Any social workers around? Care to tell me about your job stresses?

[MollyBloomYes]

I'm at a bit of a crossroads career wise. Teacher in a former life, now working frontline nhs. I'm considering where I want my next steps to be, either doing my nursing training or training to be a social worker. Safeguarding and working with vulnerable families has always been my big interest and I'm good at it. If I were to go down the nurse route I'd probably then carry on to become either a safeguarding nurse or health visitor.
I work with health visitors. I can see quite clearly the workload and the stresses as well as the positives so I have a good impression of what life would be like. It certainly does appeal and I could end up having a hugely varied career.
However social work is a bit more of a mystery. Obviously it's hard. The ones I come into contact with seem to have enormous caseloads. But what is it that makes the job so hard? The volume of work? The accountability? The lack of resources to devote to every case that you want to?
I keep coming back to social work. I'm under no illusion that it's a tough job but every time I think of doing something else I always seem to return to this point. There also wouldn't be as many, or even any,night shifts which would be a hell of a lot easier for my single parent situation!
I'm just looking for some experiences really, give me some overview to help me make some more informed ponderings! With covid19 now I have no idea when the next training opportunities will come about but for various reasons I ideally need to get moving on something within the next year so it's getting to a point where I need to make a decision and go with it.

The job can be tough if you don't have good supervision and line management. You have to be a flexible thinker who can manage risk. Working with risk is possibly the most stressful aspect of the job, sometimes when you think its manageable you find all the other professionals want to give you their worries and often try to make you feel like you have to act now. Some families need a lot of input and that can be difficult if you aren't freed up to do the work. If you work for a agency who have resources you can refer to that helps but too often you are expected to do the assessment, the planning and deliver all the direct work on multiple cases.

The plus side is you will never look at your watch and think this is a long day. Time evaporates, getting time back is nigh on impossible unless you have good support. There is a lot of recording and usually a crap system to do it on.

That said there are many branches of social work and with experience you can move around. If you are a flexible thinker, cool headed, analytical and good with people you will be in high demand.

I’m a sw, I did child protection for over 20 years and now train others in best practice.

It’s hard because you’re constantly working with the most vulnerable families. Every child on your case load is at risk of significant harm, or you wouldn’t be involved with them. Families find it very difficult to have social work involvement for obvious reasons, you’re basically saying their child is at risk of harm, very often you’re working with parents who have their own vulnerabilities which in turn impact on how they parent their children. Resources are non-existent, legally you’re hands are often tied In terms of what you can and can’t do, and god forbid if a child dies on your watch your work is held up to scrutiny in your workplace, by your professional body, the courts and sometimes in the press. In terms of decision making you’re pretty much damned if you do remove a child from their parents, and equally damned if you don’t.

It’s a fine profession and I’m hugely proud of the work I’ve done with incredibly vulnerable people but you really do need a thick skin and a tender heart.

I am a social worker in child protection in a large city. I love my job and I wouldn’t do anything else - for now - but the stress is high and I would be lying if I said it was not. Much of it is holding and responding to risk rather than long term management - think fire fighting with a to do list that never ends. It’s good if you have excellent line management, almost unbearable if not. I always have to work at home and weekends to keep up and we have a a duty rota which involves weekend and evening work as needed. Resources are hugely limited.
But, I wouldn’t do anything else. How old are your children? I ask because it can be an all consuming career and the level of professional burnout is high. It’s worth it though, I think. If you can respond flexibly and you’re not a panicker and you have a tender heart as a PP said then you‘ll find your calling there. Good luck :)

Thank you so much for your replies, it's quite heartening that although it's tough, nobody has said 'for goodness sake don't even think of it'. A lot of what you've all said is the sort of thing I'd been imagining so it's good to know I'm on the right track.
@RiverCrossing my children are 4 and 6. Young but obviously they'd be older once I qualified. I have strong family support nearby and their dad has them every other weekend and school holidays (when he's not being useless, I've learnt not to go without a back up plan when making arrangements with him 🙄) And equally, nursing and teaching also require either hugely long shifts or lots of work at home., so I'm never going to make it easy for myself!
Thank you for your responses, definitely given me a better understanding

Following with interest.

I'm also frontline NHS with a background in working in children's care. I've also considered health visitor or social work roles. Health visiting seems impossible to get into. The uni course at my available uni requires you to secure your own placement prior to starting.

If anyone has any information on training for social work that would be really helpful, thank you.

Good luck OP

if you have a degree already keep watch on the govts step up programme, it is a direct route to qualification

www.gov.uk/guidance/step-up-to-social-work-information-for-applicants

or Frontline