Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Burnout?

"Burnout occurs only when you have not found the right way
to deal with yourself and your clients."

Breatheeeee.....

I took leave the past couple of days, because I felt breathless handling some of my clients and needed a break before I burnout. I had began dreaming weird dreams of them and even thought of them while I was on leave.. tsk tsk.. no good... I pride myself as someone who is able to draw boundaries quite well and manage a work-life balance. But sometimes, it's just hard to let go even for me, especially when we know how much my clients are going through.

I was especially bothered by this client who just found out that he was adopted, and began acting out in school. As usual, there were so many "what ifs" that I thought I could have done with the parents; to let them consider how and when better to break the news than the way they did. I felt I could have certainly done better, much better. And then I recalled that I am human after all. But have I done any harm to the child?

Yesterday during the symposium, it was presented that if we can't do good all the time, at least do no harm to our clients. I thought long and hard about it, and yeah, it made sense to me at that point in time. But now upon reflection, it is not such a simple thing after all. In this case, I dunno if I have done harm to the client=( Well, technically speaking, I did not cause a direct harm to him. Rather, it is precisely what I did not do that resulted in him having to go through the confusion, anger and sadness right now. Urgh.

Interestingly, I am feeling confused, angry and sad right now...

Z

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

HAPPY WORLD SOCIAL WORK DAY!


Singapore's social workers had a celebration today with the theme: Redefining PASSION.

I had alot to digest from today's symposium and networking session (and food!). Shall consolidate my thoughts and post them up soon!

Z

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

PAY HIKE!

This is the reason I am reviving my blog. HAHAHA! So today's topic will be on our PAY HIKE!

For overseas readers and people who aren't that familiar with how social workers are paid here in Singapore, it goes like this...

The pre-requisite for being a social worker in Singapore is a BA in Social Work or shared major in Social Work + something else which equates to a starting pay of $1800-$2000 for most if not all VWOs (Just for a comparison, a public bus captain here can earn up to $1900 a month). This is standardised by National Council of Social Service (NCSS) which governs all the social service agencies. And NCSS comes under the Ministry of Community Development, Youths and Sports (MCYS). So to cut the story short, funds to VWOs come from MCYS and NCSS. Thereafter, how VWOs distribute $$$ to salaries/programmes/admin etc is different for each on of them.

However, if one chooses to work as a medical social worker (MSW), the guidelines are slightly different. If I am not wrong, they are governed by Ministry of Health (MOH) who hire MSW as "allied health professionals". As such, their starting pay is usually $200-$300 higher than a peer with the exact same qualification. There has been debate amongst social workers on why the vast difference. The pay and benefits are so much better despite the fact that the qualification and designation are the same!

I surely welcome the pay hike to match social workers pay to that of MSWs, which hopefully comes along with more recognition to what we really do. I mean I do not belittle the work that MSWs do. Their caseload can hit up to 100+!!!! FSCs do not have it any better - 60-80 on average, more so if turnover of staff is high and cases get passed on? Caseload at Homes are usually 30-40ish. I am thankful that at my current workplace, my director is firm about quality over quantity and our caseload is capped at 20. I am currently doing 13 cases but with very intensive intervention and supervision, so I am one happy social worker for now.

WHEEEEEE!!! AND Happy Social Workers' Day in advance my fellow social workers!

*Hmmm... if teachers get a day off on Teachers' Day, why not social workers? For the record, I took leave on 16 March to give myself a break and catch up with my social work buddies!

**And finally.. I will be eligible for credit cards! hahaa.

Z

 
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