When Was Your “Aha!” Social Work Moment?

For most of you reading this, you probably remember the approximate moment in time when you decided being a Social Worker was your destiny. Mine was Freshman year in high school while sitting in the guidance counselor’s office reading descriptions of possible jobs. I was given a test and then by my scores was given a list of possible jobs for my future interests. Number one on the list was Social Worker. I had finally found a “name” for what I was!

As I read what a Social Worker’s job entailed, a light bulb went off right above my head! Exactly! They are describing me! I loved the word “advocate.” I never quite knew my wanting to fight for equality for all was called advocacy. Now I knew what it was I was actually doing when sticking up for a bullied classmate or “educating” my all-white, small-town classmates on  why people should not be judged by their race, religion, or gender! My sophomore year, an African American student named Willy joined our Spanish class. I sat right by him as I was so excited to see someone of another race in our school. I befriended him. I advocated for him as a person, but it did not seem to help. I’m not sure what happened, but word got back to my mother and she was furious with me. Looking back, I see she was not really angry at me, but afraid for me and our family. She told me to stop hanging around him because it was dangerous. Many of the adults in the town were threatening to do physical harm to Willy and his family if they stayed. I see now she knew anyone that was friends with him was also in danger. About a week after that directive from my mother, Willy came to school with bruised eyes and a swollen jaw. By the end of that week, he and his family moved out of town. I remember getting angry at all the “stupid white people” and was disgraced at being a part of the Caucasian race. I won’t bore you with all the examples of my tirades for equality for all, but they also included religious and gender prejudice, as well. I was never a “normal” teenager, or person, for that matter.

Needless to say, when I read the description of a Social Worker, I felt like I had met “my people.” Were there more out there just like me? Not in my little town, but they had to be out there somewhere! Being a non-conformist to peer pressures of teen life, I had absorbed my spare time in junior high and my years of high school in every book I could find on the civil rights movements, 20th century history including the holocaust, World War I and II, women’s right movements, and social welfare. While my friends were reading fictional romance books and Teen Beat magazine, I was reading two and three books a week of non-fiction. I had a special interest in the psychology of people. So I read Freud and Jung. Also interested in the spiritual side of people, I read Corrie Ten Boom’s “The Hiding Place”, the Bible, Watchman Nee, and many others. I used to think I was born ten years too late because I wanted to be a part of the Civil Rights movement sit-ins and the marches for equality for race and women. My mother would shake her head and smile at me. I am not sure she could figure me out, but she was a part of the reason I turned out that way. She was a “closet” social worker herself, but born in a different generation for women than I was.

Advocacy is just the beginning of a social worker’s life. We want to help. So many have argued there is no such thing as “altruism” , but I have examined myself many times and could come up with nothing more than it is. We, at the purest level of wanting to be a social worker, want to help people without any other gain except to see the world as a better place for all. Now, that I have been an adult for many years, as a Social Worker I find myself questioning the system frequently. I have worried that the very ‘helping’ system we have advocated for is now creating dependent people on the system, instead of the self-determination/empowering it was to produce. What do you do as a “helper” when the person asking for help is there to appear as if they are getting help, but cannot get “better” for fear of losing their disability income? This is one of the  questions that keeps me up at night occasionally and which can create a lot of confusion for social workers who set out to help people become independent.

Being a social worker can be a dangerous job.  I have been almost attacked several times physically by psych patients while working in a hospital. I have been verbally assaulted too many times to count by patients, clients, and their family members. I have heard the phrase “Social Worker” used as a cuss word on many occasion. I have been threatened by the very people I set out to help. I avoid certain public areas for fear of running into some of my old clients. One in particular followed me outside a gas station as I was getting in my car and threatened me with physical violence.  What did I do to deserve that treatment you might ask?  I was her social worker while she was in the hospital. I made sure she had a follow up appointment before she discharged and had a place to stay. As a social worker, you cannot do your job without altruism. There is no way! If that were the case, I would have quit a long time ago.

I slowly whittled down my population to veterans with PTSD and substance use disorders. It is vital, as a social worker, to not “take on the whole world.” You will burn out very quickly if you set out to “save the world.” You have to find the part of the world you work best in and leave the rest of the “world” to fellow social workers. I would love to say I have seen miraculous results with every client I ever worked for, but it simply is not true. I see it as adding bricks to an eventual foundation. I may have helped a client add a few more bricks to their foundation, but may never see the final build. I do have those few stories I keep safely tucked away when I begin to feel frustrated or burned out that remind me there is hope. We can offer all the tools in our toolbox, but unless one is ready or willing to use those tools they will never help. It is still self-determination and empowerment that sit at the core of our Social Work belief system. Don’t give up out there!!! I have met many people who have decided to change their lives through the tools we have to offer them. And, it is a magnificent site!!!

Written by Marguerita Pearce, LCSW

marg.pearce@yahoo.com

Specialties in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Use Disorders Therapy

Tell SJS your “Aha!” moment, submit to info@socialjusticesolutions.org