Social Worker Sharing

 I know I missed last month and that is because I had a loss in my family and did not have the brain power to write a blog at the time, when my head was already overwhelmed. Something had to fall by the wayside and the blog was it last month. I have been supporting my mum through a lot of the aftermath, the processes that need to be followed and the aspects of it that are extremely tricky depending on what documentation exists out there. I know that we advocate for advanced decision making, RESPECT forms and Not for resuscitation but something that I found had made this whole process more difficult is the lack of an up to date will. It causes unnecessary difficulties for those left behind who are trying to sort out funerals, property and other aspects of planning when additional meetings are required to sort out things that would have been much easier had they been done beforehand. I see a lot of people on our list who are on Goldline which is our local support for people dee...

This blog is going to be a combination of two topics that I feel link which are Ageism and the new proposed bill linked to assisted dying. I went on a session recently about ageism and it got me thinking even more about we way we think about people in our society. As I have explained previously I work in an Older People's team so it is something that I am mindful of on a regular basis but there are a lot of comments that get made in day to day life to people of all ages. I am sure we have all heard comments like “act your age, not your shoe size” or “should you be doing that at your age”. I think if someone was making similar comments about any of the other protected characteristics under the Equality Act then it would not be acceptable but people seem to think that saying it about age is okay because it is so engrained into society that people see it as banter instead. That is where thinking about it in relation to other characteristics such as sexuality makes people feel un...

One thing that I think you discover fairly quickly once you qualify is that a lot of the time you are thinking about what comes next. Don't get me wrong some people become level 2 and are happy there but a lot of the time managers want to know what training course or self improvement you are doing next to further expand your skills. I am quite happy doing more and am looking forward to upcoming courses to achieve this. I have discussed in depth with my manager and included in my appraisal what I would like to do long term. I am lucky to have a very good manager who at this stage I have worked with for about 3.5 years who knows me well and is very supportive. She cares a lot about the mental health of her staff and will encourage use of paid time off to give us a break when we feel that we need it. She encourages us to be mindful of what we are doing and how we are using our time. This makes me feel very supported and that I am more than a number who is there to make sure th...

  Social Work is a job where no 2 days are the same. However you definitely see a theme in terms of the types of cases we get. Sometimes you can predict what will happen when you have barely begun because although people are individuals and have their own wishes, views and feelings certain aspects appear over and over again. The geographic area that we cover means that a lot of the people we support are older people because of the locations we have. Other local teams get a lot more cases involving drugs and alcohol or additional needs. I see a lot of people on my caseload with either a Dementia diagnosis or suspected Dementia. When I had the opportunity to attend some training on Dementia this week I took it. It was split into 3 sessions, the first two were more what I am used to in terms of training. Here is the information, what are your views, how would you manage this situation etc. Whereas the third session was delivered by Palliative Care nurses and talked about End of ...