Inside The Social Work Collective Academy: Your First-Year Support System
- Vicki Shevlin
- Aug 13
- 2 min read
Starting your social work career is exciting — but it can also be overwhelming. Even with a social work degree or placement experience, many new social workers find themselves stepping into practice with gaps in their knowledge, uncertainty in their skills, and a lack of practical tools to navigate the real-life demands of the job.
That’s exactly why I created The Social Work Collective Academy — and why I want to take you behind the scenes today.
Why I Started the Academy
After years of delivering training online and connecting with newly qualified social workers, I saw a consistent pattern:
Important practical skills were missing from early career training.
Many felt they couldn’t ask questions because they “should already know.”
Confidence was being knocked by mistakes that could have been avoided with the right guidance.
With my background in children’s services — from duty and assessment to child protection conference chairing — I decided to create a space where new social workers could get short, accessible, and practice-based training they could apply immediately.
What’s Inside the Learning Hub
The Learning Hub is the online heart of the Academy. It’s filled with:
Video masterclasses on core skills like assessments, child protection processes, and home visits.
Guides and templates to help you manage meetings, plan visits, and structure your work.
Confidence in Practice — a 12-week program with meditations, podcasts, and resources to ground you in your first year.
Every resource is designed to be short, clear, and directly connected to practice — so you can watch a 10-minute video at lunch and put it into action that afternoon.
Who It’s For
The Academy is for:
Newly qualified social workers starting their ASYE
Students and apprentices preparing for placement
Practice educators and managers supporting early career colleagues
If you’re committed to making a difference in children’s and families’ lives, want to feel grounded in your decisions, and value calm, confident practice — you’ll find the tools you need here.
How to Join
Membership is just £19.99/month, with immediate access to the Learning Hub. You can stay for as long as you need and cancel anytime.
Joining now means you can start building your skills before you hit the ground running — reducing that first-year overwhelm and increasing your confidence from day one.
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