This episode is a conversation with Beni Mackenzie one of the founders of the Australian Social Work Changemakers Facebook page.
The page was born of conversations amongst some social workers attending the 2013 AASW National Symposium. The purpose of the page is to provide an online environment for students and qualified social workers in Australia to converse, debate, collaborate and organise.
One of the principle aims of the page is also to contribute to the positioning of social work as the peak social justice profession, and an as important and respected political voice. From small beginnings, it now has over 670 members.
Before Beni got into social work he fuelled his sense of injustice with alcohol, anger and drugs; paradoxically these experiences have held him in good stead in understanding many of the people he now works with.
During our conversation, Beni describes his first social work job in the small outback town of Charleville, working with people affected by drugs and alcohol, and his current work with the homeless in Southport.
We also cover the boundaries and ethics of working in personal and digital space; the contradictions of working in social media designed to make a profit; and the challenges of holding on to horizontal democratic practices in hierarchical organisations.
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