General Reflection
Reflective diary week 2
I was waiting at a bus stop on my way home from lectures when I was approached by a gentleman. Having noticed my Brunel library bag we engaged in a brief conversation about the university and the course I was studying. He then asked me if I was familiar with the Victoria Climbie case to which I replied yes. It happened that he knew the social worker who was responsible for Victoria personally and was somehow involved in the case at one point. He spoke at length about the case mainly concentrating on how the social worker was used as a scape goat to cover massive failings in the system and the enormous amount of work load that she had to deal with. He then asked me if I was really sure of what I was getting myself into and whether I was strong enough to cope with such work load because it was not a pleasant area to work in. He kept on talking so much that I got no chance to ask him questions and before I knew his bus had arrived and that was it! He was gone leaving me to ponder on the entire conversation.
For me the most interesting aspect of what he said was the part he asked if I was sure I knew what I was getting myself into and wether I knew what to expect almost as if he was discouraging me. My Initial thoughts were why he had chosen to tell me this. My assumption was because of what had happened in the case and his personal relationship with the social worker he was only trying to warn me of what lay ahead.
This made me think of how important it was to develop survival skills and manage work load effectively as a social worker. According to Thompson, 2009 p119 “there are many cases on the record of workers who have focused on protecting themselves, rather than on the safety and wellbeing of the child, with ironic result that the child suffers unnecessarily, therefore attracting criticism to the social worker and his or her handling of the situation”. I need to learn how to influence and challenge not just individuals, or groups
I was waiting at a bus stop on my way home from lectures when I was approached by a gentleman. Having noticed my Brunel library bag we engaged in a brief conversation about the university and the course I was studying. He then asked me if I was familiar with the Victoria Climbie case to which I replied yes. It happened that he knew the social worker who was responsible for Victoria personally and was somehow involved in the case at one point. He spoke at length about the case mainly concentrating on how the social worker was used as a scape goat to cover massive failings in the system and the enormous amount of work load that she had to deal with. He then asked me if I was really sure of what I was getting myself into and whether I was strong enough to cope with such work load because it was not a pleasant area to work in. He kept on talking so much that I got no chance to ask him questions and before I knew his bus had arrived and that was it! He was gone leaving me to ponder on the entire conversation.
For me the most interesting aspect of what he said was the part he asked if I was sure I knew what I was getting myself into and wether I knew what to expect almost as if he was discouraging me. My Initial thoughts were why he had chosen to tell me this. My assumption was because of what had happened in the case and his personal relationship with the social worker he was only trying to warn me of what lay ahead.
This made me think of how important it was to develop survival skills and manage work load effectively as a social worker. According to Thompson, 2009 p119 “there are many cases on the record of workers who have focused on protecting themselves, rather than on the safety and wellbeing of the child, with ironic result that the child suffers unnecessarily, therefore attracting criticism to the social worker and his or her handling of the situation”. I need to learn how to influence and challenge not just individuals, or groups