Should I report my sister?

[howdoihowdoi]

Older sister, 10 years qualified as a social worker in mental health. Appears to be good at her job and has worked hard at it. However, takes cocaine and drinks herself into a stupor every single weekend. I find it disgustingly frustrating that she is managing to power through, but that's about it.

I know she does all she can but she has even admitted that going to a service users door on a Monday morning after being on in all weekend feels very contradictory.

Should I report her? Or suppprt her?

'Talk about massively missing the point'

I would say it was bang on.. the point... these people often are the ones who work directly with survivors from the impact of drug trade...

They still engage in it and frequently have a normalised culture around it

As do our politicians but I digress... being judgey pants holier than thou over the issue only means people assume they couldn't possibly have issues and the fact is it's common!! In SPITE of people knowing and seeing it's impact

The majority would be in this job for 5 years. She needs to get out, no job’s worth killing yourself for.

and you obviously have no idea of what work a social worker in mental health does. Mental health work goes hand in hand with supporting addicts so the sister knows full well what the problems are and what she signed up to when she became a social worker. At one of the psychiatric hospitals I worked in we regularly had dealers coming onto site to target patients...hypothetical situation but what would a staff member who "knows" a dealer through their own addiction do in this situation.? I presume you are likewise someone who dabbles in hard drugs and sees no problem in what you are supporting or the harm it causes.

No it's not irrelevant because at least some people who worked for social services would be like me.

In real life while many do coke, there are just as many who are strongly against it and think it's a scummy drug that ruins families.

You saying that social workers wouldn't even raise an eyebrow is laughable, talk about trying to minimise something 😂

Leave her alone. None of this is your business and the fact you even considered trying to lose her her job speaks volumes about you.

Yeah and I find it fucking hypocritical for a social worker to take class A drugs when they could be involved in supporting kids caught up in county lines situations or other organised crime situations centred around the drugs trade. It's despicable, quite frankly.

Don't minimise. There's a pattern there. It's habitual. She ends up in a stupor because of it. Come ON.

Support.

@CurlyhairedAssassin exactly!!!
Jesus wept the hypocrisy and double standards here are unreal!!!
So a poverty stricken single mum snorting lines is a social worker target but not the actual social worker?!

Both scenarios will be massively stressful but one is to be pitied and one isn't.

It's revolting

@volunteersruz

Wrong, I don’t take drugs, I’m just capable of thinking logically, as many people have already pointed out, taking drugs once a week does not make one an addict

I think you are one of these women who gets all worked up about nothing and possibly regularly gets her knickers in a twist, I’m sure she is not the only social worker out there who gets drunk/ takes drugs at the weekend, get your head out of your ass and start thinking intelligently

This whole thread is fucking enabling bullshit, warning someone who cares about a relative to ignore massive red flags as her sister slips into addiction.

OP my sister is in the same position and she is a class A drug addict and alcoholic but will tell you to the cows come home that she’s just a party girl. She’s approaching her 40’s and I don’t have much hope of knowing her when I’m in mine.

Fuck this thread

@SnowflakeSparkles

there is a big difference between a class A drug addict and alcoholic and someone who parties at the weekend, Many people party at the weekend and don’t turn into addicts, in fact most don’t

I think most people who work with addicts would acknowledge that binges ARE a serious form of drug and alcohol misuse. Working all week, drinking yourself stupid on a Friday night, drugs on a Saturday, perhaps more alcohol and another line on a Sunday, every single weekend? Binge drinking = more than six units in a session, that's not actually that much, certainly not enough to cause a stupor. OP's sister sounds much worse than that really, with coke on top.

so in your world it's perfectly normal for someone in their 30's (at least, if they are 10 plus years qualified) ,whose assessments contribute to her clients potentially being forcibly admitted to hospital or obliged to take meds they dont want, to be getting drunk and taking drugs every weekend? Health and social care staff have professional standards for very good reason ,hence why certain cautions or convictions would bar you from practise or potentially trigger fitness to practise investigations..... not least because in mental health you are in a position of power over vulnerable clients and may be visiting vulnerable people in their own home. Why do you think its acceptable for staff to engage in behaviour that may impact on their judgement ? Shes not a uni student in her 20s and young and stupid, shes a mature woman with a problem, however much you want to normalise it.

No actually drugs can cause mental health problems as can mental health problems lead to drug abuse. Google drug induced psychosis and then come back to me.

I know from acquaintances and old school and university friends that yes, this is common among them at least into late 40s. Parents in teaching, social work, academia, all on drugs and/or drinking copiously at weekends.

@Takenwithtea i somehow doubt that!

Admittedly I'm basing this on their conversations and what they tell me and on the amount they drink when I see them.
I haven't seen them taking the drugs, am not invited along — probably because I look slightly shocked when they talk about it!

Oh report her and try to ruin her life. Why not? If you have to ask MN what to do then I despair.

@volunteersruz

So you think one sister should report another for partying at the weekend,

If all people who worked in healthcare who drank / took drugs at the weekend were reported, I can guarantee you there would be a detrimental staff shortage, get real!

No I haven’t said either way, that’s the dilemma that’s facing the op …but if she were my colleague than yes, I would have to report her, it’s fairly clear from a professional perspective.

@volunteersruz

To be honest you would need a whole lot of evidence and proof that it was affecting their work in order for a complaint like that to be taken seriously

It sounds like your jealous of her job tbh , why else would you want to get her fired rather than support her? I suspect you won't be able to help yourself and will report her anyway.

That doesn’t matter though ,it wouldn’t be me making the decision about fitness to practise.It’s not only about whether it’s affecting their work or not, even if it’s outside of work it can still affect your registration.

@volunteersruz

That doesn’t make sense, without evidence you really have nothing to report and who is to say you are not just a work colleague with a grudge against the work colleague you are reporting about, wouldn’t be the first time something like that would have happened….I can guarantee you it would go nowhere