Boosters
By Sarah Anderson
This blog has been written by Sarah Anderson. The views expressed are those of the authors and not those of the Student Social Work Hub.
Yesterday was my birthday. It was my second birthday stuck inside away from my friends due to being high risk and the rates of covid increasing substantially in the area I live. Many of my friends are also high risk and several work in the care field, including as nurses and carers, so we took the sensible decision to celebrate at some point in the future when things are calmer. I made the most of things and got an Indian delivery from my local favourite restaurant and watched one of my favourite TV shows the masked singer (why on a tv show with mask in the title are the audience not wearing masks?)
Later I posted about the increase in availability of booster shots so made a post about if anyone wanted to do something nice for my birthday, and they were not already boosted, to consider booking an appointment. However, this led to some backlash from an acquaintance who stated covid was here to say and there is no point in stopping life because nothing will change. Which led to me writing this blog.
As a highly vulnerable individual I have been shielding since before the first national lockdown in Scotland. That is almost two years ago. Since that time I can count in single digits the number of times I have been outside amongst other people because the potential of becoming unwell is not something I want to consider. I did develop covid in January, ironically a year ago on my birthday, even though I had been sensible and as a result I now live with long covid amongst my various other illnesses and disabilities.
To be told there is no point in stopping life I seriously don’t think the individual recognised many of the drastic changes and safeguards which numerous people, like myself, have had to learn to live with over the last two years. Many of these are not publicised and I think its about time we start discussing them and asking when does personal choice stop being choice when it negatively and detrimentally impacts on others.
As a social work student who receives daily care I recognise that vaccinations can not be mandatory for every individual. For people who are pregnant or have underlying health concerns I recognise that there may be situations where that individual can not be vaccinated regardless of whether they would wish to or not. However I have witnessed conversations with social work students discussing ways to get around vaccination rules including deceiving supervisors and care managers.
As a future social worker I believe every decision and action we take can have an impact on others and we have a duty of care to ensure we do the most good and least harm wherever possible. If we are entering a profession already thinking about how to bend rules and deceive surely that is the opposite of what social work is about? I do not believe in mandatory vaccinations however I do believe that if you are unwilling to protect and safeguard vulnerable people that perhaps a career working with individuals is not one to be entered. I recently found out that one of my carers was not vaccinated because they did not believe in science. This individual has watched me struggle to breathe, seen how much my life has been altered due to long covid and has seen how worried my loved ones are over my health yet said nothing about being unvaccinated.
When I challenged the service provider I was told that the current laws mean there is nothing they can do as it is not mandatory. That individual could have made me seriously ill and I would have had no recourse. I do not believe that is acceptable.
In my local area, however I understand this is not a unique circumstance and is an experience shared throughout the country, we have recently been told that if we receive carer help to shower in the morning or to take medication that this service will be stopped as there is not enough care due to people becoming ill with covid.
One of the main qualities of social workers is the ability to empathise so I challenge everyone reading this to empathise with an individual who has been told that they will not be able to receive a shower and instead will be washed at the sink without choice. Imagine that being told to you in a letter signed by someone you have never met. Imagine being told that this will be for an open ended timescale and unless you have family who can care for you that there are no options. Imagine losing your dignity and sense of self and not even receiving a phone call or house visit to explain things to you. Imagine being told it is because of covid but vaccinations are not mandatory and life should not be stopped.
Imagine watching people marching for the right to not wear a mask or switching on your TV, because when you are housebound your TV is a lifeline, and seeing hundreds of people in a TV studio and not a single one wearing a mask even though mask is in the title of the show. Imagine that is you but someone else telling you that their choices are more important and science is not real. Just imagine how you would feel.
I want to close this blog by thanking the carers, hospital and home staff who have worked through this. I want to thank my friends who have tried to keep my mental health positive during the last two years. I also want to challenge people to think. I do not want anyone to have to face the struggles many of us have had to cope with over the last two years. And trust me I am very aware that I have got through things relatively easily compared to many.
However the next time you think about going out or doing something simply because you can maybe, just maybe, think about the hundreds of people who do not have that choice. We are all experiencing covid together however some of us are experiencing it very differently to others.
Get vaccinated. Get boostered. Be empathic.
Experiences of an Inpatient Mental Health Social Worker
By Megan Barnes
I spent a while wondering how to start this blog, but I think the best thing to do would be to just get straight into it!
I’m a newly qualified social worker within an inpatient mental health team. I work with those who are admitted to hospital under varying sections of Mental Health Act 1983, most notably Sections 2 and 3. There are many different parts to my job and I find it difficult to narrow down the tasks that I complete sometimes, but they include completing care needs assessments and care and support plans, sourcing appropriate accommodation and/or care packages, undertaking mental capacity assessments and following the corresponding processes and overall bringing a valued social perspective to safe discharges from hospitals.
Part of being a social worker means there are many positive parts of the job and sometimes there are some negative unfortunately. I love my job and I really couldn’t imagine doing anything else, but a recurring theme has seemed to occur recently that can sometimes make my job harder: a shortage of care providers/space. My job involves supporting and empowering people to make positive changes for their mental health recovery and a large part of this means seeking care packages and supported accommodation for them to continue on their journey of recovery. It has become more apparent to me in the last few months that this really is a problem within social work at the moment. There have been times where our team has unfortunately struggled to source care packages and supported accommodation because they just aren’t there. An article on Home Care from September 2021 states that one home care provider was having to turn down an average of 5 new care packages a day. This is a worry because we all know how much of a difference it makes for somebody to be receiving the correct care and support in their own home compared to in hospital. Although there are these frustrations and it can sometimes cause delays, I and everyone else in my team continue to work to find alternatives to support people as best as we can.
Within the hospital, I work very closely with medical colleagues who, of course, provide valuable medical work for and with service users. I have learnt an incredible amount about what they do since starting within this team. As there often is with multi-disciplinary working, there can sometimes be difficulties if there are differing opinions about something (e.g. medical vs social) but I have always felt that my input is valued and respected and I think that is such a key part of working effectively as a team. I always ensure to fully explain my role and the remits associated with it when I start working with other professionals because I think this is key to providing the best level of support that we all can. Working with my colleagues has really highlighted the importance of risk management, positive risk management included. With every risk, there are also possible beneficial outcomes and, sometimes, they can hold more weight than the potential negative risks. For example, I worked with somebody who medical staff were recommending to live in supported accommodation. When I completed my assessment with the person, it was evident to me that things had changed in their life since coming into hospital and their hospital stay had really inspired them to care more for themselves. We took the positive risk of discharging them to their home and, two months later, they are living independently and are doing really well! Having a clear rationale for the decisions I make ensures that I am always able to justify my decisions and this is incredibly important, including when working with medical professionals if there are differing opinions.
The framework that we use within my local authority is strengths based practice. This is often talked about within social work with adults and I have always strived to use this at all times. One blog that I have found especially helpful when I first started out in this team is “Strengths Approach Means Never Having to Ask Someone What They’re Good At” by Tanya Moore, which I found on the website of Social Work, Cats and Rocket Science. I came across this blog by chance, but I can honestly say that it has improved my strengths based practice by a huge amount! It really struck home with me how important it is to really be able to listen carefully for the hints of strengths that some people may not see as strengths e.g. skills, interests, friendships and connections. The first person I worked with after I read this blog was somebody who was perfectly happy with not being surrounded by lots of people in their life. They really valued their time watching TV shows and this was a significant part of their life for them. Some people would not be able to comprehend this as they thoroughly enjoy the company of others, but this really highlighted for me the variety of what can be considered as strengths in someone’s life and as part of their mental health journey. I especially love this approach in mental health as, from my personal experience, I have seen that it can be difficult sometimes for somebody to identify the positive things in their life when they are going through a difficult time and are in hospital. Seeing somebody’s face light up when I speak to them about what is important to them warms my heart!
As most of you sadly know, there is still a huge amount of stigma against people who have mental illnesses. As part of my job, I try my utmost best to fight the discrimination that people face, but it doesn’t just stop when I finish my work for the day. When I explain to people what I do for a job, I have unfortunately been met with some unkind comments at times with phrases such as “so you work with mental people? Psychos?”. I’m very quick to challenge these comments when they occur and I explain to these people that mental illnesses are REAL and people who live with mental health conditions should not be treated less than due to enduring mental illnesses rather than physical. I have learnt so much and continue to learn more every day about the experiences of individuals who live with these conditions and I really do think this is important for working better with somebody when we can understand a bit more about their experiences, even if we ourselves have not. When working with people, I have found that many have faced trauma in their lives that has led to these illnesses developing. I feel that this can sometimes be misunderstood by people and they don’t realise how much of an impact trauma has on somebody’s life.
I am constantly learning new things every day within my role and really pride myself on providing the best support that I can with the people I work with and give people a helping hand along the way. If anybody is thinking of taking up a job as a mental health social worker, I would definitely say go for it! I love my job and can see myself working in this sector throughout the rest of my social work career!
Welcome to The Student Social Work Hub 