The 20^th March 2018 is World Social Work Day #WSWD18, promoting ‘Community and Environmental Sustainability’.

Our residential service at Woodville has chosen to highlight World Social Work Day by reflecting on the importance of self-esteem to encourage a strong sense of community within the service for both staff and young people.  They have used a garden theme to illustrate the growth and sustainability of their community.

Self-esteem is something a lot of people struggle with. Remembering to love yourself can be difficult, which is why in Woodville we have an interactive self-esteem display which is themed around a garden, with the following quotes:

“Your mind is your garden; your thoughts are seeds. You can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds.”

“Woodville’s garden will always grow. We take care of it in sun, rain and snow”

We have all taken the time to write 5 things on our flowers of self-esteem:

• what we are proud of
• what we are good at
• what we think people like about us
• what we like about ourselves
• and what our best feature is

This helps us to remember why we love ourselves. To help each of our self-esteem flowers to stay strong and grow, anonymous sticks with compliments are given and put in the plant pots. This helps each person to remember just how valued they are within Woodville.

Since this display has been up it has been a great success for Woodville as not only are staff members using it, but the young people have engaged in it too and often check their pots for a stick.

It has created a very positive culture in Woodville that has boosted everyone’s self-esteem.