Why we do what we do

 After my recent return to work I have been catching up with everything. I went through the over 3000 emails I came back to and sorted all my IT issues.

I am now back on the system and have cases allocated to me. This has meant that I feel more like I am back at work. One of the things I have had to do is update some documentation from cases I worked on before I went on maternity leave. I didn't expect this to have an impact on me but when I went to look at them and realised that of the four I need to update, two of them had passed away. This reminded me of the trickier side of our job, one of the people was someone I worked with for a long time and the first time I met them they were still at home with a package of care. I saw them go through all the stages that lead to the end of their life but was not there at the very end.

It hit me hard when I saw this and found myself trying not to cry. I am quite an emotional person so me crying isn't a big shock but it just really hit me in this particular situation.

We go into cases with the expectation that our involvement will end, this is the point of our job. To support people to achieve their desires outcomes and no longer need us. It can be easy to forget that sometimes this can be due to death as opposed to a positive outcome. This reminded me of this in one sharp shock.

I was speaking to a family member after this and commented on the fact that I had felt upset that day because someone I worked with previously had passed away and they reminded me that I did what I could for them when I was involved. That I made sure they got what they wanted or needed and that's what my job is all about. That although I can't stop the inevitable at least I made sure that the end of that person's life was as comfortable as it could be and that they were getting what they needed.

It can feel sometimes that people outside of the job don't understand what Social Workers do but having that conversation made me feel like I was seen for how much work I put in.

People will only know what we do if we tell them. There is very little understanding out there about what a Social Worker is because unless you or someone you know have had involvement why would you. It is not a common role that is talked about regularly like others are. We need to educate people because they or someone else may need support in the future and not realise that we can do that. I have definitely explained my role to people before now and they have realised that it could be what someone they know needs.