In this episode, Soyeb and Siobhan explore professional identity in social work and ask why social work is so often associated primarily with local authority practice. The conversation challenges narrow ideas of where social work happens and opens up a wider understanding of the profession, its values, and the many settings where social work knowledge and skills can make a difference. It also considers how social workers hold on to their professional identity when the words “social worker” are not part of their job title.

They reflect on the idea that social work can happen anywhere, including less traditional spaces such as veterinary social work, and consider what these examples reveal about the breadth and adaptability of the profession. The episode invites listeners to think beyond job titles and organisational settings, focusing instead on the values, ethics, relationships, and ways of seeing the world that shape social work identity.

The conversation also explores how personal identity shapes professional identity, including how lived experience, values, and a sense of purpose influence the way social workers practice and understand their role. Soyeb and Siobhan reflect on professionalisation, the core values of kindness and social justice, and the political nature of social work, recognising the links between social work practice, power, inequality, and wider social change.

It is an episode about pride, passion, and the importance of recognising social work as more than a role, a workplace, or a statutory function.