Helen Wright, Social Work and Health Convener

Helen served as Convener of Social Work from 1995-1999, 2003-2007, and Social Work and Health 2007-2009. Helen had many notable successes and was known for her commitment to improving the quality of life of people and to protecting and enhancing the lives of the most vulnerable. One notable success was the Older People’s Working Group Report. Using her breadth of experience and her reputation for working collaboratively she engaged a diverse range of people and groups in a process to review and change the services that were currently being provided. This could have been the focus of major difficulties but Helen’s excellent ability to bring people together, to focus positively on the issues and to reach consensus resulted in a highly successful report that was embraced and accepted by all concerned including the different political groups, officers of the council and other agencies and, importantly for Helen, the service users. Helen’s experience in other fields such as the Health Board allowed her to see the need for integrating services and to do so by bringing agencies together to make the changes that were necessary for the benefit of the public services generally and for the service users; one example of this was the integration of occupational therapy services in health and social work to create the Independent Living Centre.

The following is a sample taken from the extensive range of work that contributed to the judges decision to declare Helen the winner of the Lifetime Legend Award, Helen's Older People Working Group:

The Foreword of Helen's Older People Working Group Report

1996 social work budget news report.