Supporting each other

 

I always find it interesting when I am speaking to colleagues who are either students or new to Social Work. There are so many aspects of Social Work that you don't realise are a thing until you attend certain training courses or get a particular case.

I was having a discussion regarding the various type of Mental Capacity Assessments that are carried out and although this is something we complete on a semi regular basis in our team we generally complete them for either place of residence or finances but there are a lot of situations where they are also done. One example of this is whether someone has the capacity to consent to marriage which is something that we do not see often, whereas for Social Workers in other teams this may be something they come across a lot more often.

There are so many different teams in a council that will all deal with completely different situations even though we cover the same geographical area because our client group is different. As I have mentioned many times before we get a lot of cases for older people which explains why we usually look at where they live long term, this normally happens when we are looking at either a move to Extra Care or Residential is the best option for their situation.

It is always so interesting when someone else discovers something that you have known for a little while and is so intrigued regarding the information. It reminds me just how much you are constantly learning in Social Work and having new experiences. There are so many regular changes to law and legislation but also there are things in place that can be easy to forgot or not even consider until it is directly mentioned to you. This is where the regular training that we attend and continued professional development that we complete on a regular basis are so important. It allows us to not only keep up to date on what has been changing recently but also have a reminder of information that we already know but had gone to the back of our mind.

I really enjoy helping students and new colleagues which is why in the long term I know that I want to be a Practice Educator and feel like it is something I would be good at because I have a good memory for information, am quite organised but I have also been told that I explain things in a way that people can understand. I have recently volunteered to have a student shadow me too which is something I am looking forward to.

In the past I have definitely volunteered for too much and overwhelmed myself so I am trying to be more mindful about what I agree to do based on the amount of time I have, especially with working part time. This was a decision I took time to think about and decided that because the majority of it is someone watching me doing my job as I usually would it does not actually add a lot of work to my schedule so I feel it is something I can do. I will have to complete a report but having looked over it, it will not take me a long time either.

This is something I know I will enjoy because I like sharing information and knowledge with people who are still training, it will also potentially give me a small insight into how I would find being a Practice Educator. Volunteering for this was an easy decision for me to make because it aligns with my long term plans so it is a good experience for me as well as not being something too overwhelming.

I feel like I have learnt from the previous overwhelmed feeling about how much I can actually handle and I have a good manager who makes sure that I do not take on too much based on the time I have available whilst I still have control over my own diary and how that is managed. It is so important to have people supporting you who keep your wellbeing in mind as well as your productivity and I am lucky with my support system.