social worker - job experience

undecided25

Hello, can a social worker please give me insight into their daily life as a social worker. I have done a lot of research but would be great to hear from someone with direct knowledge. Im currently working and considering retraining as social worker which would take a lot to achive. Can you also give me an idea of salary/annual leave/working hours. I know these arent reasons for chosing a career but they are relevant points which i need to know before i take the plunge.

Thanks in advance

sassy13

hi generally social workers work 9-5 and start off roughly on about 530 after tax through an agency.. the social work course is very full on and also hard work!! i am qualified 8 months now and still looking for work thing are very bad at the moment and there has been no panel opened up as of yet!! depending on the area of social work you get into will depend on how stressed ur job wil be child protection is the most stressful are but that seems to be the only area that work is coming up!!

wexie

Hi,

I don't actually work as a social worker, however I'm married to one so I guess you could call that direct experience.

With regards to stress levels I guess it depends on what you consider to be stressful. While I'm sure child protection can be pretty stressful you need to keep in mind there are also social workers in hospital working in palliative care. Working with dying people (sometime terminally ill children) certainly is pretty stressful. Imagine having to tell young children that their mother/father is going to die within the next couple of days with their mother in the room crying her eyes out. Try to watch a Concern add at home that evening...

Annual leave seems to be pretty good (she certainly gets a lot more than me) and the working arrangements can be very flexible, part time, term time etc. That's assuming if current staffing levels (which are very much an issue) allow for it.

HSE Payscales can be found here

Hope this helps

undecided25

Thanks so much for replies

bisset

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Social work diary: 'The mum says I can't visit because her dog is ill'


Sick dogs, The Only Way is Essex and a child terrified of kids TV character Iggle Piggle are just some of the half-term case dilemmas facing this anonymous social worker.
Picture credit: Terry Harris/Rex Features
Picture credit: Terry Harris/Rex Features


Anonymous social worker

Tuesday 26 February 2013 14:57


Monday

This week is half-term so I can see children on my caseload at any time. First off I visit a family with an eight-year-old who has soiling problems.

During my visit, dad goes out of the room while I watch a children’s TV programme with the child. The boy says the TV character Iggle Piggle scares him as it’s blue. Small wonder the child is anxious.

Tuesday

A case I dealt with last week returns to haunt me. A teenager and mother have been arguing vehemently. Mother has been frantically calling the police to remove her daughter after their umpteenth argument and fight.

After much persuasion my manager gets funding for the teenager to go to a charity-run housing project. The teenager moves out to a friend’s place until I can get things sorted and peace breaks out.

Later I attend a meeting with the parents in a family I’m working with.

The mother recently came out of a psychiatric unit after a severe psychotic breakdown. Father doesn’t want her back home; he is reviving an emotional relationship from his past and building a new family.

The children are wallowing under layers of confusion and struggle to manage schooling and friendships. One has not attended school for two years and watches TV all day.

Neither parent can see a way forward and the mother feels that she has lost everything. It is very distressing to witness.

Wednesday

I try to visit the house of a family where the mother has hoarded rooms full of belongings. She and the child are not living there but the plan is that she clears it out before the next child protection conference.

She says I cannot visit today because her dog is ill. I point out that my priority is her child not her dog, to whom I can only give my sympathy. She makes further excuses, so I give up an unequal struggle for now.

Thursday

I get a phone call from a father on a case I worked with a year ago. His son had developmental delay and it was hard to convince him, but mother accepted it and the little boy thrived.

They moved to a coastal town and dad says that the boy is now perfectly normal. Either he’s accepted things or the sea air has worked wonders.

Our computer records lack details of partner agencies, so this afternoon is spent collating information about agencies and individuals that I have amassed. Sometimes it’s like working for MI5 without the glamour.

Friday

The place at the charity housing project for the teenager is available today so I call her and arrange to take her there as my last job of the day.

When I arrive to take her she says she won’t go unless she can take her TV. She tells me she cannot miss The Only Way is Essex.

I persuade her to talk to staff about it when we get there. TV programmes seem to have ruled people’s lives this week.

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This shows a weekly diary for a UK child Protection Social worker. IMO it is unrealistic as it does not explain the amount to time spent in the office putting records on computer.