Social Work Spotlight - International Episode 29: Eymen (Türkiye)

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

In this episode I speak with Dr Eymen Ekmen, an academic in Türkiye who completed his PhD in 2026, and whose research primarily focuses on migration, refugee studies, and Syrian refugees in Türkiye. Eymen places great emphasis on working with diverse cultures and conducting fieldwork in participants' native languages, and he himself speaks Arabic, English, Turkish, and Serbo-Croatian.Links to resources mentioned in this week’s episode:Istanbul Arel University’s Social Work Department - https://arel.edu.tr/en/faculty-of-health-sciences-social-work/Eymen’s Google Scholar page - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_4wrMQoAAAAJ&hl=frThis episode's transcript can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GtU6RDI94YmQ81tKkV7NNfA5DXh5LVT8gCi-bK9n5R0/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, Yasmin Lupus, and today's guest is Dr. Amen Ekman, an academic in the Department of Social Work at Istanbul R.L. University. He completed his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in social work, earning his PhD in 2026. While his research primarily focuses on migration, refugee studies, and Syrian refugees in Turkey, he has also published across various fields of social work. Placing great emphasis on working with diverse cultures and conducting field work

in participants' native languages, Dr. Eggman speaks Arabic, English, Turkish and Serbo-Croatian, and holds a sworn translator certificate in Arabic, Turkish and English. Hello, Amen, lovely to meet with you today. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast and chatting about your experience in Turkey. Thank you so much for asking me to be here. and I'm happy to be here. Thanks a lot. Yeah, I'd love to know firstly when you got started in social work and what brought you to the profession. Well, to answer this question, I have to be back to the second year of my high school. Because in the high school in Turkey, we choose a track like verbal, equal weight,

which is like Turkish and mathematics or science track. Well, I chose the equal weight, which is like Turkish and a mathematics, and mathematics and when we choose it this track lets you apply some problems like when you graduate from the high school after that we have an university exam we have to score it we have to get a score there but if you are from this track like i mean i'm talking about the echo which i chose this track lets you apply some problems like psychologists social work or laws some problems like that and also depends on the university entrance exam score. And I would say that I was interested in volunteering in those years.

And with the greetings from my family and my school counselors, I felt that social work would be the right profession for me. So I chose this field and I went on with that. And was there a similar path in your family? Was there anybody that did volunteer? themselves or someone who had a similar experience? Not really, but yeah, I can say that they are also interested in volunteering, but I'm the only social worker in the family.

Yeah, yeah, nice. And how is the degree structured in Turkey? So in Australia, we have four years for the undergraduate degree, and in that time we do relatively long placements. So we have a thousand hours altogether of unpaid experience. Do you have something similar with maybe the combination of theory and practical at university? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is four years in Turkey.

Also, it depends on the university, of course, but generally we have the same. And I can also talk about my university. The one I studied, it was the state university, and I can also talk about the university that I work, RL university. So, yeah, it is four years. and we are based on both theoretical and practice as well. But I can say that in the first year of the Aral University Social Work Department, we start with visiting some instructions from the field actually for the students to know the field.

We visit them and we see the instructions about the social work. And we are having the general. lessons in the first year of the university, but also we start the social work main lessons from the first year as well. And in the second year, third year, we are focusing more on the social work department lessons, the lectures, I would say. And then after that, at the last year, for three days of the five days of a week, we are on the field. We go for internship. It depends on the university this part. I mean, it can be the one year or sometimes it's being like one semester or two semester or some universities do it like with the summer internship and it's being more.

But in RRRUr University, I can talk about RRRRUiversity. It is the last year and for two semesters, which is one year, the last year. And we have four different internships for the students. Like three of them are different places of the field. For each seven week, the students go and see and have the internship there. And the last one they choose it. I mean, three of them are chosen by us. And one of them is chosen by the students.

So in the last year, yeah, it is the. practicing year, I would say. And in total, yeah, it's for years. Okay. And for you, what were those practical experiences? What did you get to do? I had it, as I remember, it was in the hospital, the first one, and the second one, it was in the child area, child protecting area. So I had two internships in the university that I studied it was Kogeli University I'm talking about the baccala degree and I had my master degree in Istanbul Geraphbeza University and also I finished my PhD doctorate in the same university Istanbul Jeropasha but in master and in doctor we don't have the internship but in

Kogeli University for the baccala I had just two internships in but it was also for one year as I remember it was four days in a week and it took a year and in two different places as I remember. Yeah, it has been like almost 10 years or more. I don't remember. Yeah. Yeah. Did you want to then continue with either of those areas or did you go straight into academic life after that? I would say that like the way I got my first job, it was in the municipality and I was interested in migration field actually and in the term that I was having my internship it was like the first years of the Syrians came to Turkey and we were just in the first years of the

migration was being talked more and more and actually I was interested in because I also know Arabic so I thought that it would be useful for me to work in the migration field and I know about the culture of Arabs as well. But I would say that like the way I got my first job, I didn't think about the academy at first. I was in the municipality and it was by chance or I would say, because it happened like this, let me tell you the story. Like a friend of me who had the internship in the field of addiction

was called for an interview in the municipality, at the municipality, he was nervous and asked me to come for a long for the support. So I went with him. After his interview finished, the manager and the interviewer asked about me, and I explained that I was his friends, that I was there to support him, and I was interested in the field of the immigration. And then after that, they wanted to talk with me as well. That same day, right after the interview, they called me,

and they told me that they needed someone for the, field of migration. They had someone working in the addiction actually. During our conversation, I didn't even have my seaweed with me. I was just for my friends to support and then when they asked I found my CVI from email and I was like, okay, let me send you and after that, like, when they found out that I speak English or a big Serbian, Turkey, and they were like, we are also looking for a social worker. We are thinking to have migration department in the municipality and they taught me if I'm thinking about kind of this job and I was like it was just like after some months of I graduated and I was not really thinking to work

I was just traveling around and I was like back there to help my friend and I was like okay it's maybe time to start somewhere and after finishing the conversation in the same day they called me And I was telling my friend that, no worry, they will also call you for sure at Thesra, but they didn't call him. And I felt a little bit sad, but it's good that after three months, he got another job, which he really wanted. And I started with the municipality, actually, in that time as a social worker. And after some months, they opened in fields for the migration.

I mean, they separated in the municipality, like migration department. I don't know, they separated for five or six, as I remember, like elderly department, et cetera. They made the departments for the social workers. And I became the responsible social worker for the migration field. And I started my first job like that. And around that time, I began my master degree as well, while I was doing. in my master degree, I was doing it in the state university. I told you like the Istanbul Jarapashi University and Istanbul Ararad University

announced that an open position for a research assistant in the social work department. And while I was working there, I was also trying to have my master degree. It was kind of hard for me to continue both of them because in the field, while working in the field, it was hard to get permission to go to lessons or to continue. with the tests as well. And while I was going on with there, when I heard about the open position, and I applied and I passed the exam and I became research assistant in the RL University and the social work department. And after finishing my master degree, I continued with the PhD. I was already thinking about it. I mean, I saw that the field is also really hard. And when I started my master's

degree I started also thinking about continue with the academy and after master degree I started doctorate and it has been like in June 2026 I finished my doctorate so I'm still working in the Rale University social work department it has been nine years to continue here so yeah it was a little bit of a chance or a coincidence. That's a wild story. And I think you were so lucky to be, I mean, you're a good friend to go with your friend to support him.

But also that completely eliminated the stress of applying for a job, waiting for an interview, trying to prepare for an interview. You just had to talk to people, which maybe is what you're more comfortable with. It's just I just want to talk about what I'm interested in and what I'm enthusiastic about. and that obviously showed through to the people that were on the panel and they thought,

hey, we don't need to waste our time looking for someone. We have the right person here. Yeah, maybe if I went for an interview, I would be stressed. That's right. I know. So it was like by the coincidence. Whatever is yours, it's going to be yours. It's fine. Yeah, I believe in that. And what is your interest with research? Where did it start and how did it progress to where you are now? You were originally employed as a research assistant, so maybe you were doing something that someone else was interested in, but then as your PhD progressed, you could research something you're interested in. So what was that journey like for you? Well, actually, since the baccalaure time, as I told you, like I had my internship in child field and in hospital, but I was interested in migration, and I was really interested in that. field and I was reading and I was trying to have some articles.

When I was in the master program, I had my first article. I published it again in the migration. My supervisor also advised me to continue on this area due to the language I know and the culture I'm interested in and I know about the culture as well. So of course I'm interested in the family structure, elderly, etc., the other fields. But I would say that the main specific field for me is migration. And I started with it. And even in the baccalaure time I was interested in.

And then I continued with it. But being interesting for me also, it was like kind of something that I enjoyed. to work in the field as well. In academia, I found myself both practical and the theoretical way. Like whenever I need to do something or I want to do something in the field, I also do it with the researchers, but also a theoretical way we do it. So I feel happier to be here. So it sounds like you're interested in the process of research.

not just the outcome of the research. Yeah, yeah, I was interested in. And I would say that my brother is also in academy, and he was like also telling me about this idea. So maybe it also affected me, but I was already interested in. Although his field is totally different, he's a civilian junior,

but his associate professor, so he told me about this idea as well. So, yeah. I guess there's some relation. As a civil engineer, you have to understand people and how they move and live in a space, right? There's some crossover if you wanted to find it. Yeah. So what was your PhD looking at specifically?

Was it the experience of a group of people with migration or refugee experience? Well, I would say that a board of my Tassas, spot master and the PhD is about the surrogens. about the Syrian refugees living in Turkey. If I have to talk about it more, I would say that the doctorate that I did was about the Syrian refugees who lived in Turkey and it was an hybrid research. It was about the integration and the social contribution of Syrian migrants. Like actually it's a a model that I did in my research, like it starts with the way of thinking, the motivation of going back to Syria, the idea, from that to the integration and acculturation with the mediation effect, how it affects from this idea. I mean, actually, it is interested in from micro-to-macro-social work, like from the idea of going back to

Syria, the motivation of it, with the integration and acculturation, with the mediation effect of them, how it affects the idea. And when they stay in Turkey or when they want to go back to Syria, this idea, how it affects the social contribution of Koreans to the society of Turkey. It was the main model, actually. I would say. So it was hybrid and I talked to them. I made interviews with them also. As I told you, it was hybrid. So both interview and also survey. So at the end of the test, I would say that even if they want to go back to Syria, the idea of supporting them,

how they're going to go by volunteering and in the safe way. And I believe, I believe, that between two countries, like it's going to affect in positive way as well, like, because when they go back to Syria, or even if they stay in Syria, this research shows both ways. Like, even if they go or if they stay, when they go back, it means, like, we're going to have some transformation between two countries, which is going to help for the two countries, the culture, maybe some economic traits, et cetera. And the Syrians who wants to stay in Turkey also like with the integration of them to Turkey, like it will also help us. We are going to have the culture both together.

We're going to learn it both together. I mean the Turk side and the Arab side and the food, everything will be mixed and will be better and the wider. And if they get integrated and if they want to stay in Turkey, also it is kind of social contribution to Turkey. And also, even if they stay here, it means that they are going to be communicated with the Syrian in Syria or people in Syria. So it is always for the both way. So the research just showed the positive ways of even to stay or to stay, to go back, like it will help from both ways to both countries. This kind of research, I'll say.

That's so interesting. And hopefully that's a good demonstration to the Turkish government to say this is why we should accept a certain number of Syrian refugees into the country because of the contribution that they can make to our culture, our society, our food, our language, because it's not easy taking refugees from any country, but if you can demonstrate that there's a real benefit, I think that's really important. But you know that Turkey always had an open door with the Syrian migration, I mean as a policy of the migration.

So we already had three millions maybe more than the Syrians. Now the population is less because they went back. But Turkey always had an open. door for them. So of course, like, integration is not that easy and sometimes we had some problems, but still the culture is closed, the people are closed. So the government also supported the idea, I would say. So yeah. Yeah, because Australia has a quota. We have a certain number of refugees that we will accept every year. And depending on what's happening around the world, we will accept a certain number from each country.

So it sounds as though Turkey doesn't have that policy. If you're saying there's an open door, it doesn't matter how many people. Well, yeah, like I can't say that just randomly, but like I would say that, yeah, you know that Turkey has the largest population of the Syrian immigrants. And also for the others, I mean in the world, as I know, Turkey is the after USA, the largest in the world and in the Europe the first one. And for the Syrian migrations, yeah, we are the first country who took the Syrians,

the largest population of Syrians as a refugee table here. So, yeah, the Turkey had an open door policy because we believe that like when some people needs help and we know that they used to have hard days and they are close to us, I mean, the neighbors, so we had an open door policy for our neighbors, I would say. I believe that Turkey for the migration policy always have the open door policy. Yeah. Yeah, that's excellent. I'm so glad to hear that. And I know that having spoken with other people in Turkey during my travels, there's a lot of good response to natural disasters and crises that are going on within the country.

So I don't know if you've done any research or if you've got any anecdotal, anything about how social workers specifically can help in those situations. Yeah. Well, actually, like I would say that like in everywhere, also in Turkey, like social, workers are everywhere where disasters are or the crisis are or about any disadventious situations or disadvantages people so yeah we also work with those kind of crisis for the urge quakes as well for the migration as well for any kind of crisis you can imagine of we are also working in such fields and we are being part of not just like that I mean also being voluntary as well

yeah I would say about it and why do you think it's important for social workers to be in those places rather than a psychologist or someone else who doesn't have our training what do you think it is about social work that makes us good at that of course there are something that separates us but I believe that in such crisis and I believe that social work is also like a multidiscipline area, the field. So when the crisis are there, I mean, we do it all together. I mean, we work with the psychologists as well. We work with the doctors as well. So it depends on the case.

I believe that we shouldn't be separated. Of course, we have some differences. But while working, we all need or in. information we all need our helps at Estrada. That's why it is a multidisciplinary field, I would say. So I believe that it is important to have information, to be in the same field and to have a collaborate altogether. And what are you doing now that you've finished the PhD? You're still doing research. Are you teaching? What does your everyday look like? Yeah, well, I would say that I'm still research assistant but as the first time I'm going to have the lessons as well

because I just finished the PhD so it means that I can also have the lessons so in a typical day like my dates are quite worried I would say like on one hand I work the academic desk my own papers research at us when on the other hand I also support the departments like paperwork, administrative works, such as preparing students' class schedules, working on this Circulium, et cetera, lots of work, I would say, actually. I cannot remember all of them, but we have lots of paperwork as well and the academic tasks as well.

So it is being easy, but I'm happy to do them. And both paperwork and the academics' works are going. all together, I would say. Did you expect to be doing so much paperwork when you got into social work? Well, actually in the field while I was working, I was visiting the families from Syria and at Estra. But we also had, we used to write the reports at Estraa and we had paper wars, of course, but also in academia, it's not just the academic task. We also do lots of paperwork. works, yeah. So it takes lots of time more than the academic tasks or more than the articles

at that's raw. It can be hard to escape, but you can obviously see the value of having the solid paperwork to demonstrate what you're doing. Yeah, yeah. But also in academy, I mean, whatever I do is kind of experience and something positive for me. And also, yeah, in the field, we used to write the reports, but right now, I mean, we see them from the students and we are trained to teach them as well and we see in this way. And what I have to say about RL University social work, like as I talk about the internship, I would also say like, for example, like, we are having seminars at Estra with the students who are graduated from RL University and also we have collaborated with them.

The social workers who are graduated from the RL University, we also have collaboration with them, and we also visit them, we also see them. They also come to university. We have seminars and we also see what's going on with the fields as well. So we are trying to follow both sides, the theoretical, practical, the academic way, and also the field. And also our students, we have lots of agreements with the institutes and our students have their internship near in the field as well.

But sometimes we also ask for help. I mean, to be supervisor of our internship students. I mean, the graduates from our university are being in the field as well. We follow them. We have collaborated and our students go near them and they are having their internship. They share their infos with each other. So this is also kind of good thing for us. I mean, we are not being separated from them.

Also, it gives us like we are being a bigger and bigger family, I would say. And also it lets us to know in the both fields like what's going on, how is going in the field and what we can do and also we have some meetings about what we are doing in the field what we are doing in the academy the practice the theory and how we can do the department get better and what's going on there so in this way we are trying to follow the both sides actually whatever we do sometimes yeah sorry for coming from paperwork to do here but I would say that whatever we do is like kind of having experience and also something good for us and I can say that it's also experience and the network

that's right helps us somehow so whatever we are challenging we're having I don't see them as something negative or something heavy on us on our shoulder no I don't suit them as as Dala, I see them as an experience, and I see if something good for us going to be good for us. Yeah, it's so important to develop those networks and keep those relationships alive for everyone involved. In social work, actually, I believe that network is really important. Yeah. What do you find hard about the work you're doing? What's the challenging part of it for you? Well, most challenging. Like, sometimes the workload is, difficult, I would say,

balancing the research, academic works, administrative responsibilities all at the same time is not being easy. Trying to give proper attention to all of them is the most challenging parts, I would say, like it's been hard sometimes

and sometimes when, especially like in the first days of the universities, also if I'm trying to have some research as well, really been busy and I barely sleep just some... So, yeah. You've got so many things that you're interested in.

I think it's hard to contain all of that. Well, I believe that. Like, it's been the same for all of the people nowadays. But, yeah. That means you can never be bored, though, I guess. You always have something to do. Yeah, no time to be bored. Yeah.

I can say that to continue all of them is the most challenging part, but maybe I would be depressed if I had nothing to do. So I believe that being busy is also good for the people. Yeah, that makes sense. And what do you like most about being a social worker, being an academic, just social work in general? Our field is really wide, I would say. So what you are interested in, what you are into in, you can find the parts of yourself in your job, I believe, in social work. Like, whatever you are interested in, you find the part of it, and you can continue with that. I mean, it's really good that we don't have just some specific area. I mean, I know that we have wide area and whatever we are into, whatever we want to do, like, we can be part of it.

And actually, like, as I told you from the start, then I'm interested in volunteering, and it's also really about our job and about my job. Like, as I told you, like, I like both the theoretical way. Like when you're in the academy, you have to renew yourself, you have to learn, you have to update yourself. But I believe that we are not that far from the field as well. We have collaborates, we are being interested in, we are having seminars, and with the researchers also, we are being in the field. It means that you can have the test of the both areas, both the theoretical, both the academy and the field.

So being in academia, let me update myself in both fields and with the theoretical information that is wrong. So to be honest, I love this part. It's so good to hear as well because I think many people will worry about if they go into academia or research, they might feel disconnected from the profession or from the practical work. But from what you're saying, you do really feel connected to what you're doing. Yeah, yeah, I really do feel connected with the field as well. Yeah, of course, while you are working in the field, you are in the field, all the time. But for me, it could be kind of every work and also like sometimes boring.

But in academy, like it lets you separate your time and you can vary your work. I mean, for me, always doing the same job is also kind of boring. So, academy lets you do something different. But like I cannot say while you're working in the field as well, like you can vary it. and you can do the research, you can read about it, you can update it. So it's also about the person, I believe, but while working in the field, like we have some more responsibilities like we have to work from this time to this time and we have to finish something at that's raw, but maybe we are being more busier than

the fields time to time, but still we can manage our time. and according to what we are doing actually. So, Academy lets you a little bit more flexibility, I would say. So having the flexibility is good for me, although you are being busier, but still you're having the flexibility. It's more important for me. So in this way as well, I would say that it fits me more to be in academy. That's perfect. And is there anything coming up for you in the near future, like any projects or anything that you're about to start working on, maybe a different focus for your research? What are you looking forward to?

There are some researches that I still continue with. One of them is, again, about the Syrian migrants and the other one is also about migration. And also one of them is about families. structure. I'm also thinking and trying to vary my research articles at the research field. So I'm trying to have collaborate with my friends from social work, also psychology and the other fields as well, or from social work, but working in other fields of the social work. So yeah. And in some projects, research we are trying to have some models integrating the migration with some other fields also like we are trying to work together with psychological side as well so I still have some carry-in on projects and researchers so not just the migration fields still

more based on, but I'm also trying to worry it, I would say. No, that's exciting. And if people wanted to read or listen to or watch anything that might be related to the work that you do, are there any resources that you would recommend for them? Well, if the listener would like to see more detail what we do in our department, for example, They are welcome to visit our social work department at Istanbul, Arar University, and I can see the page of our department. And also if they want to know more specifically about my own area of work,

I would say that they can look at my Google Scholar profile, Eam and Ekman, so maybe they can also find the publications of me about social work. And if they are interested in immigration, they will find a lot, especially about the Syrian migrants in Turkey. Yeah, that's great. And what I'm hearing through everything you're saying is, yes, you've been in the right place at the right time, but you've also said yes to everything, right? You haven't kind of closed your opinion or your impression of what you might be able to do. You haven't said, you know, I will only do this or I'll only do that. you've kept a focus on migration and the refugee experience, but you've said, yeah, that sounds good,

I'll take that opportunity. And I think that's what people need to keep in mind is that the more you say yes to things, the more you keep your opinions open or your expectations, the greater the chances that you'll find something interesting to do. And it's landed you in an area of research that has great importance, not just now, but I think well into the future if you're creating models that government and non-government departments can use and you're building relationships with other networks, employers, other researchers in different fields. So there's always something new. There's always something interesting to work on and you said you've got the flexibility to vary your workload and that keeps things interesting for you. So I think it's just so interesting

that in such a relatively short amount of time you've been able to achieve so much in the profession in the field. And it's really wonderful to see. But I'm wondering, I guess, as we finish up, is there anything that maybe you wished I'd asked you about your experience or anything about social work that you wanted to add that we haven't talked about yet? Well, first of all, thank you for your kind words and thanks for inviting me here. game. Well, it has been almost 10 years that I work in the field in total. But as I told from the first in social work, I believe that whatever you are into, you will find apart from yourself and you can focus on it and you can continue with it. And I guess I told about

everything, but like what I would like to add, maybe like, I work like one and a half year. almost two years in the field and I started with really hard case of a Syrian family who had really bad situation at that's right and I was a little bit afraid when I started to do that but I believe that when you try to do something you are having courage and you're having you're trying to do it and at the end of the thing in the field or in the academy, it doesn't matter where, but whatever you are doing, I believe that it feeds yourself more than money. Our job is not something to do with the money, I believe, like, whatever you are doing and wherever you are doing, the social work, when you are done,

or when you touch with a person or a family or someone or something, and when you see that something is changing, and when you see that you can touch something, I believe that for our job and for the jobs related, it also feeds yourself and you feel more and more peaceful inside, I would say. So this is really something important when you go to bed. If you can sleep with peace, it is more important than most of the things. And I believe that for the people who are interested in social work, they are having this experience and this experience is really essential for anyone. How did you find the courage and the confidence in that moment, having been a very new social worker,

did you have a good mentor you could talk to? I'm just wondering, how did you deal with that very difficult situation? Well, even in the hard situation, I believe that, like, knit work is really important. And if you have someone to get some help, if you have someone to talk to in social work family, like I would call us as a family wherever we are. Like, when you ask for a help from a social worker, like, no one says no for something good. So when you are having something to struggle, when you are having something to struggle, when you, you need any help, just call any of us. I believe that even he or she cannot help you,

she will or he will find a way to help you or she will let someone to help you, etc. So I believe that this is also big power for us. So we know that if we call someone from us, anyone would be okay to help with smiling, with feeling good, like no one would say no. So this is also kind of power that even if you don't know that person, you know that you have that power and they wouldn't say no. So I believe that social work education also gives you this thing, like even if you are not that much interested in when you are done when you are graduated, you are feeling that inside of yourself and, you know, that sometimes it's been hard to touch some people's life, but you know that you can do it somehow. Yeah, along with your family. So having that support and bringing those people together

is so important. That's right. Yeah. Amen, thank you so much again. I've really loved hearing about your insights into your experience in Turkey, how you got started in social work, where it's led you to now, and it's just going to take you more amazing places as you continue to say yes to opportunities that come up. So thank you again. I've loved learning all about it, and thank you again for your time. Thank you as well, Yasmin. It was really such a great experience for me as well. And I'm happy to be here and I hope that it will be some helpful to. to share my experiences and whatever we talked. And thanks again for inviting me.

And thank you again for your kind words. Glad to meet you again. And thanks for the time as well. That's my pleasure. Thanks for joining me this week. If you'd like to continue this discussion or ask anything of either myself or Eamon, 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 Dinora, a social worker from Lithuania, working as a supported decision-making specialist at the Agency for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and as a marketing manager at the Psychosocial Activity Center, Naosha Prajia, while also pursuing a master's degree.

Her work in supported decision-making focuses on empowering people with disabilities to make their own decisions, strengthen their independence, and have their voices heard. I release a new episode every two weeks. Please subscribe to my podcast so you're notified when this next episode is available. See you then.