I cannot cope with my workload, I have so many cases I feel swamped and overwhelmed. I used to love my job but since my team became short staffed my caseload went through the roof. I am behind on everything, typing up reviews etc. I sit at my desk in the morning and do not know where to begin. I find it hard to concentrate and to focus as a result my pace of work is now very slow. It takes me ages to get anything done. I make stupid mistakes on the endless paperwork, I dread the phone ringing, my memory is shocking, I do daft things such as double booking appointments, getting times wrong. I have people chasing me has this been done?, when will that be ready? I feel constantly tired and drained. I dread having time off as I fear my cases will come up on duty and reflect badly on my practice. I work in a MDT setting- I know I am developing a poor reputation (overhearing whispered conversations between co-workers), that I am viewed as a useless ineffective worker. I find this especially hard as I used to get such positive feedback. I try to sit in our quiet room to catch up but I am so behind it seems impossible, especially when I feel as though I am endlessly covering duty due to the staffing situation. I have totally lost confidence in myself. I just feel like a liability, like a disaster waiting to happen. I have decided after yet another night of not sleeping that it is time to discuss with the team manager my problems and try to seek some sort of support. I have only been in the job 2 years and have cracked under pressure already. Is it just me or have others experienced similar problems?Although I know that stress is an issue is social work, I feel so isolated.
You need help now!
No matter how much you may be worried about your reputation and what may come out of your recent cases you cannot mend that or make it better in your current position.
You must make your manager aware of the situation, you may need a friend or colleague that you can trust to go with you.
If your organisation has confidential counselling through their occupational health section that might help, but in my opinion you are not in a position to transfer any such counselling into your workplace situation quickly enough to be able to help.
Your organisation has a "duty to care" but you need to articulate to them what the problem is.
If you have been qualified for two years I suspect you may have just been trying to suck up whatever your line manager allocates to you without pushing back and giving accurate feedback of your development needs and the appropriate pace for your development, because you don't want to feel as if you are not coping.
Have a look at this; http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/socialwork/safeworking.pdf
There is some advice generally for social workers to try to prevent getting into this situation, so you are not alone.
Strongly agree with Silver Sage. Please Fluffy, look after yourself and seek help immediately.
I've been where you are now, as I am sure many others in this fora have. It's a horrible place to be.
Try to keep in your mind that it is the size of the caseload and pressure of understaffing that is causing this....it is no reflection on you as a practitioner, so try not to let it erode your self-esteem as a practitioner. Easier said than done, I know, as this loss of self confidence is often a result of this kind of unmanageable workload.
Go to your manager and tell them exactly what you have told us. Talk it over with a trusted colleague first, someone who can help you maintain your self-esteem in all this, and who could maybe come with you when you talk to your manager. When you discuss it with your manager try to avoid blaming yourself. Stick to the facts that the situation is unmanageable, and ask them what are they going to do to help.
Take good care of yourself, as situations like this can be very detrimental to one's health and well-being.
Best wishes.
You manager should not have allowed things to get this far. I would strongly recommend that you see your GP and take some time off. Worrying about the rest of the team is not our responsibility its the management's responsibility, you have to look after yourself so that you can look after others. Don't feel guilty or worry. You need some time out to decompress and get yourself back to normal. When youa re off make sure you do some physical exercise daily, like walking to the shops or going swimming. It will help you more tha n you realise.
The unison scotland link above mentions that many organisations will have a 'stress at work' policy. I'd suggest checking to see if yours has, and have a read of it.
Would echo what others have said.
Also, I think the scenario will be common to lots of social workers, so you're not on your own.
It might be helpful to ask yourself; "could anyone cope with these pressures?" Since, it is easy to internalise the difficulties.
In the future, you might see the signs before it gets to this stage and be able to challenge or seek support earlier on- that's one of the difficulites of being newly qualified and trying to do it all to prove yourself.
As well as what everyone else has said...
You are only human
That is what you need to remember. You have identified the problem already. You are taking on more work than you should because of staffing issues. A team that is short staffed is naturally overworked. Maybe because you have been so on top of things in the past you have wrongly been given more than you can reasonably handle because people have assumed that you will just get on with it and not complain about it. That doesn't make it right though and it certainly doesn't make you incompetent. If you were incompetent you wouldn't have ever received compliments and recognition for your work in the past.
Step back from it all and breathe!
People seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile.
You are getting in this state because you are trying to respond to pressures beyond your control.
Don't do it.
Prioritise your work and do it just as well as you did it before, when staff levels were adequate.
Don't allow yourself to sacrifice quality for quantity. It is easier to cope with not doing something, than doing it badly.
Maintain standards and your self respect will remain intact.
The cracks will remain as long as SWs paper over them.
It is a funding problem and the price should not be the health of the frontline workers.
Make a stand and encourage the rest of your team to follow you.
Tell youself you are not stressed, just bloody angry.
That way you will find the energy to fight.
Fluffy,
Read your post to my long suffering husband of 41 years. You explain you are in the post for just 2 years. I identify with you Fluffy, a most eloquent poster, - AFTER being 35 years in social work and having attained 'senior' sw status. My old boy said (no I'm not a right on feminist, he is my best buddy) that it was so sad that nothing seems to have changed for those in the front line, since I retired in 2009. He was also angry on your behalf.
Honestly and truthfully what help will you Fluffy really get ? That is the reality.
Com Care's strength will be your support - as this is where the forum's at its best IMO.
Nothing changes, sadly. When I mentored I felt obliged to convey the importance that SW's 'cover your arse as much as you can' (although I couched it in different language). All survival techniques. And pray to who ever/if you believe/ that the next Inspection or SCR doesn't have your name on it. We could not keep up - it was like that bloke trying to hold the tide back !! I tried and tried for years. Management speak left me cold as did most of the management appointments : Incompetence and *** bafflers promoted and totally unworkable systems. Maintaining a focus on the child at the center - well all good sound bytes !!!
I am sorry to be so cynical but I am really concerned at Fluffy's post.
Hi Fluffy and others,
I can't contribute anything beyond what the others have said as I am still just a student, other than to agree with what they have said - please seek help and advice as soon as you can, it's so important to look after yourself, and I hope that the words and experiences of some of the other posters are some help to you. Take time off as soon as you can, you sound like you really need a break.
Best wishes to you and hope things get better soon.
Wow
Horrid place to be in and not your fault. Everyone else as said all the right stuff.
One thing that needs reiterating is that nobody can do more than one persons work for long. That has been shown time and time again, nationwide our bright faced employers are pushing too hard to cover the gaps by trying to shove fewer and fewer workers in there.
Don't let the bastards grind you down. Don't own systemic failures as belonging to you.
Go get help.
People keep agreeing with everyone on this thread yet I don't feel my comments are really in line with others.
I don't think it is helpfull to collude about getting help type views, without knowing if outside help is what is required.
I start from the basis of inner strength and only seeking help as a last resort.
After all the OP seems to have plenty of insight and seems to be reacting to circumstances in a most understandable way.
If the response is appropriate, what do you need help with?
Still feel, all that is needed is to substitute anger for stress and live off adrenelin through the crisis.
Slowly fight starts to come back and the satisfaction of doing it alone far out weighs the people who ask if you see the glass as half full etc.
Worked for me but I accept we are all different.
Stop classifying the OP as dysfunctional until you know.
Seeking help does not infer a person is dysfunctional old stick.
Hi Fluffy, In New Zealand we have a Maori expression -Kia Kaha- it means be strong. I am a social worker and with recent earthquakes in Christchurch... the inference here is the issues arrising out of no office space to work in families with no homes, or hot or cold running water inadeqaute tools to cook,shop or just live normally this means poverty is on a scale never seen. Things are getting better -but the professionals who provide support in roles like yours are saying similiar things.
Its hard to be strong when our environment or support structures break down, but as humans we have to adapt and be resilient to our circumstances. in order to survive. If you find your struggling to adapt to your environment becasue there are things outside of your control. Ask yourself what can you control to return your self to a natural status quo. some stress is normal but the relentlessness of what your expereincing means you might find yourself not able to work and you need to find away to reprioritise your life so as to be able to function. if this means withdrawing gracefuly and resigining do it now, or take leave to reevalauate. But my adivce is "dont be afraid to act. To vascilate and allow things to get to point where you act uncharacterstically might create a future where your getting backl into social work could be problematic. I operate between social statatory adult services and voluntary /charitable services dipping in and out over the years between these work options -so as to allow myself a way of keeping myself fit to practice. Dont get railroaded into thinking you have no choices. Life is too short to allow a single job to dictacte how you should feel about yourself or life. A single job is also not wholly who you are remember that, and adapt to what works for you.
Regards
Bagheera444
O.P is not dysfuntional- this is so familiar in children's services. Help is not about personalising the problem-far from it. But employees do have a responsibility to their own health and safety and also to the service user. Which means if the workload is unmanageable, they should talk to their manager about what they need to prioritise- go through their diary and agree a plan.
Sounds like you need to talk with your manager/colleagues about reducing your caseload, saying 'enough is enough, my health comes first'. The problem probably doesn't lie with you so you have to question what you would gain from counselling or outside help when you're not the problem but the work is and the demands being placed on you are too high.
We're human beings, we have our limitations and breaking points. Hammer this point home to your manager. It really is disgraceful that workers find themselves in these kind of situations.
Fluffy, I came onto carespace today to write almost exactly the same post. I've been qualified a year and in my job the same length of time. I'm actually off sick today- a long-term physical condition which has flared up largely due to stress according to my GP- and all I could think about this morning was, can I afford to take time off sick. Even now, I know I'm not well enough to, but I'm battling the urge to go into work and do some work on a report or some admin.
The last month or so, I've been looking for other jobs in areas of social work which might not involve as much stress, pressure and enable me to remember what a life is (ie. not having to take my laptop home to work in the evenings and weekends simply to keep up). I've applied for a few in adults services, although I suspect it might not actually be any different. I've even given serious consideration to getting out of social work, wondering if it's actually worth the hassle.
I hate feeling like this- I still love social work, I just hate the system that makes me feel so stupid, an incapable, inefficient failure. I want to work in social work- but I also want a life, some leisure time, to be able to take a holiday now and then without feeling guilty about not being behind my computer finishing that report or that review... Is that so wrong?
Anyway, just wanted to say you're not alone.
Agree just wanted to say you're not alone.
queenb: The last month or so, I've been looking for other jobs in areas of social work which might not involve as much stress, pressure and enable me to remember what a life is (ie. not having to take my laptop home to work in the evenings and weekends simply to keep up). I've applied for a few in adults services, although I suspect it might not actually be any different. I've even given serious consideration to getting out of social work, wondering if it's actually worth the hassle.
QueenB, so that you know, in adult services we don't have to take our laptops home with us. Some SWs choose to. I point-blank refuse to do so, I've maintained this point for the 2 years I've been qualified. Work stays in work. Once that boundary has gone, you're opening yourself to real problems in my view. Take today and tomorrow as down-time, consider your options. I've spent ages looking at fall-back plans. One or two might even work...
'He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master' - HST.
"Stop classifying the OP as dysfunctional until you know." Your assumption, Shirack. It's not the OP that is dysfunctional but the immediate system that s/he is working in (massive caseload, understaffing, seeming lack of managerial action to rectify the situation) hence advice that they speak out - it's taking action and placing responsibility for the problems back where they lie - with the department and the manager, not with the OP. Re your comment on not knowing whether outside help is required, the OP states that they have decided to talk to their manager anyway.
Quick Reply
Selks;. you disagree with my posts, then plagiarise them. What are you taking?
Yes, it happens to a lot of people, you are not alone, though when going through something like this you feel very very alone. You need to talk to someone, quickly! Occupational Health ? Your Doctor ? Your Manager ? Everything you are feeling is sadly totally "normal" when stresssed, its very nasty and unpleasant and not something you can deal with alone.
It's called quoting them, Shirack. And I don't disagree with all your posts...
Hi
If you have an understanding and approachable manager they should only be too pleased to meet with you to discuss any issues that you have. If your manager is good, a plan of action needs to be drawn up. Dont see it as a sign of weakness that you are wanting support. Managers that i have had, appreciate honesty and if you are struggling it is part of their role to support you. You definitely appear to be suffering from work related stress. It is in the managers interests to support you as you are going to make you self ill. I have been in your position many times (I qualified 8 years ago) and it can feel that your world is closing in around you and that people are talking behind your back. i have come home from work this evening, stressed out, kicked the cat (only joking) and wanting to jack the job in. But i wont, because i do love my job and the positive affect I have on the clients that i support makes it all worthwhile. I will go in tomorrow, have a coffee and plan my day. You can only fit so much into a working day. What doesn't get done tomorrow will be done the day after. Plan and prioritise are the key.
My current manager shows an active interest in how the team are doing and is very keen to support us if we are having any difficulties. In August i was feeling overwhelmed with paperwork and after a chat with my manager,I was able to re prioritise my workload by not covering duty for a few weeks and pencilling work to be done, into my diary. This helped to address the backlog. Some two months down the line things are better.
You cannot do everything and you must learn to say "No" sometimes. The more you present as eager to help out the worse it will become. Concentrate on you and i am sure things will start to improve.
good luck when you see your manager and let us know how things are going.
Hi Fluffy
I can fully understand how you are feeling and identify that I am in the same situation as you and also several, no make that most of my colleagues.
I am fortunate that I can be honest with my manager about this. Their comment is to prioritise what needs doing first and actually this is one thing I am very good at. However as I discussed with my partner tonight - I am always having to prioritise the case that is most in crisis on that day and never get to manage properly the children hat desperatly need support but because they don't tip into crisis every week they are then not so visible on my case load.
I want to work in a planned preventative way and can't. I always knew though that this would be the issue with LA social work and promised myself I would only do this to gain some experience before taking my skills elsewhere. A lot of people I qualified with feel the same.
This therefore leads to a continual cycle of good social workers having enough and moving on to a less stressful and more rewarding environment so that the LA teams are then always operating with less qualified staff which in turn increases stress levels and the cycle thus perpetuates.
All I keep doing is shouting about how I can't physically manage, I am prioritising, recording every extra hour I do for TOIL and that if I haven't reached a dreaded 35 day timeframe for a Core Assessment well shoot me!!!
I know I am good at my job and I do still find even the challenges so rewarding and I 'enjoy' it...........it always feels slightly wrong to say you 'enjoy' the work given some of the horrors that we deal with but I hope you understand what I mean by this.
I just keep battling away and try to do my best.
Please Fluffy, get help immediately. It doesn't matter how long or short a time you have been in service. Your symptoms match mine 18 months ago. I did not at first seek help and became both physically and mentally ill. With no support from my managers I had to bite the bullet and seek help myself. I attended the counselling sessions on ofer by my local authority, even though they were scorned by my manager and senior, and on his advice visited my GP who signed me off for a couple of weeks. Even then it should have been longer, but I felt guilty agout staying off work. Take care of yourself, find some self help that works for you, for me it was meditation, friends and a self help book recommended by my counsellor. Don't leave yourself open to risks like this. You have to take care of yourself.
I think that you are suffering the symptoms of depression. See your GP and get some help immediately. You are not a failure, but ill. One in four people will suffer from a mental illness in their lives and stress at work has tipped you over. Stop trying to catch up, just tell your line manager that you have more work than you can cope with. It is vitally important that you get help now; the longer you wait the longer it will take you to recover. Good luck. Best wishes from someone else who cracked up!
After 10 weeks off with stress-induced depression (usual sick leave - two days a year) and seeing the symptoms in many of my team a few years ago, I called in the Council's Health and Safety Team to do a stress audit, having looked at material on the Health and Safety Executive's website. They were shocked by what they found and at the way we were being treated by Health colleagues and by our senior management which compounded already stressful work.. Did anything change? One of the bullies left after the whole team signed a letter threatening to take out a grievance (sure there were other factors too) and for a while at least senior management laid off us and treated us a bit more carefully (frightened of being sued probably). But by then I and half the members of the team were off for other jobs and a whole lot of experience and knowledge was lost to that specialist area of work.. Yes, I got angry and took action but I had to have the time off to look after myself and recover first. Good luck to all suffering stress from work, and others, please do everything you can to avoid it and be assertive about the support and working conditions you need to function effectively in the difficultt work you do.
fruitcake: I think that you are suffering the symptoms of depression. See your GP and get some help immediately. You are not a failure, but ill. One in four people will suffer from a mental illness in their lives and stress at work has tipped you over. Stop trying to catch up, just tell your line manager that you have more work than you can cope with. It is vitally important that you get help now; the longer you wait the longer it will take you to recover. Good luck. Best wishes from someone else who cracked up!
Fruitcake, I am sure that you mean well with your post but you cannot possibly say from reading a post on the internet that someone is suffering from depression and is ill!
How on earth did it come to this?? Regular effective supervision would have nipped this one in the bud. I'd be tempted to take your damn employer to the cleaners....
You are not alone and I believe most social workers in duty and safeguarding teams are feeling the same. I have been around a longer time and it is sad to report that we are not being listened to. The ICS (Integrated Care System) is a brilliant tool for performance management and ticking boxes. Perhaps if LAs continue to invest valuable money in a database system they will be able to develop it so that computers can be sat outside the houses and do the visits and see the children. I have read other threads on this site which talk about the paper files vs the database - in the locality where I work we are expected to maintain both - a real progress step but I seem to recall the words paperless office. Just give us a broom and we can sweep as we go! Not a constructive and/or helpful reply but I am a stressed out bordering on insanity social worker.
Hi Fluffy,
How have you been getting on? Did you speak to your manager?
I fully understand what you are going through, so much so that your post could've been written by me; I am even at the same stage in my career as you. In the end I had to go to my doctor who told me I needed time off, so I am currently signed off work due to stress. It certainly wasn't the outcome I ever wanted but enough was enough and I had to put my health (mental and physical) first.
If you haven't already done so, my advice would be to speak with your GP.
As Social Workers we are so committed to helping others that we forget to help ourselves. Please take care of yourself first and foremost.
Cherry x
sounds more like exhaustion to me. No need o confuse exhaustion with depression.
Selks: fruitcake: I think that you are suffering the symptoms of depression. See your GP and get some help immediately. You are not a failure, but ill. One in four people will suffer from a mental illness in their lives and stress at work has tipped you over. Stop trying to catch up, just tell your line manager that you have more work than you can cope with. It is vitally important that you get help now; the longer you wait the longer it will take you to recover. Good luck. Best wishes from someone else who cracked up! Fruitcake, I am sure that you mean well with your post but you cannot possibly say from reading a post on the internet that someone is suffering from depression and is ill!
If anyone has an understanding manager who will offer realistic solutions to the issues that the OP describes then can you please let me know when a vacancy arises on his/her team
I have yet to come across a sympathetic manager who will feed up to higher management about the stresses that their staff are constantly under and who will offer any solutions
If i hear 'we're all in the same boat' or 'it's the nature of the job' once more i'll scream!!
Yeah....team managers all too often don't seem to act as advocates for the team....only as enforcers for the senior management and the decision makers. I do recognise it must be a difficult job though, and impossible to wholly meet the needs of both the team and the dictates of senior management....which is why I would not do it. But it pisses me off that too many managers are happy to put the squeeze on the team rather than put up any kind of fight for them.
jelly_tot04: If anyone has an understanding manager who will offer realistic solutions to the issues that the OP describes then can you please let me know when a vacancy arises on his/her team I have yet to come across a sympathetic manager who will feed up to higher management about the stresses that their staff are constantly under and who will offer any solutions If i hear 'we're all in the same boat' or 'it's the nature of the job' once more i'll scream!!
Yes and yes. So, none of the OP's issues arise.
Selks: Yeah....team managers all too often don't seem to act as advocates for the team....only as enforcers for the senior management and the decision makers. I do recognise it must be a difficult job though, and impossible to wholly meet the needs of both the team and the dictates of senior management....which is why I would not do it. But it pisses me off that too many managers are happy to put the squeeze on the team rather than put up any kind of fight for them.
hear hear
I've had episodes of really high case loads actively working on many complex cases getting to the point where I was like you - getting to work in the morning and not knowing where to start. I emailed my manager and said no more allocations till further notice. Guess what? Still got allocations - just non-urgent!