Kate Cheetham

Profile

I am a qualified social worker, and have worked with children and families for fifteen years. I began my career supporting children with disabilities in residential and short break settings, after which I worked in education. I qualified with an MA in Social Work from the University of Leeds in 2014 and was subsequently employed in a Children’s Services locality team in Leeds.

In 2017 I undertook a role as Senior Project Social Worker. The project’s aim was to reduce the number of young people living in external residential settings. Exploring alternative placement options was not sufficient to meet the objective, and supporting existing placements transpired as a crucial component. Promoting placement stability therefore became a focus of the project and the wider Children Looked After Service.

I began working as a Senior Therapeutic Social Worker with the Therapeutic Social Work Team in Leeds in 2020. I worked closely with the local authority’s residential estate, supporting children’s homes’ staff teams to develop a trauma informed approach. Applying systemic approaches when working with social workers and carers is necessary to achieve psychological and relational safety when working directly with young people. It is important to support those working with children and young people to engage in a way which demonstrates a fundamental understanding of the relational harm they have experienced. I have recently joined the university as module convener for Law and Policy in Social Work (Autumn 2022), and I am committed to facilitating and inspiring students to develop a trauma-informed lens throughout their professional learning process. 

Teaching

Law and Policy for Social Work
Communication Skills
Introduction to Social Work
Social Work Across the Life Course
Power, Participation and Practice