Social Work Confessions...

I KNOW I’M ONLY 17, BUT THIS IS WHY I WANT TO BE A SOCIAL WORKER

I know that I’m only seventeen years old, but I’m going into this career with my eyes wide open. I know exactly what I’ll face and, I know this sounds strange but, I feel lucky to have been exposed to the stress of social work for many years. I know that I have made an informed decision I can be confident of.

THAT BEING SAID, THE KNOWLEDGE THAT IN JUST OVER THREE YEARS I WILL BE A SOCIAL WORKER IS STILL TERRIFYING;

It was a huge decision to choose this path. My mother and aunty are both social workers and I have seen how it has changed them. I have seen my mum, slumped on the sofa, too exhausted to hold a conversation or comfort me because she has spent the day helping to build up others.

I’VE SEEN THE TEARS, THE LATE- NIGHT WORK CALLS, AND THE COST OF BEING A SOCIAL WORKER.

My whole family has experienced the cancelled plans because mum was too busy helping families that weren’t doing so well.

We are also foster carers. Fostering has been a truly life changing experience for me. On the good side, meeting so many new people has made me openminded. Seeing how the care system works has also been a real eye opener.

On the bad side, privacy is scant, and we’ve been threatened, abused and stolen from by some of the people who have come into our family home. It’s also been sad to see what it’s like to put all your time and energy into a child, to give them everything you’ve got to give, only to be hit with the realisation that, sometimes, nothing can make up for the things that have happened to people before they came into care.

I SOMETIMES WONDER IF KNOWING WHAT SOCIAL WORK IS REALLY LIKE HAS MADE MY DECISION TO FOLLOW THIS CAREER HARDER.

The media is filled with horror stories and I worry that being a social worker will see me neglect myself and the people I love.

Despite the stress I will inevitably face, this decision is the most exciting of my life. I am eager to start my career, to be able to meet and help so many different people. I have seen the good that social workers bring to people’s lives. I’ve watched children scream abuse at their social workers, wishing them dead, all because they trust their social worker enough to share those feelings that they kept bottled up for years before.

I have watched the relationships that my mum has developed with ‘her families’ (as she calls them) and I have seen the way some children light up in her presence. I hope that I meet many more people who are just as invested and caring as she is.

I HAVE BEEN WARNED BY LOTS OF PEOPLE - MOST OF THEM SOCIAL WORKERS - TO PICK AN EASIER CAREER.

I am certain that there will be times when I wonder why I didn’t listen. But the difference for me is that I know I’m not just going to be able to ‘help people’ all the time, and that things will be hard most of the time.

I’m glad I’m going into this career with my eyes open, and I can’t wait to be a social worker.