One thing to be said about social work is that no two days are the same. We are expected to be so many different things to the people we support, sometimes even within the same visit.
We get allocated cases where we have bare minimum levels of information and we have to play detective. We have people come through who have never been known to social services or have just relocated area so there is not really anything to go on other than the referral to us. We may get names of who is involved but nothing telling us how. So it's down to us to speak to all the relevant people, decide how to proceed, does it need a visit with everyone, a multi disciplinary meeting or do we need to try and speak to the person on their own. Sometimes we don't even know until we arrive what we are going to discover and what seemed really complicated is actually very simple and vice versa.
If you add in any extra complications such as previous involvement from other local authorities you can spend an extremely long time trying to gather information that you cannot get from anywhere else potentially meaning that the person you are working with is getting a worse experience because there may be something they need or are missing that you would not establish from speaking with them or where there are capacity concerns they may not be able to tell you about.
On the flip side we get cases where there is so much information that you don't know where to start or what is actually correct. If someone has had a lot of involvement that suggests that their needs continuously change which could potentially mean something written just a few months ago could be completely irrelevant now. The tricky thing about it all is that sometimes someone has had minimal involvement or support but just deteriorates really quickly so you almost have to restart the whole process because how they were managing a short time ago is not the same any more so all the detective work already done goes out of the window.
Obviously we always advocate for the people we support but there are definitely occasions where you end up being the advocate specifically because there is nobody else who is able to do it or there are family involved who do not feel comfortable to speak up on behalf of their loved one. We may have to appropriately argue our point to get someone what they are entitled to. This is generally but not always between social care and health as we approach things from different models and focuses. Other times it is with the family themselves as there are occasions where the person's voice can get lost because what they want is seen as unwise or does not match up with what other people think they should be doing. Regardless of capacity we try to respect someone's wishes and feelings as much as possible and always try to choose the least restrictive option. Sometimes this decision can make families feel overwhelmed, stressed, worried and many other things so we fight the person's corner to make sure they are getting what they want as it is their life and their decision to make.
Sometimes we end up supporting in more of a companion role for example the first time someone visits a new group or day service we may go along with them to help them find it, get settled and feel comfortable. Getting to these types of places allows them to have social inclusion which in turn reduces loneliness and isolation which improves health outcomes and can potentially help reduce the chance of crisis. Although accompanying people to places is not our main role by doing so we can actually help with prevention and more support being required further down the line.
We are not personal assistants but we sometimes end up helping people ring round to get something organised. We may make phone calls on people's behalf to gather information about what is available in the local area, when an appointment is, to make sure payments are made or debts are cleared. Not on an ongoing basis but again is doing something now helps alleviate it down the line then it is worth it.
Sometimes we are expected to take a leadership role and in others we attend meetings where our input is required and valued but we are not in charge or chairing that meeting.
We can sometimes end up being translators trying to learn and understand what certain acronyms mean and translating medical speak into words that can be understood by people. Breaking down processes in a way that makes sense to people so that they know what the next steps are.
The next ones are definitely personal choice but for me I take on the role of teacher when I support students who are on placement. I become their supervisor when I complete supervisions and oversee their work but also on a day to day basis their teacher who is showing them what being a social worker looks like in practice instead of just the discussions in a classroom environment. I have delivered training both when on placement but also to my own students about different topics. I thoroughly enjoy it and happily do so but it is still another person I am expected to be.
These are all separate from the roles I hold outside of work which take up even more of my time than being a social worker. So some days I have been 2 or 3 different people before I have even started my work day then may take on another 3 or 4 in a work day. That is a lot of different people to be in one day, especially when you want to do them all well.
The first question I ask myself when starting a task is who do they need me to be?
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