New awards, initiatives to strengthen social service sector
A new series of sector awards has been launched to recognise a wide range of professions, alongside new initiatives to strengthen the social sector through skills training and career development.
At the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) Social Service Tribe Forum, Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli launched The Year of Celebrating Social Service Professionals.
He shared the need to reimagine and reinvent how the sector and its services are structured, as well as the need for increased support for social service professionals.
New awards include the President’s Award for Social Service Professionals, the highest accolade for the sector. Other awards include the Excellence and Merit Awards for individuals. These awards will be presented in late 2025, with nomination details coming soon.
Over 20,000 sector professionals work tirelessly to uplift and empower families and communities, each with their own unique background.
One of them is 28-year-old Phua Jia Jun, an occupational therapist at AWWA and a national frisbee player.
She joined the social sector to support underserved communities and because of the numerous opportunities for growth.
“The sector is incredibly diverse! There are hundreds of social service agencies, each offering multiple services with multidisciplinary teams made up of professionals from various backgrounds.”
Despite juggling her two roles, she shares that she is fortunate to have support from her colleagues and company, from leave for competitions to even having them present at her matches cheering her on.
For some, the passion starts young, as is the case for 28-year-old social worker Daniel Lopez, who started volunteering with his parents at a young age.
He works at a family service centre managing complex cases of domestic violence, including men who use violence, an area he sees as under-invested in Singapore's social work space.
Mr Lopez describes meeting dedicated individuals and seeing clients and families progress to a better level of functioning and independence as a gift.
“Cases where the client shows the humility to change affirm the importance of evidence-based effective interventions in this sector.”
For 33-year-old Naomi Toh, the transition from the corporate world to community work stemmed from a desire to do more human-centered work in the social service sector.
The team lead at Samaritans of Singapore stressed the importance of staying grounded, given the amount of pain and suffering one encounters in this field.
“Intrinsic motivation like our values, faith, spirituality, and desire to do good can help ground us, but in the long run, there needs to be constant renewal of our minds to avoid burnout.”
She also shared the importance of taking breaks, being compassionate to one another, taking time to recognize growth, and supporting each other.
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