Social Work Spotlight - International Episode 28: Vesna (North Macedonia)

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

In this episode I speak with Vesna from North Macedonia, with more than 20 years of professional experience beginning with volunteering in civil society organisations supporting people at social risk, where she discovered her passion for this profession. Throughout her career, she has worked with different groups, currently focusing on early childhood care, while also actively involved in international projects, non-formal education, and professional training as a lecturer and educator. Links to resources mentioned in this week’s episode:The Streets Smart Model - https://streetsmarts.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/home/thestreetsmartsmodel/Mellow Parenting program - https://www.mellowparenting.org/eTwinning projects - https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/etwinning/projectsErasmus+ program - https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/“Life Story Work: A Practical Guide To Helping Children Understand Their Past” (the English book related to Vesna’s approach when writing her own book) -  https://dokumen.pub/life-story-work-a-practical-guide-to-helping-children-understand-their-past-9781905664023.htmlProfessor Ranko Rajovic’s work - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxbskgKBLFsNikola Tesla Learning Centre Learning System - https://ntclearning.com/This episode's transcript can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wY4d2-IBCVeDtIivj514o8IPI3l9VsOk_89hl-hH2TA/edit?usp=sharingThanks to Kevin Macleod of incompetech.com for our theme music.

Before beginning, I wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of the countries of guests featured in this podcast and acknowledge their continuing connection to land, waters and community. I pay my respects to the First Nations people, the cultures and the elders, past, present and emerging. Hi and welcome to Social Work Spotlight, where I showcase different areas of the profession each episode, with a 12-month focus on social workers around the world as of August 2025. I'm your host, Yasmaine Lupus, and today's guest is Vesna, from North Macedonia, with more than 20 years of professional experience. Her journey in social work began through volunteering in civil society organizations,

supporting people at social risk, where she discovered her passion for this profession. Throughout her career, she has worked with different groups, currently focusing on early childhood care, while continuously promoting social inclusion, children's rights, professional development, and innovative approaches in social work. She is also actively involved in internal projects, non-formal education, and professional training as a lecturer and educator.

Thank you, Vesna. It's lovely to meet with you. Thank you for coming on to the podcast and for meeting with me today and talking about your experience with social work. Thank you very much, Jasmine, for inviting me to be a part of your podcast. It is a great pleasure, and honor for me to share my professional journey and experience as a social worker.

I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about a social work in my country and I believe that conversation like this is very important because the social work is a profession that connects people, cultures and experience, and we can work in many different countries, but every social worker shares the same values and goals. My name is Vesna Blashevska and I'm social worker from North Macedonia. I live and I work now in Skopje. I have more than 20 years of professional experience as a social worker. My professional career began working with people with substance use disorders and after that I worked with people with intellectual disabilities. At the same time, I'm actively involved in a civil society, participating in many different projects,

and in non-formal learning and everything of that helped me to grow professionally and help me to become a better person, I think. Yeah. At the same time, I believe that every social worker should be a part of civil society because that helps to create a more positive, more inclusive, more supportive environment, society and community. For me, social worker is not only a job. It is a way of life. It is a commitment to create society more inclusive and more supportive in,

every different place in our community. I love so much to be a social worker. Yeah. And do you think that social work is well understood in North Macedonia? Do you think people in general understand what it is that we do and what you do, compared to something maybe more like psychology or other professions, Do you think it's obvious to people or do you need to provide education? Maybe the answer of this point that you tell me is why I choose to become a social worker.

And it is a very important question for me, personality. But I must tell the truth to everyone that I didn't know exactly what a social work profession involved when I was choosing to study at university but I always knew what kind of person I wanted to be I have always felt strong desire to support others and values such as social inclusion, social justice,

human rights, human dignity, equal opportunities for everyone. And maybe that's the first main reason why I choose to become a social worker. Like I said before, at the same time, my personality has always pushed me for looking something more. I needed a profession that would allow me to be a creative, think critically, approach challenges in innovative ways, and reflect on how we can build our society and community a better place for every citizen. That was maybe the second main reason why I choose this profession, this beautiful, perfect profession for me, because I live like a social work and personality and professionally. Yeah. Social work has given me exactly that.

Social work is a profession that is never the same. From one day to the next. That was I need for my person. Sure. After more than 20 years in social work, I learned that every challenge can become an opportunity for grow and change. I believe that the social work profession is a profession of hope where our role is to support people, help them, encourage them to creating positive changes in their lives. Yeah.

So what has kept me in this profession more than two decades? This is an opportunity to keep learning, growing and making positive changes. Yeah. So, I believe that the social work is a profession of hope where our role is to support people. I think that's tell before this sentence, but this sentence is very important for me, for a profession, like a social work. So social work has shown me that we grow together with people who we support. If I had to choose my profession again, I will choose the social work without any doubt. Yeah. And it sounds as though it's so rewarding for you.

You've just managed to find yourself in a perfect place that fits your values. that fits your sense of purpose and it's such a large part of your identity. And you mentioned a little bit about the type of work you've done, such as the substance abuse work. How did that timeline progress for you? So once you finished university, how did you progress through the different types of roles? What experience did you gain? Just mean, my professional journey has been shaving.

by different experience. Throughout my professional career, I have had the opportunity to work with many groups, different groups of people. It's so interesting that now I work in a press school institution in the field of early childhood care. And this transition allows me to bring my social work perspective and I have discovered that the essence of social work is always the same. That means three more important things for me in my job like a social worker. The first is seeing the person first, understanding their needs and helping them to recognize their own strengths and potential or possibilities. These three things, it's very important in my professional career,

but also I think it is three points very important for every social work. At the same time, I remind actively involved in civil society, through my different projects, non-formal education and international cooperation. I have developed many additional skills and competencies. I strongly believe that every social worker should be an active member of their community because the social changes doesn't happen only through the institution. but also through the active citizenship, active cooperation, active engagement, active in civil society, where we have opportunity to be a part of many, many different projects in many, many

different fields of social work. So, looking back, I see that every stage of my career, has prepared me for the next one. Yeah. And what were some of those other roles? So when you left the substance abuse program to where you are now at the preschool, what were the other roles that you've held? I have a role like a social worker with substance use disorders and help their families.

After that, work like I said, with people with intellectual disabilities, but they have were people under the 18 years old. This was the process of de-institutional vision. Our team, we take this person from institution and put them on a community to socialization, to make care for self without any rules. They have before in the institutions. And after that, now, more than almost 13 years, I worked in a press school institution with children, families.

So currently I work as a social worker in a press school institution where my main focus is supporting children, parents or caregivers. and employers or my colleagues in creating a safe, inclusive and more supportive environment for every child. The name of institution where I work now is kindergarten happy flowers from Skopje. Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah. Kindergarten Vesely Cvetovic in Macedonian language. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And it sounds as though each of those roles that you've had have had quite a lot of other teamwork. So you've worked quite closely with your colleagues. You know, the social work role can't do everything. So you've maybe had to work with nurses or psychologists or counselors or occupational therapists. So is it quite obvious everyone has their own role within that team? Yeah, we work like a team, but sometimes we master work individual. especially when the families have some problems that they won't tell to one person.

Then they have, will be personality to talk about their lives. In Macedonia, people still doesn't so open to talk about their problems. and the social worker is one of the person when the family has a problem and they want to talk only with him or her. So in our press school institution, we have a team who include social worker, special educator and rehabilitator, speech. A speech pathologist? Yeah, yeah. And me. Okay. So we don't have a therapist like a psychotherapist or psychology.

Elena, my colleagues you can see before. She is a teacher, but she has behavior like a pedagogy. So we work like a team when we have any problems with children or families. Yeah, that makes sense. And I guess part of your role then is developing trust, building trust with the families, so that if they do have a concern, a personal problem, they feel comfortable coming to you. Yes, yes, yes. I want to tell that my daily tasks are so different, but the main focus is always the same,

protecting children's rights and acting in their best interests. Usually my typical day includes communication with children, with parents and employers, but also communication with a non-government and government institution, providing support when they needed, and working on activities and programs that improve the quality of the press school care. Throughout my years in Preschool sector, I have been involved in many different educational, social, international and environmental projects. And I have always built strong cooperator with a civil society organization that supports our initiatives, especially in the field of of environmental activities and professional education for our employers.

So my goals has always been to improve the quality of work and reach children activities and create new learning opportunities. For example, I can tell that one of these methodologies that recently inspired me is street smart flagbacks methodology, where I was and I am practically now as educator of this methodology. That's lovely that you're taking the time to continue that professional education. So for me, every project and every activities has one central purpose to ensure that children receive high-quality support and care and educational experience that respect their individuality, their abilities and their rights. So I believe that early childhood is one of the most important period in person lives and investing in children, supporting families and creating a positive environment during these years can have a long-term impact on their development and well-being.

So everything of that is my main focus, like social work in the institution, in a press school institution. Yeah. It's so interesting and the fact that you mentioned even international corporations and environmental work. How do you think environment impacts social work or the other way around, how are you working to? change things environmentally through social work? I think that social workers can make many, many positive changes in environmental because they connect problems, but they always think about how that problems change for better for children, families, citizens in the society. So I think that the environmental is so, so important, especially in

these years, especially in Macedonia. And we must over thinking about that every time, every day, I will say, in every minute of our life, we must think about how to protect the place where we're living. So, social workers have the top place on this process. In our institution, preschool institution. We tried to have and build and create activities with children that include protect environment, protect air, protect our water and etc. So I was going to many non-formal education about these activities. One of this was eco-educators for adults. But together with my colleagues, Elena, we continue to present that knowledge to children and to parents.

So, we work a lot, but Macedonia is a very difficult country to can, every idea, to be a real. are real to implement in everyday activities and our programs. And what makes it difficult? What is it, do you think about North Macedonia? Is it the structure? Is it systems? Is it legislation is too difficult? What is the barrier?

The barrier is everything of that that you say. The system, the institutions. maybe not law because we have very, very good writing. Hello, but we don't too much respect them. And I don't know how to explain that. But sometimes it's really difficult to realize ideas in practically out of the box that we need to work. work. We must work in the order national program by program of institution, and etc. That is the problems in Macedonia. We must take a permission to implement our ideas or our knowledge

who we are taking from non-formal education. And everything of us knows that a non-formal education is very important in this profession, in every profession. So it seems quite restrictive in some ways. There's not a lot of flexibility. Yes, yes, yes. But we try. The most rewarding part of my work is seeing the children and families feel supported, understood and valued. Every child is. a soul unique and it is a very important and meaningful for me to be a part of their growth and development. One of the things that brings me the greatest satisfaction in seeing positive changes like when a child become more confident feels included.

develops new skills and when family feels that they have someone who listen them and support them sometimes a small act of support of conversation or simply being for someone can make a big difference And these moments remind me why I choose a social work and why after 20 years I still find meaning and purpose in this profession without what we're speaking before the difficult situation when we want to implement some ideas in our own. daily activities with children and parents. Yeah. And given that you have worked for a long time and had so much experience, during that time, what support have you had or what support do you need so that you can continue and that you continue to enjoy?

So who helps you as the person who helps other people? Oh. for the first I help myself because I strongly believe in social work as a profession and my family, my friends and my colleagues who also supports me and we go together to the process of long-term learning but every time when you see a person with some problems, especially when you see the child who need support. That is the moment that pushed me through this process

and that moment doesn't give up and give me a power to continue with my mission like a social worker. So maybe the biggest challenges in social work is that the needs of children, families and communities are becoming more complex, while professionals often have limited time and resources to respond to all of these needs in Macedonia. I will say another time, social workers carry a great responsibility. They support people, protect their rights, cooperate with many, many services, and at the same time, they try to find the best solutions to help people, but in a very, very challenging situation. So many social workers face a high workload and pressure, and this can affect their motivation and their professional well-being.

So I believe that every social worker need more support, need more recognition, need more opportunities for continuous professional development because social worker is a very important part of one society because they bring and put positive changes, they make more inclusive and more supportive society and community. personality for me the biggest change is to continue belief that positive change is possible even when circumstances are so difficult sure yeah and if you weren't working in the preschool if you weren't doing this kind of social work is there anything else that you've thought

maybe in future I'd like to try any other kind of social work. I was telling you that I have had opportunity to work with many different groups of people, but now I love so much to work with children. And I didn't know maybe I wouldn't like to change my work. I would like to stay in a press school, institution and I feel still a very big, strong to make changes in this process of growing a press school education and press school programs for children. So I don't know, maybe I want to keep learning in a non-formal education. I loved civil society and I like to connect

non-formal and formal institution, organization, because I think that is the best connect to making a grow quality in educational process for children. I think you found yourself in the exact right profession but also the exact right place to work. It seems as though it ticks all of the boxes for you. Yes, yes. I'm wondering if anyone wanted to know a little bit about the work you're doing. You mentioned things like street smart methodology or maybe any of the other resources that you use or anything to do with social work in general. Maybe it's things that people can look at or read or listen to. Are there any resources that you would recommend people have a look at? Yes, Jasmine. I would like to recommend some research that have been very important in my

professional work. Some of that I said before, like Street Smart Blackbacks methodology, people can very easy find this resource only write street smarts flagbacks and they will take the materials of this methodology. It's very, very beautiful, especially when you work with children. The other resource includes use assistive and augmentative technology. with non-verbal children, mellow parenting program. Also, this research is so easy to find other social workers or other who wants to grow professionally in fields of every science of society. Maybe the other resources environmental education activities.

I think on internet we have a lot of that. And I would like to recommend also that every employers who work with children should be a part of active participating in Edwining and Erasmus Plus projects. Yes, it is a beautiful experience and the children can learn a lot, but also we adults. learn through this process of projects. I would also like mention my book. The name is my life story. This is a book which presents one social work techniques. This social techniques used in an Irish social work education process. I was translated in Macedonian, but the people can also write my life story, social techniques and find in many different languages. As well as I recommend the stories and materials that create through the Nikola Tesla

system for developing children's gift nets. Also, this resource other people can find on internet, write Professor Ranco Raiovich and all of these research can help a lot in our profession like a social worker but in many others' profession. Before I finished, I would like to share my life motto like a social worker. This sentence is, I choose to see opportunities in challenges. rather than obstacles. I love that. I think that's so important for people to remember

because it can be a difficult profession. It can be something that makes us feel sometimes like what are we doing? We're working uphill. You know, it's so difficult in the systems that we are struggling against at times. But your positivity is shining through so strong that desire to help other people.

Like you mentioned at the beginning, And I think also your desire to be engaged with civil society. So it's not enough to kind of picture the people over there that you're supporting. You want to be supporting the people that are part of your community as well. And you want to be part of the community. So it's that connection with others and the people that are part of your community. We have these shared values that we work with. And through your work, you've been able to see and understand people's strength.

and through the work with children and families and also the stakeholders that you're working with externally, you're supporting early intervention. So you're investing in children, you were saying, and supporting families. So yes, it's hard, but you've spoken so much about the rewarding parts of social work, which sometimes I think we can forget because the work is so challenging. So I'm just so glad that you can talk about your experience very much outside of your comfort zone. So thank you for being so brave and for sharing your story and your insights. And I'm sure other people will enjoy hearing about it.

Thank you very much for inviting me. And I really hope that the people really enjoy to listen me and understand me because the English is not my material language. I think that I give the best from me for this podcast. Yeah, thank you again. It's been such a pleasure. Thanks for joining me this week. If you would like to continue this discussion or ask anything of either myself or Vesna, please visit my anchor page at anchor.fm slash social work spotlight.

You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and Blue Sky, or you can email SW Spotlight Podcast at gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you. Next episode's guest is Aman, an academic in Turkey, who completed his PhD in 2006 and whose research primarily focuses on migration, refugee studies and Syrian refugees in Turkey. Amon places great emphasis on working with diverse cultures and conducting field work in participants' native languages, and himself speaks Arabic, English, Turkish and Serbo-Croatian. I release a new episode every two weeks.

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