I am a 2nd year student on my 1st placement at a womens refuge for victims of DV. There are no social workers working in the refuge, only support workers. I have to write a practice analysis about the agency and define my role within it, e.g how does the role of a sws differ from that of a support worker. I am finding this difficult as I am carrying out the same work as the support workers and my practice supervisor ( who is a support worker) keeps telling me that whilst I am working there my role is that of a support worker. I have even had to argue my case about introducing myself to the service users as a student social worker. We have some service users who have had children removed and really distrust social workers. I felt it was dishonest not to tell them right from the beginning what my role is. Imagine if they found out after I had already built up a relationship with them.
I would appreciate any advice about how best to define my role as a social work student and clarify the difference between the role of a sws and that of a support worker.
Thanks
There is nothing wrong with being the only social work type. In fact since qualifying (very recently) I have not worked in a team with a social worker. Social work in the PVI sector tends to be that way. Although before I left my current job there were another couple of us. Your practice supervisor can be anyone so it shouldn't matter that they are a support worker, as long as your assessor is giving you that professional social work education.
Your supervisor is right to a certain extent, you are there to learn about their organisation and the work they do, and if that is support work, that that is what you should be doing. There are a lot of skills and knowledge to be gained from the ground work, especially as if you went to work for a local authority when you qualify you probably wont have much contact with your clients, so you need to be able to get that experience before being a decision maker of any kind. I agree you need to be honest that you are a student social worker; that shouldn't be hidden as it will be essential in terms of planning when you leave and having to end some relationships that you build.
I think you need to define your role as being a member of a team of support workers. If this is your first placement, your role is to engage with people and learn some fundamental skills... one of which will be the appreciation that social work is a very small part of the social care 'industry' and we must understand other people's roles and not fear carrying out those roles (as this is key to successful multi-agency working). Also though, it is important to understand your thought processes and how these MAY differ to your colleagues, as you may well be thinking about particular cases in a different way (considering legal aspects, theory, values and ethics etc).
Many people 'dont like social workers', but you will be surprised how often this can turn around. For example someone may hate every single social worker but think you're alright. Its all projection and in some cases it can be a tactical move to put fear into a worker (often considered in serious case reviews where workers have felt fearful and not conducted checks thoroughly).
There is a big difference between support workers and social workers... however, neither could do their jobs without the other. In the PVI sector I have found social workers tend to start on a higher grade with additional responsibilities, or working in very therapeutic ways, and support workers would support them in that (but you would definitely start in the same role if you hadn't got the ground work experience). In statutory social work, I imagine the social worker is more assessor/care planner/commissioner and the support workers are the provider.
I do think it is right that you are doing the same role, some will disagree. I just think its essential to build those skills and develop your thought processes around it... as this will equip you with the insight and ability to take on seemingly more complex work within your next placement.
Good luck with it and enjoy it!
Thank you. I am more than happy to be working in the support worker role and I am gaining valuable experience on this placement. The support workers that I am working with are very experienced and have a wealth of knowledge in this area.
Get all the knowledge you can. It makes us better people :)
I guess the only thing I would add to this would be that make sure you have opportunities or can be creative about meeting all your placement capabilities criteria. Have you had a meeting with your uni advisor and placement advisor? This is the perfect time to discuss areas such as how you will be introduced, how your role will be defined in the setting, what the university's expectations are of you on this placement, can this placement support you to meet these expectations etc etc!
Good Luck!
'You have a good opportunity to analyse the work of the Agency pointing out what they do and how well they do it.
You will need to be clearly aware of their remit / Terms of Reference / Policy Statements / admissions criteria / Child welfare and CP Policies / inter and multi-agency working etc. but how that all fits in with children's Human Rights (Right to Family Life etc.) and whether / what efforts are made to seek to address the behaviours of partners that have been deemed to be abusive - I say this because we know that many abusive relationships are not severed post admission / post discharge.
Iy may be that you conclude that the remit has to be limited to certain elements but you need to explain why and substantiate it if possible.
You need to be clear that you are not working as a social worker within the Refuge but you may well see the merits of that role being considered for the future - equally, you may well feel that employing a 'social worker' is not helpful / required / essential and may even be counter-productive.
Are their issues which you feel the Refuge is not addressing adequately? How are the needs of children & young people monitored? What is the policy of on-going Contact with the absent partner?
As 'Andy_Pandy' says learn all you can and try to be objective within the ethical basis of social work but positively critical as well.