We are a week into March, which has been declared as Social Worker Month. I had no idea that there was a whole month dedicated to this amazing career path and it got me thinking. This profession is one that does not get a lot of attention. Some people have never heard of social work and many do not understand what social work is. Even before I began my graduate program, I heard countless of statements about social work that (I know now) are far from the truth. After being in the program for about 6 months, I want to debunk some of the myths and misconceptions about social work programs and the work that we as future professionals in the field do. If you aren't a social worker yourself, you are most likely not going to know much (if anything) is truly known about what social work entails and what is demanded of social workers day to day. So here we go, hold on to your seats because I'm about to blow your mind (ok its not that serious, but it is, kind of).
1. Social work is easy!
Honestly, this just makes me laugh. As I debunk the latter misconceptions, you'll see why. We're gonna put a pin in this myth for now...
2. Social work students don't do much.
This couldn't be further from the truth. We are either in class, at our field placement, or thinking about class and our field placement. In my program, first year students have class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and/or Fridays. We work 8 hour days on Tuesdays and Thursdays at our field placements. Field hours are required in order for us to graduate. We don't get to choose our field placements during our first year and we didn't even get to find them out until the week before classes started. That means we could be living on one side of the city and have to commute an hour (or more) to field each day. Some of us work odd hours, as many social workers do. For me personally, I work 12-8, sometimes longer if I have to. There have been a couple of occasions where I didn't get home until midnight. Then had class the next day at 9am... Many students are working side jobs to pay rent, tuition, and simply eat. When we are not in class or at field, we spend time doing countless readings. We are assigned hundreds of pages per week. We find small bits of time to at least attempt to skim them - perhaps during our lunch breaks (if you get one at all) at field, in between classes, on the bus or train rides, in bed before we fall asleep from exhaustion. Any down time we have, we spend thinking about our clients. This brings me to my next point...
3. Social workers are only in it for the money.
If we were in it for the money, we would have picked a different career. Social work is a helping profession. We consciously chose to have a career dedicated for the bettering of society and individuals who have been harmed over and over by the systems that we have created that put them in their positions. There are a lot more jobs out there that pay better and come with a lot less emotional baggage and mental/physical stress. People have to think long and hard about entering this field. Many people have dropped out of master's programs because they realize that they were not going to be able to deal with the burnout that comes with the profession. That won't be changing anytime soon. This is because it is a complicated decision that requires dedication, passion, and a true calling. It is not and never will be about the money. And if it is only about the money for people, then they're not in the right field.
4. We are wasting money on a degree, because social workers are overworked and underpaid.
This seems to directly contradict the last misconception. Good insight (if that's what you were thinking), because it definitely does. But the thing is I've heard both of these statements. To be fair, this one is half true. We are for sure overworked. But, there are jobs out there for social workers that pay well. However, we do deserve more pay than we earn. We're working on that (through attempts to change policies, fight for payment for field work, etc.). But, we also know that the reason we went into this field was not for our own personal gain, but to help all individuals who are suffering from the systems that are currently in place. The investment is not for us, but for our clients. Our clients deserve to receive services from individuals who received top notch training, that way we do not cause any further harm to these people. Bottom line, they deserve the best, and the best is this degree.
5. You have to be emotionless in order to do this work.
Not going to lie - this belief made me second guess my career choice more times than I would like to admit. But, the more I have learned is that if you as a social worker do not feel empathy for the individuals you are working with, there is no way you will be able to provide the services they need and deserve. Social workers thrive off of our emotions. They are our biggest motivators for what we do. Being upset with the system and frustrated with the limitations of what we can do in situations forces us to come up with ways to fight the system and change the laws that are in place. Our emotions allow us to analyze our policies and make them better to best serve the people who need them. Without emotion, we would not be able to do our work well. We would slack off, cut corners, and neglect our clients, leading to more harm. We cannot afford to harm our clients in this helping profession. It is not an option. You need to be sensitive and emotional.
6. Social workers don't actually care about people. They work for the state, destroy families, and neglect the people that truly need help.
Historically, social work has done a lot of damage to individuals who need services and aid. But, we truly care about our clients. We wouldn't have entered this field if it truly wasn't our calling to do so. There are many easier jobs out there that pay similarly to entry level jobs in the social work field. But we chose this path. Remember how I said we were underpaid and overworked? We are trying to save everyone, and there are a lot of people that need saving. Being overworked causes us to do as much as we can and as efficiently as possible. Policies in place by the government and the organizations that we work for force us to cut corners or follow rules that we may not agree with. Again, we are working to change those things. I have learned that as a social worker, we have to take a political stance for the bettering of our clients. Many students and practicing social workers are involved in advocacy movements to change laws regarding disability, incarceration, the death penalty, drug addiction, Planned Parenthood, and many other human rights movements. We have the power to use our voices to create change because we are working with the suffering and seeing the trauma with our own eyes. Our hands are tied a lot of the time, but that doesn't stop us from attempting to rip the rope off and fighting for equality.
7. Social workers are only in this field because they couldn't do anything else.
The people that are in my cohort are some of the smartest and most driven individuals that I know. What drives our curiosity, intensity, and stamina is our deep empathy and responsibility we feel for the people we are serving. The social work field is filled with diversity. People from all walks of life attend my program: all ages, all races, all gender identities, all sexual orientations... You get the point. Many people left a career they were thriving in to completely switch the trajectory of their life because social work is their calling and what they excel at. This field gives meaning and purpose to our lives. We choose this career and the career also chose us. We weren't thrown into it for any other reason besides the fact that we made the conscious decision that we want to spend the rest of our lives dedicating our work to others.
8. Specifically, social work is a copout for those who couldn't get into clinical psychology graduate school programs.
I kind of debunked this in the above misconception, but this statement is something I heard from people at my undergraduate institution. In particular, many professors that I had that were in the psychology department looked down on students that wanted to do direct practice and were not interested in research. However, there was one professor in particular that changed my whole outlook on the decision between which graduate degree I chose. She helped me realize that my brain was social work oriented. This means that in order for me to best help my clients, I need to go after the training that most aligns with my values, strengths, and concepts that make the most sense to me so I can explain these concepts to my clients. She helped me feel proud in my decision.
Now let's return to misconception 1. This is the misconception I hear the most, which is telling about how little people know about the field. But, I don't think I need to explain any further. As you can see, social work is not easy.
I would like to know - are there any misconceptions or myths you have heard about social workers, graduate programs in social work, or what we do? Let me know in the comments below. I would love to shed light on this wonderful field and this amazing work we are aiming to do for the bettering of our society. For the record: If I were to do it over, I'd still pick social work.
Image by: Catherine Saoud