The Saskatchewan government proclaimed last week as Social Work Week, which meant that various organizations and groups were celebrating social workers and the work they do.
“It’s a way to recognize the important work that social workers do,” said Donna Harpauer, minister of Social Services. “I would say probably the most stressful work they do is dealing with families, mostly broken families in child protection.”
Social Work Week was initiated by the Canadian Association of Social Workers 25 years ago to recognize the contributions of social workers. This year’s theme is “Social Work: Profession of Choice.”
Social work includes a variety of fields such as mental health, child services, counseling, community development, research, teaching, etc. Too often people only consider them in the context of child services and thus their profession can end up having a negative perspective.
“Unfortunately some families are very apprehensive when they have to meet with a social worker because they see them as someone who will break up their family unit, but that’s not the case. They want to keep them together and get them help and support, but sometimes that’s not possible,” said Harpauer. “It’s a very emotional job. They have to make tough decisions, sometimes not in the best of circumstances.”
Beyond child services, social workers can also be found in places like schools and hospitals, counseling adults in need. Due to a lack of funding, there are often fewer social workers in rural areas, which becomes a challenge all on its own for those small communities.
“I’d say right now (the biggest challenge) would be trying to find support for people in rural areas where the supports might not exist yet,” said Nicole Kinzel, a social worker and program coordinator with the Humboldt & District Community Services. “In urban centres, those things are already created, so we’re very limited when advocating for the needs of our rural clients.”
Despite the challenges, Kinzel said the most rewarding part of her job is working with people and being able to help them out. Her job in particular involves working with people with disabilities and so it’s not as if every day is a walk in the park. When other people get stressed or upset, it can be emotionally taxing for a social worker to have to work through that with them. On those days, social workers have to support each other as much as their clients.
“Certainly there are days when it’s difficult, but it’s important to have a good group of coworkers and people that you can rely on through those tough days to keep you going and remind you why you’re there,” said Kinzel.
So why do it? What drives people like Kinzel to keep forging ahead?
“The motivation to keep going is just the empowerment that people have and them improving their lives and (seeing them) doing things that are making things better for themselves,” she said. “Social work certainly isn’t about doing things for people, it’s more about helping them and giving them the tools to do the work themselves … it’s more of a, ‘how can I help you or assist you in what’s going on in your life?’”
Very often, social work is found in nonprofit sectors, so workers are often relying on donations to continue working. It’s obviously a job they do because they want to help people, so March 15-21 was proclaimed to recognize that.
