Shantel Thomas

Shantel is a social worker, activist, mentor, leader and prior to academia worked in direct safeguarding practice, with a particular interest in work with vulnerable children from black and global majority communities. She convened the Anti-Racism Movement (A.R.M) in 2022, which was initially set up to help Black women support self and each other to heal from racial trauma.

She is an Independent Training Consultant, Head of Discipline for Social Work and Course Lead for the MA in Social Work at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. In 2021, she became first UK Anti-Racism Lead at the British Association of Social Workers (BASW).

Shantel identifies as 'British-born, south London-raised. A woman, mother and daughter with Jamaican parents of African descent'. In 2021, she began her doctoral studies at the University of Sussex, with a thesis entitled 'Triumph & Trauma - an auto-ethnographic study of Black Women's Experiences of Leadership in white-led Organisations in Social Work'

She has co-written a chapter entitled ‘Risk and Safety: a strength-based perspective in working with black families when there are safeguarding concerns’ and contributed her practice knowledge to Safeguarding Black Children by Prof. Bernard. In 2020, Shantel co-developed a short course – Becoming an Anti-Racist Practitioner/Leader which she delivers independently to local authorities and higher educations institutions across the UK.