Life Made Bearable: The Social Worker Difference
"The greatest cruelty is our casual blindness to the despair of others" - anonymous
Lord knows that the world isn't
perfect. It's riddled with imperfection, disease and hate. It's always been a wonder
how we can survive all this. People try to cope though. There are those
privileged enough who can build walls and bar the grim world from their
moneyed, comfortable life. Others aren't so lucky and are right in the thick of
things. Not everyone's lucky enough to find comfort in the arms of family and
friends, to never doubt whether one is going to eat for the day, or to never
question whether the justice system will serve you. This is, sadly, the reality
of the world. The other grim reality is that we can sit idly by. A horrific
picture of the world we live in, I know, but there is hope for it yet. There
are still some rare individuals (bless
them) who try to make the world a bit
better.
You've probably heard of the
saying "not all heroes wear capes", which is quite true.
Everyday heroes don't wear flashy costumes or draw a lot of attention to
themselves. More often than not, these heroes go un-thanked and unnoticed, such
is the nature of humanity. Luckily, this doesn't prevent these individuals from
going the extra mile. You're probably thinking of "heroes" such as
doctors, the ones who try to save lives with their medical expertise, or maybe
you're thinking of policemen, the ones who patrol the streets and keep in line
those who seek trouble. However, there are those whose work are less recognized
as these. The ones I'm talking about don't own as much as doctors or see as
much action as policemen, but their presence still makes a big impact on the
lives of the less fortunate. The ones I'm talking about aim to promote social
justice through active community interaction and participation. They are called
social workers.
Social workers aren't all that well
understood. When we hear the word social worker we mostly
think:
“They give out donations to the
homeless, marginalized groups, and the victims of calamities”
“ They are involved in charity and
support groups”
“They do feeding programs”
While these are true, these barely
scratch the surface of the true nature of social work.
Social workers work within the legal
system in order to assist and protect vulnerable people, like orphans, senior
citizens, and persons with disabilities. They usually gain their clients from
referrals from other people and then they regularly check up on these vulnerable
people in order to assess their needs. This may seem like a lot of work but
social workers also work with other professionals, such as counselors,
non-government organizations (NGOs), and mental health professionals. Together,
social workers make the significant difference in people's lives by doing the
best they can to meet their needs.
Social workers have a range of
different possible clients. Like mentioned before, these clients are mostly
vulnerable people. These can include the aforementioned orphans, senior
citizens, and persons with disabilities as well as people in marginalized
communities and troubled youth. However, most social workers tend to specialize
in only a certain type of clients and as a result, social workers work in
different settings. Social workers can work in schools, where they can consult
and make needs assessments based on the school's population of vulnerable
students. Social workers can also work in prisons so that they can assure that
inmates either don't abuse or don't get abused within the prison's legal
system. Social workers can also work at homes for the aged so that they can
assure that the peoples' needs are met and understood during their stay there.
Social workers can also choose to work for the government, for the community,
or for private sector clients.
Since social workers work very closely
with other people, they need to possess certain skills, competencies, and
qualities in order to properly deal with other people and their situations.
Social workers must have interpersonal skills and patience because they often
do a lot of interacting and communicating with clients. Social workers must
also possess integrity and a sense of social justice for these will serve as
the drive for them to continue their work. These competencies aren't enough,
however, for one can only become a social worker once they pass the social
worker board exam. I myself was surprised to learn that social workers require
board exams but I suppose if you hold the lives of others in your hands, you
need certain safeguards. The social worker code of ethics also serves as a
safeguard in order to assure that social workers do their jobs right and just.
The social worker code of ethics cover areas such as professionalism, privacy,
and respect for human dignity. You might think that people who willingly
undertake a job taking care of others, they'd be more responsible, but there
have been many cases of social workers who violate the code of ethics in
ignorance, besmirching the social worker name. That is why the code of ethics
exist in order to prevent any more of these situations from arising.
The HUMSS students of St.Scholastica’s Marikina visited public and private organizations that includes the field of social work. . .
One of which is St. Maria De Mattias Center, a non-governmental organization was founded by some sisters and was a run by them. The center believes that the values instilled to their clients will make them develop as a person. Also, the center do not provide the clients with everything they need but they also have requirements to be considered as a client. They will check whether that child is worthy of the center’s programs.
St. Maria De Mattias is a center that provides education to children ages 7-17, they pay for the children’s tuition fee, the feed them everyday and activities such as tutoring and values formation. Not only that, they also give activities to the parents, such as planting and also values formation. Since the center is a private organization, they just depend on personal donations from the people.
The students met kuya Jonathan, a social worker who helps in the center. He mentioned that being a social worker needs both responsibility and passion, it doesn’t matter if the salary is low or not working on an office type of room. What matters the most is being able to help the children and to see them grow to reach their future.
The other sections visited the Marikina Youth Home which is located in Marikina City,
unlike St. Maria De Mattias, this center is a public organization under the local government.
The center are looking after the juvenile children ages 15-18. They offer programs and services such as bible study, team building which is sometimes held at Marikina Sports Center wherein they let the children play sports activites, and also they let the children attend school; they separate the girls from the boys. The role of the social worker is to refer these children to other professionals which the clients need such as counseling and legal assistance. They also help facilitate rehabilitation services to the children. Also, they accept other organizations to conduct outreach programs to interact to the children.
As you can see, most of the centers mentioned focuses on the children's assistance but another group went to a nursing home for the elders.
Camillus Medhaven, a nursing home providing the welfare of the elderly. They provide services to the elderly who are abandoned and the clients pay for the accommodation they receive. This institution also provides long-term and full time care to the senior whose family can no longer give the attention to them. It is also a private care facility that offers different services such as giving them private caregivers, ward attendants and nurses. They give activities and medical support to their clients provided that they offer the needs required to each client.
These centers adhere to their saying "A home away from home" where everyone deserves to be part of a family.
