Social work: butterfly effect

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.
Roger Miller

Looking for a quote, I found a blog, very funny! The blogger has post a list from his friend (there s no name on it!) but here it is and really, each social worker should print this list and put it on their desk for anytime they feel alone. Look at it, you are not as alone as you think!!! I really laugh looking at it and nod for each single point

This was sent to me by a social worker friend of mine. I thought it was humorous so I decided to share it with you. I think my social worker friends out there will truly appreciate it…

1. You think $40,000 a year is ‘really making it’.

2. You don’t know what it’s like to work with men.

3. You know all the latest lingo for drugs, where to get them, and how much they cost.

4. You’ve started a sentence with ‘So what I hear you saying is…’

5. You’ve had 2 or more jobs at one time just to pay the bills.

6. You tell people what you do and they say ‘that’s so noble’

7. You have had to explain to people that not all social workers take away kids.

8. You use the words ‘validate,’ ‘appropriate’ and ‘intervention’ daily.

9. You spend more than half your day documenting and doing paperwork.

10. You think nothing of discussing child abuse over dinner.

11. People have said to you ‘I don’t know how you do what you do’.

12. You’ve never been on a business trip or had an expense account.

13. You know a lot of other social workers who have left the profession for another.

14. You’re very familiar with the concept of entitlement.

15. Staying at a job for 2 years is ‘a long time’.

16. Your phone number is unlisted for good reason.

17. Your professional newsletters always have articles about raising salaries…but you still haven’t seen it.

18. You’re very familiar with the term ‘budget cut’.

19. You can’t imagine working at a bank or crunching numbers all day.

20. You’ve had clients who liked you just a little too much.

21. Having lunch is a luxury many days.

22. You’ve been cursed at or threatened…and it doesn’t bother you.

23. Your job orientation has included self defense.

24. You have the best stories at any cocktail party.

25. Your parents don’t know half of the stuff that you’ve dealt with at your job.

26. You know all the excuses clients use for a failed a drug test by heart.

The art of intervention is not as simple as one would think. We have to adapt ourselves to every kind of person and we have no clue before an intervention of what is going to happen. This is what I like the most. Preparing myself, looking at all the possibilities, waiting for the worst and seeing that the direction I am taking is the good one or not.

Even if judgements appears quickly in our head (a cultural automatic) we let them goes as quick as they came in and know that it is wrong and keeping focusing on the person’s forces and ability to work it through…

This part of my work is the one I like the most because I had lost most of my faith in life, most of my faith in good people, most of my faith in the meaning, most of my faith in others, and it is making me realise that even the worst has good side in it. My faith is coming back and I am in a position where it is easier for me to see the best side of people because it is worth to work on it, the worst side does not merit any focus. Yes, we go through them but let them go as they are not part of the people as long as they best side have been with them. Usually the worsts sides are the effects of the injuries that people has got since they were born or even before being born.

Life is mysterious. I did not want first to study social work (even if everybody knew before me that I would do that) because I did not believe anymore in our world, I did not believe anymore in the good sides of everyone, I did not believe that even if we can not change the world that I could help someone feel better even if for one day, it is at least one day. I did not realise that I could get that much power in helping someone to feel better by doing that.

Actually, it is funny how quick human beings can get dissapointed. I already knew how much social workers or even just adults could help out people, could help the world having more light and make people happy. It is just that we forget and that we become blind even if there is still some light back of far away.

I am the person I am because of various people and even if my point is not to change or become important to someone, is that I have the opportunity to see the deepest side of everyone I meet in my work. It is amazing, getting pay to help people to see the best that they have in them.

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I feel really fortunate to be able and enough healthy to feel this energy even if sometimes are really hard. I am thinking about Stephanie, my friend’s friend, who took her life away last monday. She is one of too many people to take this last solution to stop suffering. We are missing something and I think it is something important. How can a young, beautiful, in love, social worker, take her life away? Life detress is the worst and we have to break the tabous, we have to talk about it. If you see that someone is not feeling well, do not be shy and ask the question: DO YOU THINK ABOUT SUICIDE??? and you ll see, in most cases, everybody says the thruth. Not that it is everyone’s fault when someone does it, at the contrary many people does not show any signs before, but mybe we can save few lives just by asking the question. I think about Stephanie, her family, her friends, her boyfriend… could be any one of someone you know.

“Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.”

(Erasmus)

Yesterday I was sitting outside, and realised that I was really doing what I always wanted. Wow, it is amazing, not because I do not believe in what I want, but because of the events that have taken me to this point. I am looking back and the last years where probably the nicest and the hardest I have had in my whole life. I gave birth, I became a social worker, I went through the lost of my father, I realised that the man I was with was not the one I thought he was, and it can goes on and on. Wow! Yes, I am surprise to still be on my two feet and being able to help people that goes into shit like I have been through lately.

The difference is that when you are a social worker, the stigma is that you don’t have problems at all!!! But in reality, social work is now my god, my faith, my joy. Why???? Yes, I can have problem to cope with things and I am not a perfect human being, but I realised that my social worker side has helped me grow passim life difficulties. It makes me analyse any difficulties like I do for any human ( I hate to named them clients) when I am helping them as a social worker. I do not say that I can do it as well for me as I can’t be objective and that it is not the same at all, but really, I am not figuring out that it helps!!!! I do not think that I am that strong in life, but social work is making me being resiliant, objective, looking for all the possibilities before taking any decision…

Talking about that, it makes me remember one of my favorite professor at York University, which has changed my whole vision about life and social work, and that confirmed to me that the kind of social work I wanted to do in life was possible, even if utopic. The first thing he said to us: how can you be a good social worker if you never have been seeing one!!! hihihi, Il veut changer la mentalité et nous encourager à aller consulter si ça ne va pas.

Well, as you can see, I went outside of the topic I wanted to share: EMPOWERMENT… I wanted to share with that. I now know my colors, the kind of social worker that I am, the things that I want to learn, the things that I know and mon cheminement professionnel m’a amené sur cette route. Empowerment is my favorite tool in social work and in my personnal life. It has become my everyday s key and the results of using it is amazing. Empowerment! The fact, empowerment has become my weapon to contest injustice in society and it can change someone s life. Empowerment, I love it! It is my only POWER to deviate the system and make someone goes throughout the doors that are closed to them. I am now an empowerment expert I can’t really give concrete example, but the nicest thing in social work, is when you directly the results of your work, and with empowerment, the results are there and your work become tangible.

En tant que femme travailleuse sociale, je me retrouve toujours à me battre contre un système qui nous laisse peu de place. Un système qui laisse une place mitigée aux groupes défavorisés. Malgré le fait que je suis reconnue comme caucasienne, de classe moyenne, citoyenne..je fais parti du groupe minoritaire de mère monoparentale et de celui des femmes. Pourtant, grâce à ma profession, j’ai les outils pour me battre et faire en sorte de défendre les plus démunis. Ça fait maintenant plus de 3 ans que je me bas dans un système démocratique innéficient. Le gouvernement ne se lasse pas au dépend de jeunes femmes viriles qui, seules, baisseront les bras un jour ou l’autre. Comme t.s. j’encourage les gens à ne pas baisser les bras même si personnellement, je me rapproche de mes limites. J’en ai marre d’être une guerrière devant ce monde qui te regarde comme un téléjournal. J’en ai marre de me rendre malade pour ces gens qui ne bougent pas..j’en ai marre de toujours avoir un couteau à la main pour obtenir MES DROITS.
Où en est-on et quand cette lutte pour la justice terminera-t-elle? J’ai l’impression que jamais car on aura toutes baisser les bras quand on sera sur le bord de la dépression…

“La politique est une guerre sans effusion de sang et la guerre une politique sanglante” Mao Tsé-Toung

Why does everything have to be so political?  I would go really deep into this subject, but unfortunately, I face it everyday, everything is a biosociopolitical whole thing but really, really….Why are we so obssess with the political concept? Everything is getting around that…Yes, it is part of our lives, but why do we accept it?

Sorry, but it is just a moment of tireness of hearing not nice things about the world and making me not believe in the beautifulness of this world…not many get it…it is not about where you are from, not the language you speak, not what you believe in, not how much you have, but how you do get through this life and how do you do to make it nice, make it real, make it worth every minute that you spend on earth…so many minutes lost…so many………..

I like my job, I can even say that I love it… I have more liberty than anyone I know in this field and I can learn from my proper experiences… Even if some morning I wake up and that I would rather stay in bed, I go for it. Some hard days, I think that I am crazy and that I should have choose something way easier, but really, really, it is worth it. Lately I have participated I a text contest and even if I have not wing any price, I got the 4rth place… Here is my text, even if it is in french, I hope that you can enjoy it…

Que signifie, pour vous, oser le travail social?
Mylène Gaudreau, travailleuse sociale

Nous avons des passions dans la vie
Incroyable ou non, on m’avait presque convaincue
Et c’était pourquoi je ne l’avais pas choisi
Le travail social, je n’y croyais plus

C’est alors que j’avais fait de ma passion
Une vocation personnelle
Un raffinement de ma personne pour la population
Une approche bénévole

Sac au dos, je partais explorer les belles gens
Plus je m’éloignais, plus je m’en approchais
Cette vocation bénévole m’illuminait
Et avec le temps, je comprenais

Il y a maintenant deux ans, j’ai osé
J’ai osé me consacrer à ma passion
Travailleuse sociale, ma liberté
Officiellement, ma nouvelle vocation

J’ai osé me faire dire
Que ce choix était mauvais
Que toute ma vie, je pourrais souffrir
Que notre monde était laid

Le travail social est un effet papillon
Depuis ce temps, je vole
Me consacre à ma mission
Aider, aimer, écouter ces milliers d’étoiles

Depuis ce temps, j’ose
Me battre contre mes jugements
Mes gestes et paroles j’analyse
La vie est plus simple depuis ce temps

by Dennis T. Haynes , Barbara W. White

The critical test of social justice must be measured from the point of view of the least among us.” The social work profession is unique in permitting us the advantage of seeing that view and hearing those voices, which is both our challenge and our opportunity. Only as we revive within the profession a greater concern for and capability of working with the least among us can we make a distinctive contribution (White, 1994). As professional social work educators and practitioners, we can be among the voices of social leadership that will inspire the next generation of students to altruism to build a just society for the 21st century. Wakefield (1988, 1993) contended that the social justice mission of social work is a unique characteristic that separates it from other professions and that one of the responsibilities of social work is to serve as the “altruistic conscience” of society. It is the bringing together of altruism and social justice that distinguishes the social work profession.

The real social work is also what we do as social workers. Unfortunately, after the diplomas, everyone gets their way, and little by little some lose easily their enlightment for the profession and take a chair to stay for years. Were are their voices? We need us, we need to keep doing what we are doing. None of us choose this profession for money because it is easier to make money in others areas. So!??? what happen then?  We take positions were we have the worst working conditions, but we do it because we can help people that really need us. This is our juice…but at what price? burn out, changing profession, or becoming a mad social worker, yes they exist too. I can understand all the frustration but I do not want to become what the system makes us becoming.

This is why I really have chosen my job, but I could not have get the choice. I was lucky but where would I be if no or only one opportunity was given to me? I know this is the case for a lot of us.

Being a social worker, is not only a profession. It is maybe a selfish profession? It is the kind of profession that follows you wherever you go, whatever you do, always asking yourself: is it right what I am doing, did it went against social justice, did I have a cliché, do I stigmatized a situation???? Social work is me, I am growing thanks to that,  and I appreciate that in my life: the fact of being able to go back and ask myself if what I have done what correct according to my beliefs…

No one can be judgementaless… but we can work on our judgement and by understanding why we have them, it is unbelievable how we can take them away…

I can not stand people saying that poor people are poor because they want too, because they do not want to work. Ohhhh this makes me crazy.

Lately, I hired a cleaning woman, I felt weird about that. I can clean my own mess, but I wanted more time to spend with my child and not thinking about cleaning. I know my mother would not be proud of me about that but each one has his own point of view about that. I think that it is not fair for people that have to do that to at least get something to eat on the table. Why helping me having more time for my child does not worth the same that I do for a living? I mean, yeah, well I know it seems strange. Well, when I talked with the cleaning lady on the phone for the first time, I could see that she was not from here. She has a french accent from France. Well, I told myself that she was maybe new here and that she found the job. When she came home, I was really disappointed to see this black woman. Not because she is black (at the contrary, I can not stand racism), but I was disappointed because stigmatisation is so based on solid roots that I was hoping to get a white blue blood woman to clean my appartment. To go against the cliché. The cleaning lady that came to my house came from Haiti with a perfect french and she is probably more educated than we think . This is the kind of woman that decided to come here in Canada to have better life condition and so on. It is hard for people from southern countries to immigrate here, canadian standards are somewhat high and people that comes here would have LOT to contribute to our world here if we would give them the right voices to do what they dream to do. Now their voices go into washing toilets (even if I consider that there are no sots-métiers)… but whatever… we have a nice rights and freedom charters, but really it is useless to my eyes…it is protecting white people with blue blood more than anything else…..

Please, fellow social workers, stand up, do not believe that what you do won’t contribute. Let social work being part of you, part of your personal life, because this is why we choose this profession.

It is easy for me to get nostalgic. Now that I am in the practice, I miss theory… Well, amazingly, theory does not always work in social work… if you dont have the passion, theory won’t work.  But if you do not have theory, it won’t work either…

I feel really fortunate because one of my biggest fear is that social workers do not always have the chance to work in a healthy environment but I do. I could choose where I wanted to work and even if people that knows me did not understand my choice, I choose this work for the quality of the life that I can have while working, for my son, for having time, to get the opportunity to learn much and to have liberty in what I do.

Our representative democracy (if not false) has decided that social justice is not where we have to put money in.  It is funny that social workers are the less bureaucrates paid in all bureaucrates. They know that social workers are working with people because they want to help them, because you care. So, well, public social workers finish to give up and work on their personnal hours and accept no to be paid for them. Yes, in business, people that works for private organisations well work much more than they were suppose, but we all know that in business… A tax analyst brings much more money than a social worker and you can see it in all the advantages that he get (lunch paid, vacation, liberty, no one hour not paid).

The fear was to be in a system where I can not really be a social worker and I was lucky enough to have the choice. There is no perfect job, there is no perfect place, but I can say that I am happy of doing what I do, and really yes, I have seen changes that I have brought, thanks to my experience, thanks to theories, thanks to the love that I have for what I do. My choice was not base on how much but on why.

I admire my friends, colleagues that are doing it for the people, forgetting themselves and giving of their own time even if they work in a closed system and do not have any place for new ideas, they do it because they want to help, they know if they do not do it, nobody would do….

I felt that it was the biggest stigma to think that an abused child would be an abusing parent… Yes it is a stigma and it does not mean that someone that have been victim in their chilhood would do unconsciously the same thing to their children.

More and more, working with families and children, I can feel this circle that I am talking about. And really I do not think anymore that this is a stigma. I only started to work with family and children in september, for 4 months now.. and I can’t believe that every family that I have worked with, have been in the same patterns for at least two or three generations. The researches about family patterns today is starting to say that untli the pattern is not broken, that it does not change and the problem repeats itself through generations. I am still shock of this analysis but if we can proof that, it means that it is good to break the circle, for a while, and to work with children, and it means that there is hope for changes…

We need more researches to be done in social work because it is hard to work with people because everyone is different, and there is no one formula that applies to everyone. We want to do our best without ruining someone’s life by the power that we have on them under the law in our agency. We can do better, ohh yes. But we are also human beings that are learning, and we do not know much on the social words… And yes we can know about natural laws, sciences and everything, but we can not take away the social world where we live.