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I am responsible for the services
available to adults in fields such as
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mental health, learning disability
and adult protection.
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In my day-to-day work,
my main role is to lead these services
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and to guide and support staff
through inspections, meetings and discussions.
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From time to time, I also have the opportunity
to meet individuals
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who receive services from the council,
and to meet their families and carers
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in order to discuss
what has been working well for them
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in terms of the services they receive,
what maybe isn't working so well,
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and what we can do to improve things.
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My original role as a social worker
over 17 years ago,
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was one where it was necessary to be able
to speak Welsh.
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Alaw Pierce was the
team manager at the time
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and the fact that she
promoted the Welsh language
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within the service in this particular way
has actually attracted Welsh speakers
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to join the team
and nowadays the percentage
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of Welsh speakers in the team is high
and indeed higher than
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any other team in Denbighshire.
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Alaw always gently encourages Welsh speakers
and I know, for example,
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we have a group member called Bryn
who is a gentleman with learning disabilities
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and she will chat to him in Welsh
before the meeting starts,
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and it's just a really nice way
of subtly showing the importance
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of encouraging and supporting people
to speak in their first language.
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I enjoy working with people
and it's a privilege
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to be able to be part of someone's life,
even if it's just for a short period of time.