Social workers form association

A cadre of social workers and allied professionals have decided to pool their resources and experiences to better address issues relating to social work in Belize. Some two hundred individuals have been invited to the inaugural meeting of the Social Work Association of Belize, which is taking place this evening at the Chateau Caribbean Hotel. Founding member Carolyn Gentle says the organisation is open to anyone with an interest in social work.

Carolyn Gentle, Founding Member, Soc. Work Assoc. of Belize

“This evening we’re hoping to form a pro-tem committee. The pro-tem committee will be running for about three months. That would enable us to establish the association as a registered body, be able to get logistics stamp, letterheads, membership I.D.’s and that sort of stuff out. After that three months, we would have another meeting to be able to elect official members, and they would be able to serve on about eight committees. We have communications, elections and different sort of committees, marketing, recruitment, and then work out of those committees and publicise to the community on a whole.

They should expect a wide array of individuals advocating and championing the cause of individuals, families and groups. They might not necessarily be trained social workers, who we’re calling “allied practice”, where they’ve been working in the field, but not necessarily having a degree in that particular area. We also have “allied professionals”, which might include yourself, somebody trained in another field, but interested in working on behalf of kids, families and the communities. Then you have student members from the Social Work Association of Belize, who would actually be able to participate as well. And professionals like myself, who’ve already gotten a degree in social work.”

Guest speaker at the meeting is Henry Gill of the VSO organisation.