Celebrating Social Work: Things They Don’t Tell You In Social Work School

                

Things They Don’t Tell You In Social Work School

Kidd, C. (2013).  Social Justice Solutions.

I love what I do, but I get a kick out of learning things on the fly that would have been so much more useful before that moment. Here’s my first attempt at listing some of these trends that you never knew we didn’t know. Feel free to comment and add your own

1) You can’t save everyone- I don’t mean this to be cynical or a reason to not continue to do what we do, but so many people still have the “save the world” mentality. Social work is a broad field and a lot of this is also what it is you’re doing with your degree. The truth, is much more likely that things won’t be filled with the “aha” moment. People will continue on their merry way, filled with bad habits, and your efforts will often go by the way-side even with your best efforts. What makes it all worthwhile is those few and far between wins. In a sense, social workers operate much like addicts, just waiting for the next hit.
**For this reason, and many more, don’t forget the importance of supervision. If you’re not getting it where you are, get it somewhere else. We need to continue to grow and learn in order to be effective social workers.

2) You should be grateful - We all know social workers get into the field for money and power….No? Damn, I must have misheard them at the college fair. OK, so we all know that social workers are often underpaid, overworked, etc. What we’re not told is that we’re expected to keep it like that. After all, we’re lucky to have jobs. This is the kind of thinking that hurts us. Put an unfair burden, take away benefits, raises, help, and other disciplines would storm out. Social workers are not only expected to make it work, we are looked down upon if we complain about it. It doesn’t matter that our expected salary is a joke, the student loans are equitable with those of much higher grossing professions.

3) It’s not the place to meet guys - This one might sound flippant, and it was never a reason why I chose the profession, but Holy mother of lady parts Batman is it a female dominated field. Now this gives a really interesting experience, but it lacks the diversity and different viewpoints in order to question and expand the field. It also ensures hilarity every time a male social worker joins the group. We instantly turn into the seagulls of Finding Nemo whispering “Boy? Boy?” But one thing that is still vastly apparent is that despite the ratio, a huge majority of management positions are still held by men.

4) Get off the couch - Social workers are less constrained to be clinicians than our counterparts in the mental health field, and we should take advantage of it more. Within a short time you’ll realize that social workers will be used interchangeably with: therapist, case worker, case manager, CPS worker, social services, and child stealer. Don’t worry about the last one, but the differentiation must be made that social workers can encompass a little bit of all of these jobs and more. Don’t get bogged down to a label.

5) We’re not all saints - You would think that everyone in the helping profession would be…well, helpful. The fact remains, just like all other populations or groups, you will have some good, some bad, some in-between. Everyone is drawn into their profession for their own reasons, and just as we ask ourselves what the client is bringing baggage wise, we have to remember that we all carry baggage as well.

Things They Don’t Tell You In Social Work School Part II

Kidd, C. (2014). Social Justice Solutions.

This might be the longest wait for a sequel outside of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, but it’s something that I have been meaning to do for a while. Previously on Things They Don’t Tell You In Social Work School, we discussed 5 things that you just don’t get told. In celebration of Social Work Month, I wanted to add to our list. As always, feel free to comment with your own suggestions.

6) Would you like me to Google that for you?- Don’t worry so much about having all the answers, the reality is that much like IT workers you’ll spend more time googling than you will thinking about what the answer might be! Need to refer someone to a program? www.where’s-the-admission-criteria.org. Not sure of a number to local resources? Let me pull that right up for you. Sometimes you’ll wonder how a person can find the time to locate your number, but not just go the extra step to find the actual number that they need…don’t think too long on that though.

7) Ante Up Your Poker Face- There’s no one who can beat you at poker now, because there’s absolutely nothing that you can see or hear that will break your facial expression after just a short time on the job. In fact, you could now give Kristen Stewart a run for her ‘blank expression’ money(see: Still more expression than Kristen Stewart). This is only developed after you are no longer shocked by admissions heard “on the couch.” You’ll find yourself saying the strangest things in a completely normal conversation tone as if you were remarking on the weather- “Yes Mr. Jones, I understand that you’re frustrated that you don’t have any more room for the cats because you already have 3 dead ones in your freezer, why don’t we come up with a plan for you to bury them and tidy things up so you can get food again.”

8) “So How Exactly May *I* Help You Today” – Ah the things Social Workers say. Make sure to have this one in your arsenal because you’ll find that most of the time you will have difficulty determining what it is that a client wants from you. “Oh you hurt yourself and are having trouble moving your boat/RV/dragon?” “Yes that is a problem… how is it that I can help you with that?” Most of the time it’s all about the active listening. “Yes, I am sorry that you’re feeling… those feelings…that you feel.” Of course, the end result still is “No, I’m sorry I can’t move your boat.”

9) Your Greatest Adversary May Be Other Social Workers- This one gets me. It still gets me every…single…time I come up against it. I see it on a micro and macro level; we are our own worst enemies when it comes to promoting social workers. No matter how many proud social workers there are, there are so many who want to limit what it is that we do and what it is that we CAN do. So often I hear, “Well I can’t do that, I’m just a case worker” or “but I’m a therapist.”, forgetting that at your core are a social worker, and you are important. Stop selling yourself short and claiming you had no part of a positive impact. You are the model of a healthy relationship. You are the stone thrown in a pond creating the ripples of change… the snowflake that created the avalanche. See, now look what you did, I’m all heated and stacking my analogies everywhere. This is why we can’t have nice things!

10) There Is Nothing Else Like It – I’ve always been one of those people who need to top the last thing I did whether it is to fly a combat plane or skydiving. It’s a constant search for the next experience. The thing is, there aren’t a lot of things I’ve come up with that can top the experiences of a social worker. Yes, there are other areas I’d like to work in, and clearly I have big aspirations, but even though I joke (or cry) that I regret my life choices, the truth is that there are few things that could ever take its place. Every goal I have comes back to a social work root. If you gave me millions of dollars and I never had to work again I would still fill my time trying to change the world. I would still be a social worker.

Happy Social Work Month to my brothers & sisters in compassion.

Courtney Kidd, LMSW, Staff Writer.