2013 NATONAL SOCIAL WORK WEEK IN CANADA

Every discipline or group tends to have a day, a week or a month to honour and celebrate. Well, it is Social Work week. In Ontario, the theme this year is "Restoring Hope-The Power of Social Work". Rather pretentious don't you think? Social Work is about viewing all the circumstances and social issues of the person, family or group providing assessments and various counselling interventions. Social justice, social change and the impact of issues like poor health has on people. In my job as a social worker servicing two diverse programs- Surgery and Woman&Child- there are many different areas to be considered- new diagnosis of a life threatening illness such as cancer, death, baby deaths, new ostomies, dementia and the list could go on. Some days are busier than other days. Interviewing bed side, in hallways or part of a team in family meetings, provides a lot of social interaction. Supporting the individual as well as supporting the hospital system and protecting the public purse can be challenging. For example, for older patients, some families see it as an opportunity to have someone else care for their loved one. Educating that hospitals are about patient care and not housing is ongoing.The discharge planning piece can be quite cumbersome. Despite centuries of social work, there are many people that still ask in the middle of a crisis, what does a social worker do? Too often, seen as someone who will get you money! Or what a nice, easy job you have? I even have a family member or two who think the counselling thing is useless! Knowing systems and how to use them, gives the person a chance to optimize whatever strengths he/she can use. Facilitating but not taking over just guides the individual to use all the resources available. Teaching new staff about varied topics is another role I have with the "End of Life Care" talk I give to new nursing hires. Yes, I am an Ethics Facilitator for my area-connecting with the hospital Ethicist! With electronic charting, I can squirrel away in my little shared office and chart on more than one floor without any disturbance. So enjoy Social Work Week in our beloved country. If you are in doubt about what social workers do, visit your provincial website about your provincial college. In Ontario, it is the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. Lots of wonderful information and position papers on various themes will keep you busy reading. Have you ever used social work services? Hospital? Private clinics? School social work? Child Welfare? Crisis teams? Look around and you may be surprised where you might find one!