from empowering working people to take control of their working lives.