What do you want to know?

Motivated by some comments/questions on here and on Twitter, I think it would be interesting to do some question & answers about being a new social worker.

So shoot. Do you have anything you want to ask this newbie?

And don't you all overload me at once ;)

Until our next visit, New BSW

Silence/Self-Care in Progress

I wanted to start out this looong overdue blog post with an apology for being so quiet lately here but...then I thought about it and I've decided not to apologize. I'm not sorry for not writing because I needed to "do me" (as many of the clients I work with put it.) I've been drowning in the work and have been out of balance. So I've been taking some time off for some self-care (Lucky magazine anyone?) and to re-prioritize.

In the meantime, my iPhone is still attached to my hands so catch up with me on Twitter!

I want to hear about how all of you balance work and life? How do you care for yourself so you can do that for your clients?

Until our next visit, New BSW

The reason.

This is the reason why I chose to be and stay as an underpaid and overworked social worker.

Sharpening needed!

Just as a surgeon or barber needs their tools to be sanitized and sharpen, this social worker needs maintance on her body, soul, & brain.

Self care, people.

Until our next visit,
New BSW

Head is spinning.

Sorry for my lack of posts. It's difficult to blog when things are not going well. But with this blog's aim at trying to document the "reality" of newbie social working, I'm trying to remember to blog through the good and the bad.

Lately, it's been bad. So be prepared for some venting. Or wailing.

I'm feeling sooooo overwhelmed. And confused.

You see, when you're sitting there in class or in trainings, it's energizing. You want to run out as soon as you can and start "helping." Then when you do, when you're sitting in a tiny apartment with a stressed out mother and her children who are bouncing off the walls from boredom, it's very easy to feel...at  loss. And it does not help that my agency does not run with a "program" for me to fall back on during these times.

Some days I feel hopeful. Then other days, I feel hopeless. I often am left thinking "Did I make a difference? What am I doing? What am I trying to do?" In this field where the outcomes are not as concrete or visual, it's very difficult to gauge your work.

And at the moment, I can't see it :(

Until our next visit,
New BSW

Why?

From a client today:

"Why do some moms who do everything they are asked to do lose their kids and some moms who relapse still have their kids? Why?"

I don't know.

As much as I like to think the system treats each case the same, I believe it's not reality. In reality it really depends on a multitude of factors such as how aggressive a client's worker is, the state of mind of the judge on that day, etc.

How sad is this?

The tie between a mother and her children will be permanetly severed today. My heart is heavy. I really thought the mother was progressing and doing well. Apparently it was not enough.

:(

Until our next visit,
New BSW

Insecurities.

It's it ironic that when you finally get "there" and have gained all that experience, it's too late?

No doubt I'm in my late twenties. And I'm in my first year of being a social work professional. And my kids are still 5 and under.

So how do I find the confidence and strength to deal work workers who have been in the field for half their lives? Clients who have children older than me? Who am I to tell a mother of seven children and 4 grandbabies that her youngest (a teenager) will challenge her and that it's mostly normal?

I trust in my education but come on, in this field, experience does carry more weight than usual. How do I get that experience and respect without waiting until I'm retiring age?

I'm trying to remember that our job is to not be the expert but more of a partner and learner with clients but that's hard to do when a 58 year old father stares you down and says "What do you know? You ain't nothing but a baby who is reciting that shit that college brain washed you with."

/end vent./

Until our next visit,
New BSW