Executive

Michael FarrugiaChairperson

Michael Farrugia is a social worker by profession. He has been in the profession for the past six years and has worked in the areas of Out of Home Care, Social Work with the LGBTIQ community and is currently working with Perpetrator’s services within the National Agency for Social Work.

Michael has been involved in LGBTIQ activism and advocacy for the past four years. He was part of the executive committee of the Malta LGBTIQ Rights Movement for four consecutive years. Michael still contributes as a social worker within the Rainbow Support Service of the Malta LGBTIQ Rights Movement.

Michael is now one of the new members of the Maltese Association of Social Workers. He is working with the committee on the area of continuous professional development for social care professionals.

Charlene Martin Vice Chairperson

Charlene Martin has been part of the MASW Executive since March 2014 and served as Chairperson of the same committee for five years between March 2017 and April 2022. She has been working within the Foundation of Social Welfare Service for more than 17 years on a full-time basis, attaining the position of senior social worker II and coordinator. Her experience has been mostly in the area of young people with behavioural difficulties and addictions, but she also worked for some years within the Child Protection Service. Besides her social work qualification, Ms Martin has a Master’s degree in Youth and Community from the University of Malta. Her areas of interest in social work are social work with young people, addictions, the enhancement of the social work profession and the continuous professional development of social workers.

Carly ZarbSecretary

Carly Zarb has been part of the MASW Executive for the past 4 years serving as a Secretary of the Committee for the past 3 years. She is a warranted social worker and started her career working as a child protection social worker and currently occupies the role of a safeguarding officer within the Archdiocese of Malta. For two consecutive years, Carly occupied the role of Social Policy Officer within the organisation TDM2000 Malta which its aim is to enhance youth participation and contribution to society on a local and international level. In her free time, she also teaches dance and is involved in local theatre productions. Carly is committed to ensuring that the well-being of the service users remains the core focus of her work whilst at the same time, she is also motivated and driven to continue advocating for the social work profession. She is currently reading for a MSc Safeguarding in an International Context.

Aaron AzzopardiTreasurer & Website Administrator

Aaron Azzopardi is a qualified social worker. He has been in the profession for the past eight years, working initially within the Child Protection Services for five years, then moving to work with the Addiction Community Team in 2018 up to this present day, within the Foundation of Social Welfare Service.

He has been part of the Maltese Association of Social Workers Executive since 2015. He has been working with the committee in the role of Media Officer for the past six years. He feels privileged to be involved in the continued promotion of our profession, which will help to strengthen our voice and make our fight for change more possible.

In his free time, he reads for a master’s in Gestalt Psychotherapy, and he also takes a keen interest in photography, with particular attention to nature and street photography.

Kerry HermitagePublic Relations & Current Affairs Office, Representatives MFPA and Representative on the Board of Studies

Kerry graduated from the Masters of Social Work in 2020 and she is now applying for her doctoral studies in social work. She always had a passion for social justice and advocating for change, the social work profession was always where she wanted to be. She is the Head of Residential Services and Social Worker within YMCA Malta and in this role she oversee the running of the homeless shelters and the teams within them, whilst always growing and improving the quality of our service.

As a social worker she believe that an integral part of the profession is advocating for change and for this reason she also participates in a number of networks related to poverty, gender-based violence and homelessness, both locally and internationally, as well as chairing the Platform Against Homelessness.

She joined the MASW Executive as she is extremely proud of my profession and believe that MASW is essential in uniting social workers and ensuring that the profession gets the recognition it deserves. She feels privileged to contribute in any way she can to the promotion of our profession which will essentially increase our professional standing, enhancing our voice and making our fight for change more possible, as we really are stronger together.

Aimee Zammit GrechMemberships Officer

Aimee is a senior social worker who is currently working with the Agency for the Community and Therapeutic Services within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services. She has been working as a social worker for 11 years and she has mostly worked in a multidisciplinary team within the Mental Health Services where she ensured that a social model was implemented and that the social work identity was maintained. She had the position of team leader for one of the multidisciplinary teams for 4 years. Concurrently, she also contributed for nine years to train staff members both within the Mental Health services as well as other entities in verbal and physical de-escalation techniques in order to reduce, prevent or resolve escalation or conflicts. She was also on the forefront to promote mental health awareness as well as facilitating mental health support groups and recently a social work group. Additionally, in the past years she has co-facilitated a programme for perpetrators of domestic violence.

Her areas of interest in social work are social work in mental health, gender equality, community social work, enhancing the social work profession and the social work identity, alleviating oppression and promoting equality.

In her free time, she expresses herself through art with special interest in portraiture and art research.

Maria Borg Pellicano Continuing Professional Development

Maria Borg Pellicano is a warranted social worker. During these last five years, Maria worked as a social worker in the areas of adoption, with patents at Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre, and is currently working with vulnerable women involved in prostitution. Maria also worked in residential settings, particularly in the disability sector. Maria is actively involved in voluntary work within communities both locally and abroad, and she is motivated in the struggle for social justice. Maria initially started off with a B.Psy course from which she graduated in 2011, and then continued reading for a degree in social work. Maria is currently reading for a master’s degree in Occupational Psychology at the University of Leicester.

Andrew Azzopardi Media Officer

Andrew Azzopardi is a qualified social worker and specialises in safeguarding children. He worked in the public sector as a practitioner and manager, where he completed complex child protection investigations and worked with asylum-seeking children. He previously worked with the NSPCC in England where he completed risk assessments and offered therapy in child sexual abuse cases with both victims and sex offenders. More recently he headed the safeguarding investigations team at the Football Association in England. Andrew holds a masters degree in international politics and human rights from City University London. Andrew is the Head of the Safeguarding Commission and Director of Kummissjoni Ejjew Ghandi.

Nicole VellaSHS Student Representative

Nicole is currently reading for the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Social Work at the University of Malta and is occupying the role of vice-president within Studenti Ħarsien soċjali, a student organisation representing Social Policy and Social Work students at the same University. She has been involved in volunteering since 2017 and is honoured to represent students on the MASW board.