Christmas Break

It is coming to the time of year where a lot of people have time off. Me included.

Some practitioners can find this difficult because they are concerned about what may happen with their cases whilst they are off. With the team that we work in you never know what is going to happen. This discussion brings us back round to how you find a work life balance or how you switch off from what is a difficult job. We can hold people's lives and futures in our hands so taking a break from that can feel difficult especially when there are situations where carers are struggling with carer strain and certain groups or social inclusion are their lifelines but they close down for Christmas. Especially the ones which are run by volunteers. I have noticed the same when it comes to playgroups and groups for young children. They all stop over the Christmas period which is understandable but it can also cause a lot of anxiety and make situations more difficult for people.

Christmas and New Year is a time when we find that as Social Workers we can either be really quiet or really busy. I think this happens because either families go to visit a family member they maybe don't see very often and they realise that they are struggling so they ask for help whilst they are still around to pick up the slack causing us to be busier or we are quiet because families are with the loved ones providing the missing support but once they return home that is no longer available.

Although it can be really difficult to almost “forget” your cases over the Christmas period I think it is important to remember that if you don't have the rest then you won't be any use to anyone when you come back in the New Year. You won't be able to pick up the slack or complete what needs doing because you have burnt yourself out worrying about the people you support. There is always a chance that something could go wrong even when you are just off for the weekend but this is less of a concern for people because they know its only a few days whereas when they have a couple of weeks off the stress level seems to increase because they do not know what they are walking into when they come back.

I find this because I work part time. I have a 4 day weekend every week so I am always logging on and don't know what I am coming back to. Anything can happen but I think it is important to remember that is someone is going to pass away for example it would happen whether you were in work or not and it is unlikely there would have been anything you could have done about it even if you were in. It extends further into the fear we can feel when we support someone to make a risky or unwise decision about their future. We can end up spending so much time worrying about them when they have been happy to take that risk on and are not concerned about it that we burn ourselves out and other people miss out in the future because we do not have the energy left to support them.

We are there to support people and of course we build relationships with them but we are not the only people who are there. We all have our own roles in peoples lives and ours is to make sure that their needs are met, they are receiving what they are entitled to and most importantly that their voices are heard.