'I’ve jumped on every opportunity to learn'
Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 18 October 2022
As I approach the midway point of my incredible final placement, I see myself as a fledgling social worker, with a healthy caseload of energetic, fabulous, inspiring, eye-opening kids that make me want to be the best practitioner I can be every day.
I don’t have any option other than to turn up for them. And to keep turning up. Morning after morning, meeting after meeting, concern after concern, emergency after emergency. And the best thing about it is that I’m more than happy to, because they matter so much. Because their families matter so much. They are the reason for getting up early each day and being focused and strategic and holistic and completely person-centred with every child and their family so that they never feel they are just a number.
Whenever I get reminded of my column deadline or fear I’m short for material I only need to reflect on one of my families or the week I’ve had, and I have literally aeons of material.
Let’s take the last few jam-packed post-holiday weeks as an example.
Sill buoyed from two weeks abroad, I’ve been catching up with families attending meetings, training and of course doing paperwork and updating the database.
I’ve jumped on every opportunity to learn as much as possible about the plethora of services my placement provides to families. Happily, my tenacity - and perhaps audacity - has been welcomed, with one manager saying my ability to be persistent and ask for what I want is a valuable skill.
If you are a student social worker on placement, I would encourage you to introduce yourself to managers and workers in teams outside the one you are placed in to maximise your experiences. You might not consider a certain area a career interest now but keep an open mind for I never knew I’d love children’s social work as much as I do!
Always look for ways to enhance and maximise your learning opportunities and network.
Every adult will have experienced childhood, and many will have children themselves, so my work with children now should ultimately only enhance my practice later, even if I do decide to move to an adult setting when I qualify.
There is no need to be shy or fear you are being pushy on placement. Managers will be pleased to have a resourceful student who is keen to learn.
In the last week a colleague has invited to a day-long conference on female genital mutilation (FGM).
There is so much that social workers can – and already do – for survivors and others affected by or at risk from FGM practices. Had I not been on this placement and met my wonderful colleague I would have missed out on this enriching experience.
I also got the chance to take part in a valuable all-day webinar on risk which I can use holistically for my children, young people and their and carers – and valuably I was able to share my experiences with colleagues.
Information and knowledge sharing whenever possible is key when we receive training just as it is when we are absorbing information that then needs to be passed on to the interagency team involved in a case with a child being safeguarded.
In a recent team meeting members within our team were invited to share how we used tools and methods to hear the voice of children when working with them directly. It was so educational to find out how each practitioner – whether student or highly-experienced - adapted their knowledge built up from theory, training and drew on and adapted the tools and skills they experienced with each and adapted to the individual child, their own personal style and their understanding of what was effective.
It reminded me just how powerful our individuality is in social work practice and how we must all value our own unique skills. This is not only our knowledge base and education, but what we have learned and reflected from the result of our experiences, how we personally interpret things and ultimately the passion, ethics and values that are at the heart of what we do.