Advantages
• Flexibility in the workplace: A huge advantage to working as a social worker with children and families is the ability to find employment in a range of different settings. As a social worker, you can work at hospitals, schools, clinics, for nonprofit organisations and government agencies. The ability to choose from so many diverse work environments allows for a prospect of many job opportunities. This means as a social worker, you can choose what setting is best for you to work in to be able to help others in the most meaningful way.
• Ability to Make a Difference: There are very few jobs where you actually have the ability to make a difference and help others. it is a role in which you are on the front line of helping people.
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People sometimes feel that they are meddling in private affairs or taking control away from them and giving it to the state. You will come across people; that are resistant to being helped. But it doesn’t mean that with some professionalism and consistency that you can’t get through to them in the end. Also Whether our involvement is voluntary or statutory, we can achieve very little without the willingness of the family. Even using the authority invested in social workers by statute has its limitations. We cannot make people behave in a particular way nor can we change their environment in the way we and they might wish. We cannot magic away racism, sexism, poverty or poor housing. However, with developed knowledge, understanding and skills, we can challenge what is …show more content…
This is, of course, the case with social work. Although the emotional and financial rewards are good, dealing with crisis all the time can be emotionally draining. It is important to have a good work-life balance and find some strategies for coping with stress efficiently and constructively.
• You can be too into your work: Like any role which involves helping people, it can be all too easy it becomes wrapped up in your work, and not have any time for yourself. This is definitely a danger in social work, especially if there is a shortage of staff in the area that you are working in. But it is important to take breaks for your emotional survival, which in the long run, will make you better at your job.
• Patience: Social Workers need to know how to handle, manage and consult non-cooperative patients/clients/communities/students/employees /families/children, etc which can be quiet frustrating at
Social work can be a stressful career, you need to be well organised as there is a significant level of administrative work - and time management skills are crucial. A social worker is expected to assess, review and maintain
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. It's difficult to want to care about others, but, in instances like social work it's tremendously needed. “On any given day, there are nearly 428,000 children in foster care in the United States.” CPS workers are so needed to work these children’s cases in order to place them in homes. The employment opportunities are on the rise, and when is it not a good time to help children? The education, while a bit extensive, pays off in the end. In social work you need an education, you need to know how to help and what really defines a good social worker, and the future prospects for your job.
That is why I believe that anyone that wants to be a social worker should take the time to watch a video, read some pamphlets, periodicals, or do a job shadowing of a social worker to see if that is the right profession for you. As a first responder, we are at risk of seeing a lot of traumatic situations. I know a lady that has gone through nursing school and decided to pursue another career after experiencing a day in the surgical room. However, you have to have some love for people and a willing heart to be a good social worker. I am not yet a social worker, but I know that I have a big heart which I believe is not enough to stay in this profession, but I am willing to try. If I notice that because of my stress level, I am not doing well at my job, I planned on seeking a professional help to assist me or join a group session. For me, PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) can be one of the long-term impacts of social work first responders because of what we see or experience on a regular
Another preventative step for the social worker is to seek out individual therapy for himself as a manner in which to deal with the stressors associated with the helping profession. This has been highly recommended by several instructors during my masters level education.
What more good to do in society than assisting children for a better, deserved lifestyle. Social working is nothing but a helping field that opens doors to kids that started off with nothing. “At times social workers will fail to overcome countless cases where the clients were given there undivided attention, and the best help one can receive but knowing you did the best you could in a case is what helps you move forward, and the cases you do succeed are the ones that over look that bad ones” (Martinez). Personally, I view this level of field work rewarding than anything else. The salary one receives as a social worker isn’t compared to the importance of the job itself and the difference you make in the life of young child, and the feeling of succeeding, I am sure, will be
Social workers deal with intense situations daily. It is important that social workers are aware of how they are affected by these interactions. Priscilla Dass-Brailsford explains in her book, that countertransference, vicarious trauma (VT), secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and satisfaction, and burnout are all different ways that counselors can be affected (Dass-Brailsford, 2007). This is where it is important for social workers to have a plan of self-care and stress management resources to use.
There are many pros and cons about being a social worker. Some pros about this job is being able to get children go into new homes, making families bigger. They work in good environments like in the office, schools, hospitals. Some cons are becoming too attached to the family, hearing stuff that the kids have to go through everyday, sometimes can have too much work to do because of having a lot of papers to fill out.
Another study suggests that social workers are susceptible to burnout due to poor working conditions, copious amounts of paperwork, long work weeks, few opportunities for promotions and
Social Work is a helping profession that strives to help the community on micro, mezzo, and macro levels. It is an investment of self to offer services and help to those in need. Areas of service can include, but are not limited to, traumatic situations, family situations, and child protection. As in most social service professions, the field of social work can often times take a toll on the emotional and physical stability of a social worker. One side effect from working in a helping profession is compassion fatigue. As a result, the National Association of Social Workers stresses the importance of self-care and its vitality in ensuring the social worker does not get burnt out by the profession.
It is clear that social workers play an important role in society; it would therefore make sense to ensure that the working conditions of social workers are kept to a high standard. Without these good working standards it is likely that social workers might be affected by the job related stresses that are inherent to jobs dealing with troubled people. These high job stresses may lead to greater turn over and unwillingness amongst students to become social workers. Consequently the methods by which social workers and their respective employers have been discussed in this essay and include things like being given greater autonomy over their own scheduling and how they choose to deal with clients. Social workers may also be able to improve their
There are advantages to being a social worker. One example is social workers get to save children. They take the child or children out of an abusive home, weather that is mental abuse, or physical abuse. Social workers also find ways to help the family if they have an illness and can not take care of the child or children, or have a problem with drugs or alcohol and are unfit to care for the child or children. The social
However, they learn the different theories, principles and skills in which is better to follow when dealing with specific cases but sometimes a case may come their way that critical thinking may need to be applied with theories we have learnt. The skills social worker has is the ability to take excellent notes is extremely important as you listen to your clients and colleagues and develop interventions and strategies. Being organized is very important as you will often be asked to multi-task and the ability to prioritize which work is required to be done in which order is extremely important. Understanding
Law has come to play a very important part in social work practice. It can be said that the understanding of law underpins and provides duties and power, whilst understanding the statutory legal requirements is essential for effective, fair, anti-discriminatory practice (Brammer 2007). Due to the shear amount of laws and legislation that have been passed or updated over the last decade, the role of the social worker, metaphorically speaking could be said to have become somewhat of a chameleon, forever adapting to their legal environment, whilst trying hard to remain true to the traditional values of the role of a social worker. It is this conflict between law and social work values that will be analyzed in this paper. From looking at the values that underpin the modern day social worker and then looking at some of the main legislation relating to adult services such as the Mental Health Act 2007, the Community Care Act 1996, Mental Capacity Act 2005 the relationship between these Acts’ and how they sit with social work values will then be discussed.
After all the hard work and challenges I may face academically, I’ve learned that I may also face emotional challenges once I have my foot stepped into the career. Although I believe I have an emotionally strong personality, this career as a social worker still can be stressful. As my responsibility to make decisions about the welfare of the children and families, I may be faced with difficult situations such as not being able to help everyone in the way I hope. Some of my clients or cases may be stuck because of obstacles created by
Social Work is a discipline that can be a very rewarding experience for both the worker and the client. The practice involves working with individuals, families, or groups who are struggling to cope with life`s challenges. The social worker must combine his or her personal qualities, creative abilities, and social concerns with the professional knowledge in order to help client’s social functioning or prevent social problems from developing (Bradford W. Sheafor, 2008, p. 34). Social work practice seeks to promote human well-being, while addressing the processes by which individuals and groups are marginalized or diminished in their capacity to participate as citizens (Ian O'Connor, 2006, p. 1).