"Messages from Social Work"
At the start of June, the SASW Team held an exhibition for MSPs at the Scottish Parliament. We used the opportunity to showcase "Messages from Social Work" - giving MSPs an insight into the reality of being a social worker and a person using services in Scotland today.
We engaged with almost 50 MSPs - 7 of whom were Ministers. Everyone we met welcomed the suggestion of meeting with us, and working together in the future to create positive change.
MSPs showed their support for the profession on social media over the course of the 3 days. These can be found by visiting our Twitter profile, but you can read some examples below:
Kaukab Stewart, MSP, "Thanks to @ScotsSW for sharing their key aims including improved professional support, recognition and rights at work for the benefit of people who need their services. The exhibition displayed stories and messages from workers across social work fields".
John Mason, MSP, "Very much appreciated having a chat with @ScotsSW Social Work. Talked about whether there should be more consistency for social workers across Scotland. More preventative work & less reactive? Public view of social work - criticised if they act & criticised if they don't act!"
As part of our exhibition research, we asked you to tell us what messages you wanted MSPs to hear. You can find the ones we shared below, as well as links to the sources where we found our supporting evidence.
Our team remain committed to lobbying on your behalf for a better social work profession.
82% of social workers have experienced significant stress because of work.
"When Scotland invests in social work, it means improved experiences not only for those professionals and students, but also the people they support – helping children, families, and individuals to thrive. I chose to become a social worker in the hope that I would be able to build relationships and deliver care and compassion, based on my experiences of growing up in familial, foster, and residential care”.
David Grimm
Social Work Student and Care Experienced Activist
Social Workers Union Survey - June 2020
One in four social workers leave within the first 6 years of practice.
"Having a bursary for students on placement will encourage those with lived experience and from diverse backgrounds to become social workers. We lose critical skills and experience when people leave the profession, so retention and recruitment must be a focus, and newly qualified social workers must get proper support, good supervision, and time to learn. Improving career pathways for all social workers and offering flexible working conditions and better technology would allow social workers to stay in the profession longer”.
Sarah Anderson
Expert by Experience and Social Work Student
Setting the Bar - Social Work Scotland
50% of social workers describe their current caseload as 'not at all manageable'.
"I became a social worker to support others and be the person that can offer kindness as well as the appropriate support for individuals and their family members during difficult times. My days now are mostly spent sitting at a desk looking at my computer screen and compiling another assessment – taking the ‘social’ out of social work. Caseloads are multiplying across the country, and there are not enough social workers to deal with them”.
Jo Falconer
Rural Social Worker
Taking the Wheel - Social Work Scotland
Administrative support across social work teams has decreased by almost a third in recent years.
"Getting the support of administrative and paraprofessional staff means that social workers can get to use the skills and expertise that they’re trained in. The loss of these key members of social work teams means that in recent years, the opportunity to do meaningful, preventative work has decreased across the profession”.
Caroline Thomson
Social Work Team Leader
Setting the Bar - Social Work Scotland
More than half of Scots have a 'negative view of social workers'.
"Social workers are compassionate, determined and possess underused power and professional expertise. There are huge misconceptions over the role of social work, as highlighted by social media and press coverage. It’s not right that we should be devalued and treated like the poor cousin of health”.
Toyin Adenugba
Social Worker working with Adults
Frontine - shifting the social work stigma
Prevention can reduce costly interventions. This is true of health services, and it is also true of social work support.
"I believe that despite today’s challenges, we can re-envisage what social work looks like in Scotland – in local communities, across family generations, at earlier points of need and in less compartmentalised ways. I’d love to see a better understanding of the social work role and its pressures in Parliamentary debate, decision-making, funding, and governance, as well as in the press and media. I’d love to see greater parity with our colleagues in other public sector professions in terms of expectations, pay and conditions, and mileage”.
Jude Currie
Social Worker working with Children and Families
Investing in people is beneficial to society: it is an investment in ourselves and one another.
"Social work is built on relationships and the skills to work with people before they reach crisis. We need time and investment in the profession so that we can provide earlier support and avoid compulsory measures of intervention. Without this, we’re stuck managing risk and holding people safely at points of crisis or on waiting lists".
Lindsey Young
Mental Health Officer
Independent Review of Adult Social Care
Co-production and supportive processes involving good conversations, giving people as much choice and control over their support and care is critical.
"We need staff in social work who feel valued, treasured, appreciated and respected. Sometimes I worry that timescales, targets and lack of resources
makes it very hard for our helpers to do the job they would like to do. I have been treated against my will for years, I don’t have anything against the people who help me. I’m utterly fed up with schizophrenia. Working with people like me is not always easy. Please invest in these crucially important workers".
Graham Morgan,
Lived Experience Person, Service User and Activist