Social Workers in Adult Mental Health (SWAMH) Special Interest Group

Who we are? 

Social Workers in Adult Mental Health (SWAMH). SWAMH is a Special Interest Group (SIG) within the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW).  

Vision Statement 

Our vision is to promote the highest possible standards for mental health social work practice in Ireland, contribute to national mental health policy and to advocate for improved mental health service provision.   

Mission Statement 

SWAMH aims to support colleagues, advocate for our profession and service users, promote best practice in the interest of service users through CPD events, sharing information and contributing to national mental health policy and developments. 

Objectives 

• To promote continuous professional development and quality practice in the specialist area of adult mental health social work 
• To provide a national level forum for members to share information, to be informed and to be proactive in the pursuit of best practice 
• To be a voice for the Mental Health client group  
• To provide Social Workers in Adult Mental Health with an effective and representative voice within the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) on all matters concerning them and to assist the IASW in formulating policy on mental health services 
• To contribute to the IASW AGM by way of motions and debate 
• To nominate delegates to a wide range of statutory and voluntary organisations 

Committee Members 2022/2023 

Linda Curran (Chair) 

James Halpenny (Secretary) 

Frank Browne 

John Cowman 

Kerry Cuskelly 

Elaine Donnelly 

Maria Egan 

Paul Guckian 

Jim Lane 

Sinead McKenna 

Nisarg Nagwadia 

How often meetings take place 

We have 5 – 6 meetings per year 

Current Activities/Plans/Projects 

We are currently working on a survey about the housing needs of our clients. Our aim is to understand and capture information into current practices by Mental Health Social Workers engaged with clients with a broad range of housing needs. Data from this survey will help us to advocate in a broader way, and it will also inform a collective position on mental health social work and housing needs.  The survey, which takes between 8- 10 minutes, and can be accessed on this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SPQJF8X. 

The next SWAMH conference will take place on Friday 25th November 2022. 

How to join 

You can sign up at any of our events, by contacting the IASW office administrator@iasw.ie or by contacting the SWAMH Chair and secretary.