From care home parties, and festive duty visits, to emergency call-outs for mental health assessments, this is...
THE REALITY OF WORKING AS A SOCIAL WORKER AT CHRISTMAS
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his Christmas Day and Boxing Day, as many of us are tucking into the turkey, or munching down on a box of Miniature Heroes infront of the Strictly Christmas Special, Irfan Aziz will be at work.
Irfan Aziz
“I don’t celebrate Christmas personally, so I try and opt to work over Christmas if I can, for the benefit of colleagues that do celebrate, and would like to be home with their families,” says Irfan, a social worker, who does AMHP work in Liverpool, and Mental Health Liaison work in a Greater Manchester A&E department.
Act and require assessment, so I will be spending that Christmas weekend responding to requests that come in.
“There will be instances where individuals and families are in crisis, or where people have been detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health
Irfan says he feels the responsibility of his job every single day, which can see him undertaking mental health assessments anywhere - out in the
“THERE ARE A LOT OF REASONS PEOPLE MAY NEED OUR HELP THIS TIME OF YEAR. IT COULD BE TO DO WITH A RELATIONSHIP, IT COULD BE ALCOHOL-RELATED, OR SOMEONE DEALING WITH “I find Christmas is often reflected in POOR MENTAL HEALTH, the volume of call-outs we get, as it can INCLUDING PSYCHOSIS.” be really busy during the festive period.
