Child Friendly Warwickshire

Guy Blacklock has been nominated for the Newly Qualified Social Worker of the Year 2021. The nomination is from the Social Work Awards – an awards ceremony recognising the hard work and positive impact that social workers have on the lives of vulnerable children, families and adults.

Guy is one of the many social workers at the council who approach everything with passion and purpose. He specialises in Adult Mental Health and only recently moved over to the Children and Families Service at the council to support parents and carers with their mental health needs.

Guy is now part of the Warwickshire Family Safeguarding Team – a new partnership approach offering better support for families facing issues of domestic abuse, substance misuse and adult mental health. Guy specialises in mental health and works with parents who have mental health issues like high levels of anxiety. He also works with other social workers to train and upskill them so that they better understand mental health and how it affects the families they are working with.

Prior to his work in Warwickshire, Guy worked in Coventry City Council’s Leaving Care Team as an advisor. It was in this role that he took part in research that clearly identified that understanding the mental health needs of young people and families is crucial when working with them.

It was his peers at Coventry City Council who suggested he should consider becoming a social worker so that is exactly what he did. Guy joined a two-year social work master’s programme through Think Ahead with on-the-job training and his placement so happened to be in Warwickshire. He joined in September 2019 and graduated a year later.

Cllr Jeff Morgan, Portfolio Holder for Children and Families said: “Guy has been nominated for this award because of the time and effort he dedicates to families and the way he builds strong and lasting relationships with them to support parents and carers with their mental health needs. Guy has been able to effectively apply his academic learning into practice and he has made a big contribution to the learning of those around him, supporting other social workers with his knowledge and insight.

“We strive for Warwickshire to be the best it can be, offering a great place for children and young people to live, learn and grow. Guy is just one example of someone making a huge difference to the lives of families across the county. I am proud that one of our Warwickshire social workers has been nominated for an award.”

Guy Blacklock added: “Being nominated for this award is a great opportunity to put mental health on the map. There has been a lot of focus on mental health throughout the pandemic, but perhaps less focus on serious and chronic mental health issues. I hope that being a mental health social worker nominated for this award will hopefully highlight this issue.”

“I am really passionate about working in a creative way to help give families a higher quality of life. It’s an honour just to be nominated for this award so I’d be extremely happy to win.”

If you want to be a part of creating a child friendly county where every child has a brighter future, and everyone cares, find out more about working in Children’s Services at Warwickshire: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/workforus.

The Social Work Awards ceremony is being held on Wednesday 17th November, for more information visit https://www.socialworkawards.com/.