Anastasia Koutsounia

NCTJ-trained with over three years experience in multimedia journalism, features, and editing.

Editing

Articles

Explore some of the features and reports I have commissioned and edited.

Community Care •

The unexpected benefits of working part-time in social work

Having worked part-time (2.5 days a week) for most of my 14-year career in child protection, I have experienced the numerous benefits this work pattern can offer.
My choice was driven by a desire for a better work-life balance and the need to care for my young family.
A Community Care poll in June 2024 with 588 votes revealed that the majority of practitioners (76%) said part-time work was their ideal working pattern.
However, there is a prevailing perception that part-time working is not conduc...
Community Care •

‘Our clients were invisible until our team came into being’: leading a service supporting homeless people

Sara Galvin’s tenacity in supporting and advocating for vulnerable people is admirable.
It is an ethos she has put into practice in running Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust’s (CWPT) mental health homeless pathway service, helping anyone who is homeless or at risk of eviction due to mental illness to access accommodation and therapy.
In 2021, she took on managing the service single-handedly and, last year, her work was recognised with a silver award at the Social Worker of the Year...
Community Care •

Wayne Reid: how George Floyd’s murder inspired social work’s anti-racism ‘visionary’

Our interview with Wayne Reid is part of a series of profiles of key figures who have shaped social work over the past five decades, to mark Community Care’s 50th anniversary. Previous interviewees include Eileen Munro, Herbert Laming, and June Thoburn.
In 2021, Wayne Reid became the first anti-racism visionary at the British Association of Social Workers (BASW). In this role, he spearheaded several initiatives to tackle racism in the profession and provide safe spaces for Black and ethnic minor...
Community Care •

Social work across the decades: the birth of the adults’/children’s divide

This article on social work in the 1980s is the second in a five-part series by Professor Ray Jones for Community Care’s 50th anniversary. Each part will look back at key events from the previous five decades – starting with the 1970s – that have shaped the social work sector today.
The 1970s saw the creation of a unified generic profession of social work and integrated social services within local authorities.

The 1980s was the start of a sea change with – as tracked by Community Care – the be...
Community Care •

‘How admitting I disliked a child helped me grow as a social worker’

These feelings snuck up on me, a slow burner perhaps, but however hard I tried to suppress them, they were real.
Charlie* was a pre-teen living in a residential setting. During our meetings, he would interrupt me, call me a liar and other names and tell me that he didn’t want me there. I felt thoroughly disliked by him. It was painful.
I was so full of good intentions but dreaded my time with him. Initially, I couldn’t bring myself to tell my supervisor – I was sure she would judge me and questi...
Community Care •

‘I wouldn’t be here without them’: the power of workplace friendships in social work

I was about six months into being qualified and a child I thought I had been keeping safe had just run away.
I was tired, emotional and overwhelmed – and the one thing that got me through was friendship.
That day, it was the friends I had made at work who let me cry and helped me with practical tasks.
These friendships have supported me in building the resilience I’ve needed to carry on working in social work for the subsequent 15 years.
We talk about relational practice in the sector, but littl...
Community Care •

‘As a social worker I was made to feel shame for my bipolar diagnosis’

It led to an abrupt end to my social work career with some comebacks during fleeting moments of recovery. But, ultimately, my psychiatrist determined that I was unlikely to reach full recovery if I continued to work as a social worker.
Having bipolar has lots of scary connotations and is often viewed very negatively by society.
I have bipolar II disorder which means that, while I suffer from hypomania – short periods that may include high energy levels, abnormally elevated mood, insomnia and/or...
Community Care •

A social worker’s guilt: when people’s needs outstrip resources

Social work is known for being a demanding profession, requiring a great deal of emotional intelligence. The potential for vicarious trauma from supporting adults in extreme distress was something I was prepared for during the specialist mental health social work training scheme I undertook.
What I felt ill-prepared for was the unspoken need to balance the needs of the adults I support with those of the under-resourced organisation that employs me, which have frequently clashed.
I found myself c...
Community Care •

‘We must stop blaming mothers in child protection social work’

by Vicki Shevlin
When I started in social work, I thought I would be prepared to manage the misogyny embedded in practice. But when it came to working with mothers who were victims of domestic abuse, I found myself developing habits that amounted to poor practice.
Without realising it, influenced by others on my team, I began focusing all my initial contact on mothers. I was arranging home visits based on when they were at home with their children, relying on them to share information and give c...

My Brilliant Colleague

Below you can find some examples of my My Brilliant Colleague series, which asks social workers to write about colleagues who have helped or inspired them in their career.

Community Care •

The social work assistant who became ‘the glue that holds the team together’

For Community Care’s 50th anniversary, our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.
In this entry, Bridgend’s west integrated network team has nominated social work assistant and student, Charlotte, who, over the past five years, has become the “glue that holds them together”.
Charlotte has been with the team for five years, employed as a social work assistant, and is now in the final year of her social work degree.
We would like to high...
Community Care •

‘My first manager taught me the meaning of good supervision’

For Community Care’s 50th anniversary, our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.
In this entry, service manager Michelle Vernon has nominated her first social work manager, Hilary, whose exemplary practice and supervision have influenced her career for over two decades.
Hilary was my first social work manager following my qualification in 2000, and has been a friend and guiding light since.
She was then the manager of a small team at...
Community Care •

‘My colleague made me believe that people can change for the better’

For Community Care’s 50th anniversary, our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.
In this entry, social work assistant Rita Gibson has nominated her colleague, a social worker named Emma Tymon,  for inspiring her to believe that people can change for the better, with the right support and care.
My colleague, Emma, inspired me to believe in rehabilitation.
She often said that good people can sometimes go astray but, with proper care, ev...
Community Care •

‘In memory of Pat, my social work mentor and inspiration’

For Community Care’s 50th anniversary, our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.
Social worker Nicola Silk lost her mentor and friend of 16 years, Pat Curtis, just a couple of weeks ago.
In the following letter, addressed to Pat, Nicola remembers the years she spent beside her colleague and the lives that were touched by her.
Pat,
It was almost 16 years to the day I met you.
Me, a newly qualified social worker at a time without protect...