I have yet to encounter a social worker who entered the profession for acclaim or prestige. It is a demanding career with long hours and ceaseless paperwork. Social workers are frequently overburdened in addition to being underpaid. Occasionally, they witness agonizing tragedy, fundamentally changing them. Having worked in social services for a number of years, I have had these experiences.
While undertaking an internship at a domestic violence clinic, I conducted an intake with a young woman who eventually returned to her abusive partner. Several months later, I was informed she had died at the hands of her abuser. While the vast majority of our experiences will involve successfully helping people overcome obstacles, there will be instances where despite our best efforts, human tragedy unfolds and people succumb to life’s challenges. In my opinion, this is one of the more difficult aspects of social work, but many people who enter the profession, including myself, trust the rewards will balance the tragedy.
The rewards associated with this occupation are why I remain in this line of work. I find professional satisfaction assisting people in overcoming adversity. I appreciate how this field, by its very nature, allows me to gain a deeper insight in understanding human beings, not only in what people endure, but what they overcome; it is inspiring. An additional reward has been my professional development through continuing education programs. Despite my experience,
Social workers are mandated today, yet workers fulfill dreams to help society in need, but also in their own lives. Every minute people all over the world suffers from a form of abuse. In this case social workers are a needed in helping to save someone’s life from physical, mental, sexual, and various other forms of child abuse. Social workers are underpaid for these reasons: women are in pursuit of this profession, the government’s judgment in the work filed, and not enough of the profession are geographically located.
Social work requires a diverse and demanding range of professional, emotional and cognitive skills. This shows that social work is a challenging and varied profession Most people have a natural ability for these skills however this report shows that social workers must have the basic set of skills and qualities in order to function well in any situation and to excel in their
The strength of the Social Work Reinvestment Act is the acknowledgement that social workers are under paid professionals and awareness of the unfavorable workplace conditions social workers may be subjected to work amongst which includes high risk situations that can be highly emotional and physically involved. “Social work salaries are among the lowest for professionals in general…Social workers who earn lower salaries are more likely to work in challenging agency environments, serve more vulnerable clines and leave the profession” (H.R. 1466, 2013).
Previous to my two social work courses, I knew very little about social work. I have seen two movies, Precious and Fathers and Daughters, that have shown the work and responsibilities of a social worker. In the movie Precious, a teenage girl who was raised in Harlem, was subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse. A social worker, Ms. Weiss, was assigned to her case to help her cope with her troubling life. Ms. Weiss displays the emotional struggle social workers go through while working with people who have been abused. We see this during the scene when Precious tells the detailed story of her sexual abuse from her father and Ms. Weiss cannot hold back her tears. I could see how that would be a very challenging fragment of social work
These social workers also reported that heavy workloads contribute to their stress. Social workers providing mental health services had the highest percentages related to stress resulting from working with challenging clients and from being underpaid (Huxley, P., Evans, S., Gately, C., Webber, M., et al, 2005, p. 1065). Considering their experiences of insufficient time to complete day-to-day work tasks, heavy workloads, poor compensation, challenging and/or difficult clients, few resources, long work hours, and unclear job expectations, it is not surprising that social workers experience work-related stress. A genuine social worker is not only experiencing these professional stressors but as Jon’s SC exemplify, they experience secondary trauma through their clients. Under these
The insert from the “ Beginning , Middles , and Ends : Sideways Stories on the Art and Soul of Social Work “ raises awareness on the things that newly social work majors should be aware of in deciding to pursue a career in social work. As a social work major, I find it interesting that clients might sometimes introduce an outrageous stories to see the reaction of the social worker. By telling these stories, the client wants to see the reaction of the social worker and how the social worker might proceed into asking collective questions to see how the person really feels about the situation. For example, in the insert, a woman comes into her social worker’s office claiming that her husband is having sex with their cows. As far off and strange this story might sound, it is up to the social worker not to place any judgement on the individual.
Being a social worker requires an understanding mindset, extensive problem solving capabilities, and compassionate heart. When asked what are the two things she enjoys most about being a social worker, Linda Moore instantly points out that she makes a difference. Social workers are better than most people at finding and utilizing resources, allowing them to help clients in ways that most people wouldn’t consider. She believes anyone can change with the appropriate opportunity and resources, which social workers aid in providing. Secondly, she enjoys the political aspect of social work, specifically in her macro focus. As a national organization, social workers can make policy statements and have resources on the hill to forward their position surrounding issues like healthcare, welfare and education. As far as aspects she enjoys the least about the social work profession, she states that no one really knows what social workers do. She states that no one realizes the political component of social work, and social work is commonly lumped in with
Throughout my interview with Mrs. Moore, I gained first hand insight of the social work career and learned components of the profession that a textbook could never elaborate upon. First, I learned the depth of the political aspect of social work, specifically surrounding Linda Moore’s macro approach and the influence as well as persuasion social workers can have in the political realm. Secondly, the sheer amount of paperwork required of social workers shocked me as I had no idea of the records required and documentation that must occur for every meeting with clients. Third, I realized that the social work profession requires a motivation and desire to help people and make a difference, opposed to monetary rewards. The noble and humble characteristics
I chose to write about some of the challenges that we as Social Service Workers will encounter both in and outside of the workplace. This is my personal point of view and based on my last two years at Centennial College coupled with some of my experiences during field placement. I created a list of some of the most common challenges that individuals face while working in this industry, and touched on the areas I found most trying.
I do understand that in this certain field of social work there will be a lot of stressful moments, and will witness heart-wrenching cases. It takes a strong person like me with a huge heart, to be successful in this career. I can also see the other side, where this type of work can be
In the article it discusses that social work is a very demanding field of work. Workers experience high levels of stress and burnout rates. The authors goes on to explain that the high expectations that social workers have on themselves from others and the expectations that they hold themselves to, ultimately affects their well-being (Graham & Shier, 2014). The article explains that social workers experience a lot of different situations and all of these situations take a toll on the social workers well-being. Graham and Shier explain that social workers experience violence, dangerous situations, burnout, vicarious trauma exposure and so much more. All of those things play a major role in what can lead to a social worker to become overwhelmed
Social working is an industry so vast and extensive, but consequently be so invisible if you have never been exposed to it. Going into the social work field you have to have the value of selflessness and great charity. A social worker’s education can range from with a bachelor’s to achieving multiple masters or a doctorate. This is not a field quite solely relying on an education, there is a wide range of competitiveness for social workers. The first step is getting on a licensing standpoint, and all of your education; in reality you need to make yourself an acceptable offering for the social workers’ competition field. Ordinarily, it is necessary to carry several references who can give an honest record of your aptitude. To find the correct qualities in a reference to make the perfect social worker applicable is dubious, because the difference in social workers and patients is numerous, furthermore positive results in practices, diverse.
One of the most painful lessons I have learned is that certain environments will limit you and people will treat you differently because of the way they perceive you. What drew me to this field is the compassion that most social workers have for people; however, based on my previous work environments, the workers failed to extend the same compassion to their cohorts. As a student, this has been difficult to see, and unfortunately, this observation was reinforced by an encounter I had with one of my supervisors.
In the social work profession, the primary goal is to aid and empower individuals or families who are faced with oppression, vulnerable in society, and living in poverty (Code of Ethics, 2008). Social workers strive to improve the welfare of those who need assistance meeting their daily basic essentials for survival. According to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Basic needs, a person requires five clusters to make them an integrated and self-motivated whole in society. The five clusters include: physiological needs; security needs; social needs; self-esteem needs; and self-actualizing needs (Aanstoos, 2014). The Code of Ethics is an important component that ensures that the profession is held to its highest standard and to protect the community. In this paper, the intern was placed at the Mobile County Department of Human Resources in the Adult Protective Services department and will be disclosing information about a particular case during their internship. To protect the clients and all parties associated confidentially within this case, material that could reveal their identity will not be discussed and only relevant information about the case will be addressed. The clients in this case have been both diagnosed with agoraphobia with panic disorder. According to the Social Work Dictionary (2014) agoraphobia is described as “an irrational and persistent fear of being in unfamiliar places or of leaving one’s home” (Baker, p. 13). Agoraphobia with panic disorder is a difficult
Social work is a thankless job. To others, social work is a helpful job. But to me, it’s much more than that. When I first tell people that I want to get into social work, their initial response is, “why?” I get it; social work is not for everyone. Growing up, I’ve always had the motivation to take care of people. Despite being the youngest in my family, I took on the role of being the oldest and felt the need to take care of my older brother who suffers from hydrocephalus. From going to medical appointments to preparing meals, the reversal role that I experienced has made me realize that even from an early age I adopted the role of being a caregiver to meet my family’s needs and to provide emotional support for my family. Being a caregiver for my brother has fueled my passion for taking care of others.