The Deputy Director General of Training and Research (CEJFE), and the Director General of Penitentiary Affairs of the Secretariat of Penal Measures and Victim Attention welcomed the event, and highlighted the work of social workers and their three essential pillars: ‘the self-healing of professionals’, ‘the need for knowledge and recognition of the collective and their work’ and the urgency of ‘asserting themselves’.

They were followed by the head of social work programmes at the Penitentiary Centre for Women, moderator of the Community of Practice (CoP); and other members of the CoP, who were in charge of the presentation of the day and new proposals.

The first round table on ‘Fundamental reflections and some claims’, was formed by the Governing Board of the Official College of Social Work of Catalonia, and the Referent of the Community Social Work Committee of the College.

The second roundtable, focused on ‘Future challenges of the Prison and Social Services in Catalonia’, composed by the head of Open Prisons and Social Services, accompanied by a social worker at Centre Ponent (Lleida), who highlighted the importance of attending the family and social network though the prison and probation process; the Head of Service of the Social Services (Barcelona), who emphasized the relevance of the bond and boundaries within support and supervision process; the Head of the Criminal Social Services Section in Tarragona, who drawn on resources and spaces to develop the work; and Head of the Criminal Social Services Section in Girona, who focused on conditional licence and the significance of social workers in this context.

The conference closed with the presentation of the video ‘Prison and Probation Social work’, which has been developed to illustrate the work of this professionals at the prison and probation settings, in order to recognise their intervention, with service users, their families and the wider community.

The video can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm0_WxqPdQU (video with subtitles in English)

Social Work at Probation and Prison services in Catalonia

If you are interested in learning more about the Social Work at Prison and Probation services in Catalonia, this document offers an overview of its main characteristics, altogether with the latest developments form the Community of Practice (CoP), created to improve and innovate this service with professionals of the field.