I don’t want to write a rant about the NHS falling apart, but… how can I resist? A colleague was recently told by a manager that she needed to lower her expectations of what service she would be able to provide. Her expectations had included the ludicrous idea of having time to finish writing up […]
“What do I have to do to get someone to come and see me, kill myself?”
I’m officially back at work after a full year’s maternity leave, and it’s a strange mix of new and old at the office. New and old faces, new and old problems. A team meeting on my first day back reassured me that some things never change: any of the agenda items could (and should) have […]
Ok, this is going to be a soppy one, not a funny one. Maybe it’s a result of motherhood? Anyway, I hope you bear with me and read on, Macduff. In my work I come across people struggling with the most difficult of circumstances, and with horrible illnesses that sometimes have persisted for years with […]
The issue of blame is never far from a social worker’s experience. We all know the media horror story of the now vindicated Sharon Shoesmith (social worker in the Baby P case) and we are taught to be prepared to defend our every decision. This issue has recently become sharper for me for two reasons: […]
I have a confession to make – I am a new parent. I’m 16 weeks in to learning how to supply the needs of an infant, and have been generally finding it much more pleasant than being at my paid place of work, even with the chronic lack of sleep. Inevitably I have been comparing […]
Amongst my left-leaning friends, a collective sigh of despair was heaved when the election results became apparent a few weeks ago. Despair and fear, because if a Conservative government mitigated by the Lib Dems had been bad enough for social cohesion and public services, how much worse would an unmitigated one be? Could we expect […]
When I started working as a social worker in an NHS mental health team, I asked myself what extra my particular profession could bring to the role. It wasn’t long before I witnessed the problems of a hierarchical and medically based system, in particular how people’s own wishes can get ignored – as I have […]
I am feeling very pleased with myself this afternoon after having sent this picture to our health and safety department, asking them to circle 5 hazards. I took the picture today when I spotted my colleague working in unsafe conditions that are sadly typical of the current situation in our team, and thought perhaps someone […]
As the year draws to a close, rather than focussing on the fact that I’ll be working both tomorrow and on New Year’s Day while many get to snuggle up under the duvet and watch old films, I decided to mention a few of my favourite Mental Health Social Work incidents of the year. Ok […]
madreflections 