As I step into the role of president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), I cannot help but reflect on my own decades-long career in social care and I do so with enormous pride.

From being with someone in their final days to helping a mum take their child to school so the family can stay together, to introducing someone to money after 20 years in hospital where they were not allowed any of their own. I can remember each of these people clearly and their experiences have helped make me the leader I am today. It has been a privilege to empower people to live the gloriously ordinary, or often extraordinary, lives they choose.