What I want my social worker to do

Knowledge

As my social worker, I want you to:

  • Know how I communicate
  • Be friendly, kind and get to know me
  • Provide easy to read information about money, housing, support and other things that I may need to make decisions about
  • Understand that things can change
  • Think about how you give me difficult information.

Skills and Intervention

As my social worker, I want you to:

  • Use simple language
  • Prepare for visits
  • Think about using activities to help me communicate
  • Take the time to visit me, listen to me and understand how I express my feelings
  • Stick to what we’ve agreed and let me know if anything needs to change
  • Help me to make my own decisions - bring information that I can understand with you. 

How you treat me (Values, ethics and personal behaviours)

As my social worker, I want you to:

  • Ask me, do not tell me
  • Focus on what I can do
  • Treat me as an equal
  • Support me to make choices for myself
  • Respect my privacy- do not share information about me without my permission
  • Keep in touch, tell me what is happening next
  • Tell me why if my social worker is changing

What I do not want my social worker to do

Personal behaviours (How you treat me)

As my social worker, I don’t want you to:

  • Waste my time
  • Be late, not turn up or cancel appointments with me
  • Be mean or rush me
  • Assume I am ok, ask me
  • Say one thing but do another
  • Make promises you cannot keep
  • Ignore me
  • Make decisions for me
  • Focus on my diagnosis only
  • Judge me
  • Ignore my behaviour or feelings.

Knowledge

As my social worker, I don’t want you to:

  • Forget to bring information or give me the wrong information
  • Turn up knowing nothing about me
  • Patronise me or talk to others about me first
  • Keep changing my social worker.

Skills and Intervention

As my social worker, I don’t want you to:

  • Just get your laptop when you visit me, have a conversation first
  • Rush your visit or make me feel like I am wasting your time, or that I am not important to you
  • Look at your watch all the time or keep checking your mobile phone.