I'm currently studying Social Work at university and would like to introduce Social Work to the Steemit community.I've recently completed my first year which was tough- as social work is a very complex subject drawing from theories, psychology , sociology, law, politics and research. Throughout my posts I hope to demonstrate these different elements of social work, in the hope of opening ones mind, as many people hold a negative image of social workers and I'm hoping to change that. My first post will give an introduction into social work and my own background.

Background

I am currently studying a BA Social Work degree at Middlesex University in London where I recently completed my first year, in total I'll be studying for three years. As part of the degree I am required to complete 70 days of placement, which means from September I'll be studying for two days and on placement for three days. The university organise the placement and I discovered I'll be working within a voluntary organisation that work with vulnerable adults and their careers, I'm really looking forward to it!
Before university I completed an higher education qualification, 'Access to Social Work' which provided me with a good foundation for my first year degree. My teacher at college was fantastic (shout out to Mel) who really brought the best out in all of us. The college course was very intense as I completed two years worth of work in one year. I achieved high grades thus securing my place at Middlesex University.

First Year of University

The first year of university was based around the question, what is social work? An important question as it is rarely known and often misunderstood. Unfortunately due to various media reports society believes a social worker takes children away from their mummy and daddies, for no reason what so ever. Social Workers are viewed in a negative light, and are rarly acknowledged for the positive work. People reading these stories believe social workers take children from their homes, which is not true, in fact social workers try to keep a child with their parent/carer and will work with the family to do so, and this is where the issue lies. For example, the Baby P story.

Baby P

A young child severely abused by his mother and a man living in the same home, and was failed by social workers who failed to see the signs of the abuse. The social workers visited the home on a number of occasions without suspecting a thing- choosing to believe the mother and leave Baby P with his trusted carer's. Tragically, Bapy P suffered a catalogue of abuse within 9 months, that ultimately resulted in his death at the age of two.

(Two social workers that failed Baby P)

Media Influence

After this particular case the media went into a frenzy, social workers were deemed the evils off society for failing to notice the abuse and leaving Baby P to die at the hands of the people he trusted most. Unfortunately, after the Baby P case, many social workers began removing children from their homes for a variety of un-just reasons, in fear of another 'Baby P' situation. This resulted in a high percentage of looked after children around the year of 2009, short time after the Baby P case, as due to the increased media coverage and hate towards social workers, social workers wanted to take 'extra' precautions and began removing children from their parents on the basis of ' reasonable doubt' not facts.

Pressure

This shows the enormous pressure on social workers 'to do the right thing' In social work their really is no perfect way of doing things. During the two years I've studied social work I'm beginning to realise how each social worker differs, therefore how one social worker may handle a case will be different to the next. Although, social workers are expected to follow a set of professional standards for social work, such as ethics and values to lay the foundations, it does not give a step by step guide of how to be a social worker- that comes from a social workers personal values, ethics and experience.

How to become a Social Worker

In order to be a social worker one must hold the relevant qualification by law and be registered with Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) who are the main regulators of Social Workers in the UK. Social workers are expected to follow the HCPC and British Assiciation of Social Workers (BASW) standards of proficiency, ethics and values. Throughout my social work journey starting from University I am expected to follow the BASW Professions Capabilities Framework which is made up of nine domains (pictured below). In order to progress in social work, social workers are expected to produce evidence of how they've met the criteria of the PCF. For example, I've recently provided evidence of my readiness for practice (diagram below) this ensures I'm ready to start my placement, as mentioned above.

The role of a Social Worker

Social workers work with the some of the most vulnerable people of society and help to protect from neglect, physical and emotional abuse. Social work draws from a rich knowledge base and theoretical perspectives- the knowledge helps a social worker to understand a situation perhaps through personal knowledge of a particular situation or discovered from research. An example of a psychological theory such as the behaviourist model is used in social work to understand why a young child is showing signs of challenging behaviour.

Skills

Social workers work with a number of people that may be facing a number of challenges within in life such as mental illness, trauma, learning different abilities, domestic violence, sexual abuse and human trafficking.. and the list goes on. Social work is a highly trained skill that is not only taught from a text book, in addition many social workers like myself, have lived through some of these challenges and can empathise on a deeper level then just 'understanding where you're coming from'. The clients do not want to hear the same old shit, because the client needs to connect with the social worker. Social work is centred on relationship building, understanding the clients feelings, the reason behind the feelings, in order to do this a social worker must develop skills in verbal and non-verbal communication, observing, probing, advanced empathy and the ability to show caring and genuine qualities. However, this is a non-exhaustive list, a social work adopts a number of different skills throughout their social work journey that each hold value in different situations.

This was a small introduction into social work which I hope to expand even further in my future posts. Thank you for reading.

MumandUniversity x

Image credits google images, daily star newspaper, PCF.

Books and Website sources
Niel Thompson 2015 what is social work?
Pamela Trevithick 2012 social work skills and knowledge.
Professional capabilities framework.
British association of social workers.
Health care Professions council.