To think that social work is...

[lepricon]

A calling? I am a newly qualified social worker. I have had soooo many people trying to scare me off it.

My first placement (third sector) I loved every minute. Thought it was a fluke and wait till I do statutory.

Did my second placement (statutory) absolutely fucking LOVED it! Feel so fulfilled, thrived from the stress. Thought it was a fluke and wait till I'm qualified.

Qualified for a year (statutory) and still loving it.

Have spoken to sooo many social workers that have left after qualifying as they hated it and it was so stressful.

Don't get me wrong, it's stressful but I'd be so bored if it wasn't and the work I get to do, the clients I get to build relationships with as well as professionals, I honestly love it.

AIBU to think that social work is either something you can do or something you can't? Love or hate? There doesn't seem to be an in between.

I would say you come across as at best naive at worst arrogant and you should see what you think 10 years down the line.

Yabu

You sound very naive.

It's a job. Not a calling. A job.

Have you posted about this before? I recognise the naivety.

My SIL is a social worker and currently signed off because of the effects of working on the worst case her department has ever seen.
I don't think she'd agree with you. She's an excellent social worker but what she's seen and had to deal with is horrific. For anyone.

Haha. Just you wait @lepricon
Just you wait...

I don’t believe in ‘callings’, but am glad you are enjoying your work so far.
I work with lots of social workers and appreciate working with those who are recently qualified as they tend, in general, to have a lower caseload and therefore a bit more capacity and energy to put into their families.
I also respect the experience of social workers who have been in the job for longer. They have a very difficult role and receive nothing but flack. It must be very emotionally draining and I hope (but doubt) that there is appropriate well-being supervision in place to support them.

I think any job can wear you down. I loved my placements at university (nor care or social related at all). But after several years working in the industry and seeing the utter bellends that it attracted I got out. I would have said “never” if you told me that a year after graduating.

It's not the ability to do the job for a short period though, OP. Can it be sustained for decades as you age and have a family? Come back after 20+ years with a partner and children to juggle whilst facing a criminal workload.

You’re only one year in. That tells me enough.

The issues start when u think kids need removing but yr superiors don’t, and u were right, u’ll blame yourself for not being persuasive enough and u will know y so many leave.

I used to think childcare was a calling, but 15 years later after being sworn at, accused of all sorts, and physically attacked (by parents, not children) I left and never looked back.
You have no idea what challenges might be waiting for you, it's best not to get too smug this far in advance tbh.

I would say it should be a calling- you SHOULD want to be there to support people and take them at their worst. But I would say a lot depends on firstly having a decent support and culture within the team you work in. I've seen some really toxic cultures and it's corrosive both for the workers and of course that filters down to their treatment of clients. It's also dependant on having manageable case loads. As one person you are only able to do a finite amount of work before dropping a ball or burning out. Some social work roles will be more emotionally demanding than others and some will have people relieved to see you coming, others will only ever dread seeing you coming. So I think a lot depends on the type of social work you do? I'd recommend pacing yourself and trying to instill a solid culture in your team. Don't get into the habit of saying yes to any and all work now because you're fresh and keen for the learning and experience because you will have more busy stressful periods and most of the learning and experience is a slow burn- you do it without even realising half the time and self reflective time is where it will hit home. If you're too busy and stressed during the day then the only time you have to process is at home when you should be switching off. Its really great you're feeling fulfilled in your role this far though, more people need to want to be in the sector to be honest because it certainly shows when they don't.

It is a job.
A job that has bad conditions and poor pay.
It can be a rewarding and adrenaline filled job.
It can also be destructive and soul destroying job.

Come back and post in five years.

Lol. I'm fucking great at the job but sometimes it gets too much
I've been qualified 8 years and currently off sick for the first time
You sound arrogant I hope your supervisor is aware...my newly qualifieds with too much confidence are the most dangerous

5 years. Give it 5 years.

You said it better than me.

I think this.

Social workers who get burnt out aren't bad social workers. They don't lack some magical quality you have.

I'm a mental health nurse. Being a student on placement and practicing as an RN are leagues apart in terms of stress. I imagine you'll feel differently when you have a caseload and it's your name taking responsibility.

Don't look down at stressed social workers. If they didn't care about their job they probably wouldn't be so stressed.

Look after yourself. It's a job, done by (mostly) lovely but fallible humans.

So do you all just hope that I fail and burn out then? That's what it seems. Being called arrogant for, dare I say it, enjoying my job at the moment. There are kinder ways to say it. Odd that you are all actively hoping I am proven wrong.

Haha I'm thirty, a mature student, completed my masters. I have my family.

Cautioning you that you are at this time inexperienced and a bit naive isn't hoping you'll fail and burn. It's telling you to be careful that your attitude isn't your undoing.

YABU
I’m a school safeguarding lead so spend a lot of my working week interacting with social workers. The ones who are angry, worn down and hate it are usually the ones who are intelligent enough to see that the system is totally fucking broken. They aren’t lesser than you, nor are they just not cut out for it.

You may be brilliant and just fresher or it’s possible you are really naive. Eight months ago I worked with a social worker who was inexperienced and patting themselves on the back because they had engaged a father and got him to change and improve and the children were taken off a plan because everything had got better for them at home. I could tell that they really thought they’d worked a wonder that nobody else had managed because they cared more and were just better at social work than their more experienced colleagues who had worked with the family before. Those children went into care last month because the situation deteriorated as soon as they were closed to social care to become worse than ever before and the children have suffered significant harm in the intervening time.

Is that the fault of that individual social worker? No. They were full of enthusiasm and probably have a huge amount to offer but inexperienced social workers have huge caseloads of complex cases, their managers are also hugely stretched. They are thrown in at the deep end. I regularly find myself talking to social workers just a few years older than the kids I teach who ask me “what should I do now?” because they aren’t actually sure how to handle a case because they’ve only been in the job 10 minutes and their managers aren’t picking up the phone. There’s no money, huge staff turnover and a lot of long-term sickness absence. Recognising that the system is at breaking point is not a sign of not being cut out for the job.

@GalileoHumpkins there are many posters relying, 'lol come back in five years'. Very toxic behaviour.

Sadly 'you wait' is what I'm thinking.

After 12 years and 2 kids it become unmanageable for me, for all the will and enthusiasm I could muster, the lack of resources and the constant management pressure and high expectations I quit. I hated being part of decisions that were budget and not child focused.

I spent my annual leave working, my evenings typing furiously away.

I'm still a social worker but in education not local authority - it's life changing, I wonder if when my children are older I might go back to the front line but I'm not sure I could - it reminds me of not wanting to go back to sleepless nights so didn't have a third baby! I know I'd struggle to cope!