Social Workers
Assess the biopsychosocial needs of individuals, families and groups, assist and empower people to develop and use skills and resources needed to resolve social and other problems, and further human wellbeing and human rights, social justice and social development.
A Wednesday at the family support service
You are a social worker at a family support centre, with a full diary of appointments and calls that tend to change as the day goes on. It is 8:45am. Your first client arrives at nine, you have a call booked with a housing agency at eleven, and you've just been told the day is going to be shorter than planned.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I did not want to come in today. I do not see the point. Every service I talk to wants me to tell my story again and nothing changes. Why would you be any different?
Ask what she wants from today and what she is tired of, and start there
She softens, and names the one thing she needs most this week. You work on that and nothing else, and she leaves feeling heard instead of processed.
Reassure her that you are different and that you will help her get what she needs
She nods, unconvinced. You have promised more than one worker can deliver, and when the housing agency is slow, she feels let down all over again.
Explain how the service works and what it can offer, step by step
Everything you say is accurate, but it sounds like another form being read out. She sits back and gives short answers for the rest of the session.
A unit has just come up that would suit your client's family. But I need her documents by three this afternoon or it goes to the next person on the list. Can you get them?
Ring the client now, check what she has, and plan how to get the rest to Femi before three
You find most of the documents, but one is missing. Femi holds the unit for an extra day. It works out, though it was close, and you have used the rest of your morning.
Tell Femi the family will be there, and sort out the documents afterwards
You cannot find the missing paperwork in time, and the unit goes to someone else. Promising something you could not control has cost the family their chance.
Say what you can get by three, ask what is essential and share the load
Femi says two documents are essential and the rest can follow. A colleague collects one while you work on the other. The family's application goes in on time.
One of your clients' children has been arriving without lunch most days and seems very worried. I wanted to let you know. I am not sure what you can do, but I thought you should hear it.
Thank him, ask what he has noticed, and plan a check-in with the family and the school together
You learn more about what the child is facing and agree on a joint plan. The family hears about help available without feeling reported on.
Thank him and say you will keep an eye on it in your next visit
You do not let it drop, but the next visit is three weeks away. In the meantime the child goes on arriving hungry, and the principal wonders if his call mattered.
Ring the family straight away and ask them why their child is hungry at school
The parent hears blame. She hangs up, avoids your next two calls and the trust built over many months is damaged. How you raise a worry matters as much as raising it.
How it went
You finish late, with notes written and calls returned. Social work is about listening, knowing the systems and acting fast when something is urgent, without taking choices away from the person. How do you feel about working with people at the hardest moments of their lives?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The housing letter that arrived on Friday
A fictional case set in a family support service in an outer suburban community centre.
The situation
Tamsin was a social worker at a family support service. She had been working with Ray, a father of two, who had lost his job and fallen behind on rent. On Friday afternoon he rang, angry and stressed, because a letter from his landlord had arrived and he did not understand it. He said he was going to throw it in the bin and stop trying. The office was closing in an hour and Tamsin had three other calls to make before the weekend.
What they did
Tamsin kept Ray on the phone and asked him to read her the letter slowly. It was a notice about a meeting, not an eviction, but it had a date that was only a week away. She stayed calm, helped him write down the date and what to bring, and rang the tenancy advice service while he waited, so that they could book him in. She called him again on Monday morning to check he had the appointment, and sat with him at the meeting.
How it turned out
Ray kept his home for the time being, with a payment plan he could manage. It was not a complete fix, because his work situation was still unclear. But he told Tamsin he'd nearly given up, and that the call had stopped him. She wrote it up and went home tired.
What would you do?
- Why did Tamsin read the letter before deciding what to do?
- How would you feel keeping calm while someone is angry with you?
- What does it mean to help someone without taking over?