Dr Damian Spiteri reflects on social work, education, community wellbeing and his decision to contest the upcoming general election with the Labour Party.
Most of my working life has been spent listening to people. Sometimes these were children and young people trying to make sense of difficult situations.
Sometimes they were families under pressure, professionals close to burnout, or individuals who simply needed someone to understand what they were going through.
These encounters have shaped me deeply. They have influenced not only my professional life, but also the way I understand public service.
For me, politics should never be distant from people’s everyday realities. It should begin with listening, with understanding, and with a genuine concern for what people are experiencing in their homes, workplaces, schools, care settings and communities.
My background is in social work, education and social policy. Over the years, I have worked as a school social worker, teacher, guidance teacher, lecturer and researcher.
I have worked with young people, students, professionals, and people facing different forms of vulnerability. These roles have given me more than professional experience. They have given me a close view of people’s hopes, frustrations and daily struggles.
I am currently a lecturer in social work and social policy at the University of Malta. Before this, I spent around ten years lecturing in health and social care at MCAST.
I also had the opportunity to lecture abroad, including at the University of York, a Russell Group university in the United Kingdom, where I was affiliated with the Think Ahead programme, which prepares social workers for practice in mental health settings. I also lectured in Scotland at the University of Strathclyde.
These experiences, both in Malta and overseas, have given me an international perspective on social work, education and public policy.
They have allowed me to see how different systems respond to social need, how professionals are trained and supported, and how important it is for services to remain connected to the real lives of the people they are meant to serve.
One central thing I have learnt throughout this journey is that policy is never just policy. Behind every decision, there is a person or a family who will feel its effect.
A service that works well can bring relief, dignity and stability. A service that fails can leave people feeling alone, unheard and powerless.
That is why I believe Malta must continue to strengthen the social dimension of its progress. Economic growth matters, but it must go hand in hand with quality of life, strong public services, healthy communities and respect for human dignity.
We cannot speak about progress only in terms of buildings, numbers and statistics. We must also ask whether people are living better, whether they feel safer, whether they feel listened to, and whether they can look to the future with confidence.
This is the spirit in which I am offering myself as a Labour Party candidate on the 10th and 12th districts. I do so with humility, knowing that trust must be earned, and with a strong belief that politics should be honest, present and useful in people’s lives.
Politics should be a means ensuring that children are supported, older persons are respected, persons with disability are fully included, workers are valued, and families know that help is available when they need it.
My commitment is to listen, to learn, and to bring to politics the same values that have guided my work in social work and education: compassion, responsibility, fairness and practical action.
Because at the end of the day, politics should always come back to people, always upholding their dignity, their wellbeing, and their hope for a better future.
Dr Damian Spiteri
Labour Party candidate — 10th and 12th districts
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