‘You cannot take people’s pain away’: social workers share best and worst advice

Advice given to Community Care readers ranges from the optimistic to comments unlikely to feature in any recruitment campaign

By Luke Stevenson on January 25, 2016 in Honesty, Inspiration, Stand Up For Social Work, Support

Last week, Community Care published a video about the best and worst advice some social workers had received. We asked our readers what advice they would give others, as well as to share some of the wisdom provided to them in their professional lives.

The responses ranged from the optimistic to the downright disheartening. Several people, who are unlikely to feature on any recruitment campaign posters, warned social workers off joining the profession altogether.

But aside from that, social workers did find some pearls of wisdom:

Photo: OJO/REX (Words added by Community Care, from Shannon Heffner Bank)

@CommunityCare BEST advice, "make your own mind up, your opinion is worth the same as anyone else's, always watch for confirmation bias"

— The Scarperer (@padraig48) January 23, 2016

Keep calm, use your humour,stay positive, good attitude to work helps manage the stress. – Zajac Poziomka (Facebook)

Photo: Rex Shuttershock (Words added by Community Care, from Andrew Reece)

https://twitter.com/take2mums/status/690921144258531328

You can only do what you can do – Aurelia Lea (Facebook)

Photo: Blend Images/REX Shuttershock (words added by Community Care, from Steve Vaudrey)

"He looks angry, but he won't hit you." #worstadvice https://t.co/fv6LcKfYa7

— Masked AMHP (Retd.) (@MaskedAMHP) January 22, 2016

Management always say it’s an emergency, it usually isn’t. – James on Community Care

Photo: Rex Shuttershock (Words added by Community Care, from Eliza EM)

https://twitter.com/ingridrich86/status/690289642260819968

The best advice I was given was to make sure you have a good reputation, listen, think and be responsive to others. – Clare on Community Care

Photo: Rex Shuttershock (Words added by Community Care, from Picto)

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3 Responses to ‘You cannot take people’s pain away’: social workers share best and worst advice

Anne Stevens January 26, 2016 at 6:48 pm #

Paperwork unfortunately is the most important thing to managers.
Ann Lowe January 26, 2016 at 10:42 pm #

Under promise and over deliver – never let people down
Graham January 28, 2016 at 3:34 pm #

Remember you are an officer of an elected local authority, not Robin Hood, the Lone Ranger or Zoro. This sounds boring but it will help you stay within the bounds of what is possible, rather than what you would like to do in an ideal world and if you make a genuine mistake your employer is ultimately responsible for your actions (so long as you work within their policies and procedures. Yes I know it is dull but it is the best bit of advice I ever had and has kept me safely in the profession for 35 years.