social worker

arolyne Willow, former children’s social worker and children’s rights campaigner, UK

When I was 14, I put three things down on my list for the school careers interview: journalist, actress and social worker. From TV and films, it looked like journalism involved a lot of running about, and I had severe asthma, so that was out. And all the people I knew who were into drama were very extroverted and confident, and I didn’t feel I fitted. So I thought I should concentrate on trying to help people.

As a child, I was very ill, and spent time in a sanatorium. It brought me into contact with children who were far more poorly than me, and I had experience of friends in the sanatorium dying. I’m absolutely certain that my commitment as an adult, and as a young person, to treating people equally and including people and trying to ensure people are not made to feel inferior is related to those very early experiences.I qualified as a social worker when I was 22. I feel very lucky that I was a children’s social worker in the late 80s and early 90s, when the climate was strikingly different in terms of what was expected of social workers. There was a real emphasis on working alongside people and understanding the predicaments they were facing. We had a lot more time, support and encouragement to build relationships with children and their families, than social workers appear to do now.

When I qualified as a social worker, I thought we could change the world. I still think that social work is grounded in pursuing social justice, and that social workers have unique and privileged opportunities to assist people to claim their rights and to improve their circumstances. Social workers on their own can’t change the world – but the social work function is about assisting individuals, families and communities to have more control over their lives and to fulfill their potential as human beings. Good social workers can help silenced children be heard for the first time.When I was at further education college, I studied social policy, and was completely gripped by it. I remember in one lesson we were looking at the causes of poverty, and one theory in particular called the cycle of deprivation. And I said to the lecturer, “that explains why poverty goes from generation to generation, but it doesn’t explain how poverty came about in the first place”. And he looked at me with a broad smile, and said: “Keep asking those questions Carolyne.” And I think I have! Hopefully he’d be proud of me, that aged 49 I’m still asking those questions I did at 16.I first went to college thinking I would become an English or maths teacher, but on the first day they told me there was a glut of teachers in the US at that time. I started to take psychology classes, enjoyed it and ended up majoring in it. And then I decided I’d rather get a graduate degree in social work than psychology, because it was a shorter path to being a clinician.

I’d never had any experience with social work, but when I was growing up my dad was dealing with serious mental illness. So I was familiar with what he was going through, and having grown up with that I thought it might be good to help people who are struggling to cope with, and help, a family member who has mental health issues.Most people in the US think of a social worker as somebody who takes away a child who’s been abused or neglected in some way. And so in media portrayals, it’s pretty negative about social workers. But it’s also negative in the mental health field, there’s a lot of stigma around mental illness. So I thought being a social worker I could advocate and educate around those issues and try to change some of the public perceptions.