This is your opportunity to show off! Share with the world something you have done as a social worker that you are really proud of - it could be big or small. Positive stories about the difference social workers make are rarely reported and we want to change that. We wrote this week about a social worker who had been working with the same foster couple for 30 years - and had had an amazing input into their lives and those of the 34 children they had fostered. We want to hear more stories like that - it's about time social workers learned to show off!
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i did something i am proud of. yesterday i went to visit a lady who was very distressed, she has been diagnosed as having BDP and this week she has been feeling very low. it took a while of talking to her before i got to what was upsetting her, one of the things was she felt as though she couldn't keep her house clean anymore, to me it looked fine but it was obvioulsy really upsetting her. i asked whether she would like me to put the duster round whilst i was there but she replied that it was not my job to do that, i said that my job is to support and try and ease her emotional distress anyhow to cut a long story short i ended up mopping her kitchen floor and i am proud of this as it was a small thing that i did but it eased part of her worry and enabled her to relax on the sofa with a relaxation CD after i had left
I am often told that I am a commited social worker, I am really very chuffed about it and often think am I? But I know I am, 7 years in to the job I'm still commited. So what I am proud of is that I am commited.
I went to see a woman on the day she was told her husband had died. He had been abusive and violent but he was all she had. She was angry, abusive and aggressive towards me but she needed help. I went back a few times. Each time she'd swear profusely. I think over time I realised she was trying to make me reject her as others had throughout her life. I took the district nurse and OT to see her and they all refused to go back because of the abuse. Over time, the neighbours that had been frightened of her husband, came in to see her with me. They remembered her from when they were children in the local area. Together we got her registered with a local doctor (not so easy with someone who is housebound and curses at every nurse who crosses the threshold). We introduced slowly, a care package and a more sturdy OT! Cleaned the place up. She came to life in an unbelievable way. One morning I had a call from the care agency telling me her carer had found her dead in her chair (the nice new chair the OT had provided). My office was minutes away so I went up to meet the carer at the flat. We waited together for the ambulance to come. I honestly thought that the last couple of years of her life had been good ones where she had made links that she hadn't been able to for years - and it was partly through my stubborn insistence that abusive language can be used as a defence mechanism.
More recently, I was allocated a man with severe depression. After a couple of weeks it was clear that he was deteriorating quickly. It was the first MHA assessment I did after I got my warrant. He had seen me come into his home and then he saw me in a completely different light when I had to sign the section papers and tell him he was detained. Unsurprisingly he was incredibly angry with me. I gave him some space and then eased my way back. On his discharge, I saw him three times a week at home, then twice and still now see him weekly. The visits and the time have seen him through a diagnosis of cancer and his own mother's death. While not 'cured' he is functioning in a way that have been unbelievable a year ago - of course it isn't just down to me, his medication has changed too but I have been able to see him through that.
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to carry out a MHA assessment in a hospital ward. The man concerned was unwell but although the doctors were happy to detain him I felt we needed to at least explore other options. He wasn't sectioned and he went home with support. That was a decision I took and I was glad that I felt able and confident enough to challenge the medical opinions.
Honestly, I could go on, the more I think about it, the more I think about the positive stories and the times things work out. Actually things work out a lot more than they don't work out.
I think we should all be proud of the work and do it well every single day despite being run down by the media and followers of that media.
I am really proud that I have worked so hard that I will get a 1st when I graduate this year. This time last year I thought I would barely scrape a pass. As I did not get a statutory placement I will be a very well qualified unemployed social worker - thanks Ed Balls! I bet you are really proud too.
Organising and running 'Believe in me' on 25 Sept at the Stafford gatehouse Theatre. It was damn hard work and cost me a packet but I know that at least I tried
It's hard I know ...but you have to try.....go on
One of my first cases as a newly qualified worker was a 70+year old lady who was then in a residential care. When I first met her she was ranting and raving at everyone in sight. She had been diagnosed as bi polar and had been placed in res care as a result of a suicide attempt. She had suffered years of abuse at the hands of family members. I worked with her advocate and between us we moved her out of res care and into sheltered housing. Together we supported her in making her own decisions and in making the first nervous steps back to independence. I accompanied her (at her request) on tentative shopping trips; to doctors appointments and liaised with her CPN who eventually discharged her from MH.
On my last visit I felt so proud to see her sitting in her flat surrounded by all of the belongings that she had regained the confidence and ability to chose for herself.
And if that is not enough for the Sun snoozepaper - I used to be a checkout chick so perhaps I could be nominated for their 'Unsung Heroes' award to find the best supermarket cashier????
· Getting a phone call as Duty Senior sometime in the 80’s, from a senior counsellor in a drug rehab community in the south of England, and recognising the voice of a young man I once accompanied to meet a Sheriff to help him explain why he shouldn’t go to jail for breaching his Probation, but instead get a second chance at rehab.
· A bit of student work – a wee girl putting herself in harm’s way because she was becoming alienated from her mother. I did nothing – I listened to her, I listened to her mother. I paraphrased what each was saying to the other, then they fixed it themselves. No Carefirst, no quality audits, no forms.
· Supporting two parents with learning disabilities to live in the community (in the 80’s – not very common then) with their 2 kids, one with profound multiple disabilities, one with no disability at all. I hear she’s now a nurse.
· Overhauling a community occupational therapy service with the outcome of waiting times down from 12 months to 2 weeks or same day for urgent referrals. (OK, I was lucky, there was a bit of money around) That meant quite a few people were able to resume going to the toilet unaided – I’m quite proud of that too!
· Supporting a team of workers to learn how to be the best palliative care support workers they can be.
On balance - yeah, this is a good job as long as you put your head over the parapet and get out there to make a difference, regardless of the fear. But we need to put the hems on this creeping "Quality auditarianism" which leads to defensive practice and jobsworthism. There's nothing there that will make us proud.
Hello you've done the service proud. 'Auditarianism' come on you're having a laugh - let us all in!!!! Did you refuse to audit or what ? I am absolutely fascinated at the choice of words. I'm proud of you too.
There is nothing inherently wrong with auditing as long as what is being audited and why are clear and that the end result is an 'action plan.'
We need to differentiate auditing from meeting Performance Indicators (PI's) and we need to ensure that BOTH also take into account QUALITY.
Thanks Mary.
"Quality auditarianism" was the phrase and it was the best I could come up with for the phenomenon of hordes of people (who never actually see a client) rushing about measuring all the wrong things - or worse, making up forms for practitioners to measure all the wrong things. And remember, every one of them pulls down a wage similar to or greater than a social worker and therefore represents (whatever the benefits they bring and they must bring some....surely?) a missed opportunity to help some folk who need it. It's one of the list of suspects, in my view, for Haringey's tribulations.
Go and read some David Brandon.
I am proud every time a client moves on a Client moves on and either needs our service no more or in a less dependent more empowered way.
Or when we provide evidence to enable SSD collegues force closure of unfit facilities or evidence to keep good ones open - no matter what Central Government 'dogma' dictates 'should' happen.
Chris Close
http://www.a-i-darlo.com
Advocates such as myself more often than not share good and bad experiences with Social Work colleagues at the ‘coal face’ with a wam heart; no our problem tends to be with the ‘Miss’ managers with no heart at all who seem to work to a resource led agenda where no item is headed
"how can we be kind to our clients and deliver meaningful social care"?
That does not seem to be an 'agenda' item for the proper people who dictate policies which seem alien to the needs of the really 'proper' people - the vulnerable and disabled.
Hi Colin,
I actually knew David Brandon funnily enough, and of his involvement in homelessness and the making of Kathy Come Home and Edna the Inebriate Woman. Lovely, clever and radical chap unless you had the temerity to disagree with him. I have seen him reduce students to tears in lectures for opposing the argument he was putting forward. Thanks for clearing that up.
Mary B
Hi Mary
Re David Brandon - Nothing to do with the subject of the post but it's really interesting to hear some of the other dimensions of the man. I knew he was driven, but never knew that about him, never having met him. All I did was admire his writing.
Have you read this?
http://www.infed.org/archives/e-texts/brandon_compassion.htm
Anyhow, I suspect he wouldn't have much time for the New Labour modernisation project in its present form.
Not really sure at the moment, but I have been asked by various different organisations to work for them so I guess I start the networking process and see what they can offer.
It is a shame as I enjoyed my job and was mentoring NQSW, mentoring on the specialist role and also mentoring and supporting other social workers in court work (I have a lot of experience in this field), but they now want to move me away from this and I don't accept it. You gain all these skills and then don't allow you to develop them, and they wonder why there is a problem in social work!!
Nice link!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/mar/17/world-social-work-day
Hi Kymb21,
I am so sad about your decision to leave and how short sighted of your management team but how typical. It will be your colleagues and children and families loss !!! That will be your legacy. I expect there will not be any shortage of agencies requiring your expertise but it's not the same. I miss social work every day, but I don't miss the other rubbish.
My very best wishes, Mary B
Having tried as an Agency manager to change things I can but sympathise - there is so much wrong and cultures which actively prohibit honest and caring workers speaking out positively.
In all my 37 years in the profession never have I experienced such high levels of concern and frustration - we now have to battle the Information technology supposed to assist us and meeting targets seems to take precedence over the quality and effectiveness of our work.
I am sick and tired of politicians seeking to score cheap political points at the expense of what is really needed - where in the Laming Report and subsequent political statements is there any reference to really examining what social work really OUGHT to be all about and what constitutes a workforce that it truly fit for purpose? Making social work a Masters profession is not the answer otherwise there would have already been significant improvements as the effects of degree entry took place. A level of academic knowledge and expertise is essential but just as much is the clear passion and commitment evidenced in the posts of Mary Brady , for example.
I too wish you well and am so pleased that my career is at the end rather than just commencing - I have been through many good times and feel that I have achieved quite a lot for some people that would not now be possible in the current climate and culture.
Rupert M: In all my 37 years in the profession never have I experienced such high levels of concern and frustration - we now have to battle the Information technology supposed to assist us and meeting targets seems to take precedence over the quality and effectiveness of our work.
What a sad indictment. I'm not sure that I'm prepared to take the chance that after 37 years I'd be saying the same thing. What are your thoughts on the future of social work Rupert? Is there any room for optimism?
Thanks for the messages of support and I entirely agree with the sentiments expressed by both yourself and Rupert. I have been working for the Local Authority for 12 years and am frankly fed up with the numerous changes which don't alter anything and when making these changes, they never seek to ask frontline practitioners how to improve matters.
I am currently in a team which I love and we all support each other, but 'management' do not recognise this and are placing us where they consider we need to be (and in my case in a team where none of my skills and expertise will be utilised). I informed management that social work is a stressful and demanding and it is only by operating in a team which offers you the security, safety and containment that you are able to work to the best of your ability - but this has fallen on deaf ears yet again.
I have a colleague in another county who is going through a similar process, however in this county, youth workers and education staff are supervisiong social workers. Although their skills are to be respected, it does not help social workers who need casework management and need support from those who know the law and the processes.
I never entered social work for money or prestige (thank god, because this is unlikely to ever happen) but because I truly wanted to work alongside children and their families, but this has been curtailed due to ICS and the various performance indicators taking priority over relationship.
I suspect kymb21 you may have, as a team, seen to be getting too powerful ? Am I right ? Resonates with me as the fact we were such a good, strong team and together was seen as a negative by a particular management team, who wanted the service at the level they could cope with, and now they've got it !!!! I say no more. I would not and will not be part of conveyor belt social work, which cuts corners, fudges mistakes and bullies staff, because they themselves are inherently weak. If the majority were in private industry they would be long gone.
Beggars belief being supervised on serious cases by those without any knowledge and how dangerous, not only for the customers but for practitioners. That way spells disaster.
I have lots of positives through the years and am still in touch with former colleagues and managers (including a brilliant agency Service Manager). I still do some informal social work, helping grandparents fill in forms as regards Residence Allowances for their grandchildren and giving advice. Two sets of adopters write and send photographs each Christmas. One starts his letter by saying, Hello lovely social work lady !!!! That's my legacy and no one can take that away.
In response to your question 'Grinch' as to whether there are grounds for optimism I would say that there have to be - I don't see them as being in the near to medium-term future though.
Sadly, and tragically, throughout my social work career high profile Public Enquiries used to produce improvements - even though they were not always sustained - but in the cases of Victoria Climbie and 'Baby P' I am distressed that the underlying and, often, basic errors are not being addressed across agencies. ICS is utterly unhelpful and to those practitoners involved in its emergence I wonder who they are and whether they still feel as positive - were they ever really front-line practitioners within Children & Families work and with a depth of understanding around Child Protection. ICS does not 'tell the child's story' in any easily retrievable format and that is potentially, if not actually, dangerous. There are around 20 suppliers of ICS, I believe, why did the Government never insist on a uniform system that WORKED? Some local authorities have gone for cheap options which seem incapable of ever becoming 'fit for purpose.'
The optimism? - it's around the individual improvements that we can, and DO, make to peoples' lives providing that we alwats act honestly, openly and ethically and stand up to our employers - and that is no easy ask. Too many senior managers have got there through compliance rather than challenge and they KNOW that things are severely wrong but don't speak out.
Hi everyone
I have attempted to move sections of this thread to a new forum - but unfortunately the system isn't letting me do it, so only two posts have been moved across. Apologies for that.
However, can I ask people to use this thread to talk about things they are proud of in social work and set up a new thread for different discussions?
Thanks
Ok got the message, over and out.
I joined Facebook 4 days ago and one of my previous young people "found me" and sent me the following message.
"hey ****** long time no see lol if ya eva on when im plz have a chat with me iv gorra lot of sh*t to say to you you are a f***** star i know i wasnt the best child to look after and i know you did think i was on a dead end road bt no iv changed my life around i havent been in trouble for over two years now and would really like to say thank you for every thing you always were a star and luv ya to bits and miss ya laughin lol take care i only wish i could wake up to a mum like you take care hit me up some time R.I.P JADE x x x xx x x x x x x x GOODY that is lol x"
This is why Im proud to be a Children's Social Worker
I was driving to work listening to the radio in the mist of Baby P. Low and behold, positive remarks were made about social workers! As I am a channel surfer I do not know what station I was listening to but thanks for the vote of confidence!
The presenter said that Social Workers are under valued, they do a good work, help keep families together, and prevent children from dying.
Well done Social Workers for all the committment you give your clients and for all the hard work that goes unnoticed. We should be valued but our profession is dammed if you do, dammed if you don't. I am cetainly proud of the work that I do and pleased I chose my profession.
rickthrn: I joined Facebook 4 days ago and one of my previous young people "found me" and sent me the following message. "hey ****** long time no see lol if ya eva on when im plz have a chat with me iv gorra lot of sh*t to say to you you are a f***** star i know i wasnt the best child to look after and i know you did think i was on a dead end road bt no iv changed my life around i havent been in trouble for over two years now and would really like to say thank you for every thing you always were a star and luv ya to bits and miss ya laughin lol take care i only wish i could wake up to a mum like you take care hit me up some time R.I.P JADE x x x xx x x x x x x x GOODY that is lol x" This is why Im proud to be a Children's Social WorkerNormal 0 Do all the Good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.
I'll tell you this if something like that ever happened to me I would just be so proud. That is absolutely lovely.
I set uo Stress Free Caring In the City at the Albany Deptford and now I blog on Stress Relief for Social Workers, costs me a packet too but I love it! http://www.reducesocialworkerstress.com/blog
Frankie,
Well done on your expected 1st for a start! :-)
Don't despair about not being employed, my placements were all non-statutory and yet I was employed by a local authority children and families team where I have now worked for the past 6.5 years.
Good luck
Lily x
I am proud that I am a Social Worker. I work in a statutory C&F team and have been there for 6.5 years. That makes me proud.
My job is complex, challenging, upsetting and difficult but I know that the children I work with get the best from me and I fight their corner in court, with managers, with schools and with parents.
I have received cards from children I have worked with saying thank you for helping them. I have watched children settle with adoptive families and blossom. I have shed tears for children who are in terrible positions and then worked my backside off to help them get what they deserve.
I have had time off sick with stress and returned to work even more determined to aim high for the children I work with. That makes me proud because faced with a complex case load, ICS, a lack of supervision, debatable 'management' and interesting office politics, I could have walked away and opted for more money and less stress elsewhere.
I have managed to keep hold of the fact that no matter what ICS demands of me, the most important thing is seeing children and working with families. Alerts that tedious and irrelevant paperwork is about to become over due make my in-tray more colourful to look at.
I am proud to supervise a Senior Social Work Assistant and to be a Practice Assessor for student Social Workers.
I have completed my PQ Specialist Award despite all the stress from work and that makes me proud.
I am proud when people ask me what I do and hear them say that it takes some special to do that work.
For all Social Workers this is a tough time. One where few if any of the great things we do get noticed. We work hard often at great personal cost to ourselves and our families to protect the children with whom we work. Long hours, impossible workloads and then theres the paperwork which seems to never end.
I know and work with some fantastic social workers all who are frustrated, worn out and suffing constant criticism. The job used to be something I was proud of but it now one that you share with caution as its at times not safe to admit to it, knowing that as soon as someone knows your vocation it often leads to a critical discussion regarding their perception of our failures leaving you further frustrated.
I still remain very sad about the life baby P, Jasmine Beckford and many other children have been forced to live through, however perhaps society / the media and managers should be placing the blame where it belongs and thats with the proceedures that tick boxes and keep us tied to our desks rather that with our precious children.
I have been in the job for 11 years now and have successfully compleated over 40 sets of care proceedings which have given those children a better life, I've seen some parents with support get a second chance and have their children back following beating addiction and I've had the privelidge of seeing them get on with their lives as a happy family unit but it hard and takes its tole on you as a person.
I dont think anyone will ever understand what its like to have to tell a parent that you are taking their child away potentially for good, unless you have done it. Yes its often the right thing to do the last resort but that does not help us much when our heads hit the pillow at night. Then there 20+ weeks of care proceedings before you can secure the childs future.
For me its been the most difficult and challanging job I've ever done. One where I could share all day about the beautiful children who have a better life not just because of me but with the help and hard work of foster carers, courts, guardians, agencies like the NSPCC and at times the parents.
We are human beings and we make mistakes like anyone when under pressure but we do our best in impossible situations but our achievments often go unoticed our mistakes investigated and remembered forever. Yes we need to be accountable, monitored and investigated but wheres the balance we will probebly never see awards for social workers despite having them for most other vocations.
I've been in the job for 11 years and now find myself in the misdst of trying times, under investigation's that will either make me or break me who knows? When I can honsetly say I did my very best.
I remember removing one child in the street with the police from a mother who loved her child but was incapable through drugs I will never forget the look in her eyes the pain as I took her precious little one away and I saw how lost she became, and the look in the childs eyes as I placed him in my car. I did not sleep that night! But in contrast I also remember standing with the childs new mummy and daddy at the adoption hearing and seeing the look in that childs eyes at having a new family safe and secure moment that makes me want to go on and one I will never forget.
To all of you out there 'suffering' but 'doing' 'hang in there' and remember the good things the looks in our childrens eyes the sucess and the protection we provide on a daily basis.
Please, Please let us see balance and improvements that help us make more of a difference.
To rickthrn:
Good on you, that Facebook message makes it all worthwhile.
Proud to be a social worker? well yes. When one young person finished her Order she thanked me for help and support I had given and commented that I was the only YOT worker she had been able to get on with. A young man was about to spend another period of time in a YOI, but chose this time after 5 years continually being naughty to tell me about his past and what realy happened. He only did this because he said he felt safe with me and I was like a friend (even thought I had previously breached him on his order and often gave him a hard time). I am actually proud of many of the young people I worked with, because on occasions I was priveleged to see their potential. I am proud that at times I had the courage to challenge the system where I saw things that were just wrong, even though it didnt always make me Mr Popular. I am proud of lots of things.
Thanks for all you 'proudest moment' stories - some really compelling tales. We've been working on a series of pieces about the day-to-day lives of social workers and their achievements as part of our campaign to educate people and build respect for social workers.
To see what we've written so far visit: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/04/29/111428/positive-images-of-social-work.html
There are more in the pipeline, so keep an eye out online and in the mag.
If anyone is interested in being interviewed, please do email me.
I'm proud. I am proud of a client I had, a young woman with two small children who had been serially abused, mutilated, raped and battered since childhood, sexualised and raped by her father and other family members, then again in the care system and kidnapped and abused by a member of her church while her baby son was imprisoned in another room - then handed from one abusive man to another. She hated and feared social workers and anybody from a 'caring' profession. She prostituted herself and used heroin. I am proud because we worked together, through some real hard times, just trying to get to see her was very hard at first then to talk with her and her kids, there was plenty of resistance and anger, she set tests for me, would I hurt her, would I succumb to her sexualised behaviour like many of the the other men in her life, would I rob her, would I manipulate her or try to tell her what to do. Eventually she wanted to talk and I let her. I am proud of that. It was another test - would I listen to her story in all of its detail without offering advice or minimising, or trying to rescue her.
I am proud that I stuck with it and we got through it. We talked about her dreams and how far away they were in reality, what she could do to move closer to them. She made plans, we explored options and the possible outcomes of her choices. I am proud that her kids remain with her, I am proud that she is off drugs, off the streets and at college. I am proud that she is being a mum, just like she dreamed of, just an ordinary mum. I am proud that she has achieved her dream..
She calls me sometimes just for a chat, to tell me how she is doing. Every Christmas she sends me a text. I finished working with her nine years ago and she moved away, but still she texts me. I am very proud. I taught her that men can be different. She taught me that beauty is in the ordinariness of every ordinary day.
newbie, cb, ChrisClose and Bear - Wow, you guys do an amazing job and deserve to be proud of the unique contributions you make to your communities. It's so helpful for me as a journalist to read your posts and understand the techniques you use to make inroads with your clients, and it's so refreshing to hear so many positive stories in the current climate. I hope other journalists in the mainstream media will take note.
But it's important to remember you do have many supporters out there, the latest champions being Scottish politicians - see our story here
I am proud to be part of a profession with people like the previous posters, and feel very humble by what my colleagues in *all* fields do day in, day out. i am proud to offer support to people/service users/clients who a lot of the time need someone "on their side" often in the face of great adversity.
I am proud of developing a new model AERO [ Aspirations, Encouraging, Realism and Openness] which is a practical tool and philosophy that childen can and do respond to and because of it seeing visbly happier children and parents.
That's what I came into social work for