Social Work Professional Support Service (SWPSS)

SWPSS is a free peer-to-peer coaching service in which trained volunteer coaches are able to support colleagues across the profession. It is designed to be a safe, confidential and independent coaching space for social workers and students at all levels in their career.

Supporting you 

Designed to support wellbeing and address practice concerns, this peer-to-peer service will offer a space for: 

• Listening to explore experiences, issues and emotions that have arisen during practice 
• Reflection to help explore behaviours and beliefs 
• Resourcefulness in thinking about best practice guidance, career development and working with other organisations, agencies, and frameworks 

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, BASW launched its ‘Voices of social workers through Covid-19’ survey in March 2020, which identified areas in which social workers were struggling and seeking support. As a result of this, BASW made the decision to launch a peer-to-peer support service (SWPSS) to provide its members with an opportunity to support each other through the crisis and beyond. The service has continued to evolve in line with the needs of social workers across the UK.

Go to the bottom of this page and follow the link for support for the country you reside in.

You will complete a simple online form, in which you will be asked for some basic contact details to enable us to set you up on our secure platform.

Once we’ve set you up, you will 

• Login
  • You will receive an email from the team with your login details and instructions on how to access the service. 
• Find a coach to suit you
  • Once logged in, you will then be free to browse the register of volunteer coaches. From here you can find out more about the coaches, including location and specialism, to aid you in choosing who you think would suit you best.
• Select an appointment
  • Once you have chosen a coach, you will be able to select an appointment that is convenient for you. Coaching sessions are 1 hour long. Please note that while the service is nominally available from 8am-8pm throughout the week, each coach has determined their own appointment slots as volunteers, and as such do not offer 12 hour coverage every day (for example, they may have nominated just one appointment on a given day).
• Receive your booking link
  • Once you have booked a session, you will be emailed with further information and instructions on how to join your session using the Microsoft Teams video conferencing system.

Coachees are offered up to three coaching sessions and then asked to take a short break of three months before accessing the service for another series of sessions.

The professional relationship between the Social Work Professional Support Service volunteer coach and coachee is based on confidentiality. This means that anything discussed between them when they are in the coaching relationship is private and the volunteer coach will not repeat any conversations to other people. There are certain exceptions to this, and it is important that these are recognised and agreed at the start of the relationship

• If both partners agree that, if necessary, the volunteer coach can speak to someone else about an issue or problem, they will agree who the volunteer coach will speak to. This might be their supervisor, a BASW representative, or other appropriately designated person.
• If the volunteer coach believes there is a risk of harm to any person, based on something that the coachee has said, or that a concerning practice issue has come up, the Volunteer coach will be obliged to report the issue to their supervisor and/or other appropriate persons. This will be discussed with the coachee.

Volunteer coaches will ensure that conversations with coachees cannot be overhead by others, such as others in the household where the volunteer coach lives or in open-plan offices. A record will be kept of some basic details of the coaching conversations to allow for quality assurance and safeguarding. It is the responsibility of the volunteer coach to ensure that any records are kept securely in line with GDPR regulations and BASW guidance. A coachee can, at any time, request a copy of the information held about them.

BASW are committed to responsible data management and subscribe to the principals of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in the United Kingdom. Emails and listing information processed through the Professional Support Service are stored within a BASW server and are subject to BASW’s Data Protection and privacy policies. Your data will be used only for participation in the PSS and will not be used for any other purpose without your express knowledge and consent.

There are several options available for BASW members. The Advice and Representation service is a team of qualified social workers, offering professional and regulatory help. In June 2020, BASW published the ‘Social worker wellbeing and good practice toolkit'. There are also a range of supports available delivered through the four nations; BASW Cymru, BASW England, BASW Northern Ireland, and SASW.

If you have any problems with the Social Work Professional Support Service website, such as forgotten login details or difficulties with forms, downloads, calendars or the general system, you can alert us to this by emailing SWPSS.  A member of staff will then work on whatever issue you are having, allowing you to return to the service as quickly as possible.

Make a complaint or pay a compliment about the Social Work Professional Support Service. You will then be contacted by BASW to follow up.

You can contact the Social Work Professional Support Service by emailing: supportservices@basw.co.uk