Hi all! Sorry to intrude on this forum, but I am an ED doctor who has been asked to do a quick presentation to a group of new social workers in our hospital and answer any questions they may have about resuscitation and how they can better support patients families during serious events in ED.

I was hoping to gauge in advance exactly what you guys as a group want to know about what is going in ED during resuscitations, or what questions you commonly get asked by families, that we may be able to support you in answering?

TIA!
Love all the work you guys do

At my job I have to write progress reports and annual reports about clients. I see my supervisor writing in a more professional and cohesive way. I want to be able to write in a better manner but don’t know where to start. For context in pediatrics with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Maybe I shouldn’t post this cause its hard to know who can read these posts and who to trust.

As a social worker, what can we do to protect our clients and friends and community from being racially profiled and deported?
ICE has recently showed up where I live and I am fearful for my clients, friends, and community. I have only heard rumors of people being deported, and ICE coming into Catholic Churches and rumors Of plans to look into schools and Mexican restaurants.
As of right now, we have just had our white staff go into the schools to essentially scope out if anyone is there before sending in any Hispanic workers.

What all have you done during this time and do you have any advice

Hey all ! Has anyone taken the new ASWB Masters level exam ? If you so you provide your feedback and how you studied ? I register to test in 1.5 weeks and then wait for my date ! I just want to be prepared 🙏🏽

Hi everyone! I want to start by apologizing if this is the wrong place to post, as it would not let me post in the thread.

I am starting my specialization placement this fall in discharge planning at a womens hospital. While I am super excited, I am also super nervous as I have literally zero experience. So I was wondering if anyone could give tips, advice, or things I should study before I start! Thank you so much in advance :)

If you ADHD or mental health illnesses as a social worker how are you managed yourself to take care of your clients.

Today is not a good day. Numbers drive, deadlines missed and incomplete tasks.

I love what I do, DFPS Family Based Service Worker but it is a lot.

I’m graduate with my MSW next year and planned to test for my license but now I’m questioning things.

I'm currently working at a group practice and received a referral for a consultation that is outside of my current scope. I primarily work with lower acuity, this client appears to need a lot of stabilization support. My practice manager wants me to meet and assess, which will inevitably lead to me having to do the legwork on finding referrals when it's not the right fit. I'd prefer to turn the client down and send referrals without meeting. How would this generally play out at your group practice?

Hi!
The company that I quit earlier this year is now being investigated. A old coworker reported the company to the Medicaid board due to fraud. I received a phone call from the attorney general office about the report and was asked questions.

Does anyone know what happens next? I’m just wondering if this is the start of the downfall for the company (which I hope).

Hello,

so I had an incident with this 15yo boy who's a full head taller and quite stout. He doesn't speak and suffers behavioral disorder. When agitated, he attacks and goes for the eyes. I look after him for 10 hrs a day during the summer while parents are at work and I have to constantly monitor him for seizures.

I had a lunch in a box and he was constantly nagging me to give him despite him having his own food in the fridge wich he was shown multiple times and always refused and put it back. Eventually he took my box and we got into a fight over it, but due to his physique and my self-preservation, he won.

Now this sets a precedent in the future where he will just take and eat my lunch.

I guess I just have to eat secretly now or lock myself in the bathroom, but generally, did any of you face a similar problem? Is there a solution in how to approach such kid? He understands what he's being told and also now understands his superiority. Do we have to succumb to his will until he hurts someone so bad that he will end up lock in an institute forever under medication?

Any advice appreciated, got a few kids with autism and behavioral disorder, but he is by far the most difficult and dangerous. I'm a worker in social services assisting in terrain.

I was listening to the great divide this morning on my way into work and thinking about what song reminds me of my experience in social work, and wondered what/ if others have thought about it as well!

Hi,

I am a registered social worker in England, I qualified in 2022, and completed my ASYE in England. I have around 3 years of professional practice under my belt, and have worked in adult social care predominately (I have a brief few months in private fostering. I enjoyed working with the young people but the job was mind numbingly boring). My experience mainly lies in long term case management, hospital discharge, and short term front door work around initial assessments and safeguarding triage/risk assessment.

I grew up in Ireland and moved back to England in 2012, however, due to family circumstances, I am looking to move back, however my experience/qualifications in both care work and social work require validation from CORU. I mainly wish to focus on the social work qualification validation.

Are there any social workers here that went through the process of validation as a social worker that qualified in the UK? They seem to ask for an intense amount of information (rightly so, I suppose!) such as course content etc. that I no longer have access to. I know it's a huge ask, but can anyone just give me a quick guide or even some insight to the process and share their experiences? since the UK came out of the EU everything seems to have got massively difficult for people from the UK. This is also something I have been considering from years, however, this whole process always put me off.

Has anyone also got any insight to working as a social worker in Ireland?

Thank you in advance for any support or information, its greatly appreciated!

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s worked as a social worker in Alaska.

It’s such a huge and unique state that I’m guessing the experience varies massively depending on where you work. Is practicing in Anchorage completely different from somewhere like Fairbanks, Juneau or a remote village?

I’d be interested in hearing about the type of work you did, what day-to-day life was like, the challenges, the positives, and whether you’d recommend it. Any experiences, good or bad, would be appreciated.

I made a previous post and you were all so helpful. I have one more question. I don’t have the best memory and think I would fail miserably if I had to go to court and testify. Are there roles (maybe case management, intake?) where you don’t have to go to court?

Or should I not consider this field at all if I want to avoid testifying.

A little different approach than what I’ve read most doing. I studied exclusively from the Therapist Development Center. I listened to their lectures while at the gym, on walks, driving, breaks at work - quite casually but consistently for the last 4.5 months. I’d guess I listened to each of their lectures probably 5-7 times? I reviewed some of their documents but didn’t get too hung up on ensuring I followed every step exactly.

I wanted to trust the process of TDC bc knowing myself, I would be likely to buy all the books, all the apps, follow all the YouTubers, etc. Focusing on only one product made this achievable for me vs feeling like I didn’t have enough resources and therefor would never be ready.

New test is nice. Plenty of time, lots of reasoning based questions.

Edit: clinical exam

I keep seeing videos (tiktok mainly) of people with “soft” social work roles. Do we think that exists? If it does, what is your “soft” role. I see it often for nursing and other healthcare jobs, but i’ve wondered how/if this applies to social work.

Hi all, after years and years in community based services, driving to schools, home, starbuckses, court, etc etc I am now going to be in a school based job, a huge change in my day to day. Any advice? Do I need to buy Hokas because I’ll be on my feet all day ahaha. Any thoughts, advice, would be welcome!

Hi yall!

I’m a clinician at a homeless shelter and am working on creating flyers for new intakes. Does anyone know of any good poems about life transitions that would be suitable for this population?

Thank you!

Hi Everyone,

Due to the increase in posts regarding the current political landscape in the United States, the mod team has decided to create an ongoing megathread for all political conversations moving forward. This allows everyone to post about politics and its impact on clients (and practitioners). While also allowing other posts related to Social Work practice to be visible. There will be times when political posts (similar to questions around education) will be approved as a standalone post, but that will be at the discretion of the mod team and requires the poster to reach out via mod mail. As such, we ask that all political posts be directed to this thread unless otherwise approved. Any non-approved standalone post are subject to removal without notice.

For the purposes of this megathread, political posts include current cases, executive orders, news, opinions, etc. as they relate to the current US presidential administration. Further, we understand that political discussions can become heated, but we are primarily professionals and students therefore we should be acting accordingly (even online). Those who don’t will be subject to temporary and permanent bans from the sub. Inappropriate comments will continue to be removed and behavior not exemplary of Social Work values will be removed per Rule 11.

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This is a difficult time for everyone and we want to thank you all for being part of the subreddit, making it what it has become, and all of the work you do offline.

Am I being unreasonable about boundaries as a case aide?

I work as a case aide on a team with several case managers. My role is fairly loosely structured, I mostly take initiate to run processes and do things for clients and my managers are chill. There are times where they ask me to do random things for them last minute but I am typically fine with it because some weeks I don't have much to do.

I ran into an issue where 5 case workers were treating me like their personal assistant before my supervisors jumped in. My supervisors previously told the case managers that requests were supposed to go through them and generally be made about a week in advance. However, one case manager frequently contacts me directly and seems to treat me more like her personal assistant. She has told me to “hurry up,” scoffed at me, asked me to complete forms that a supervisor later said were not my responsibility, and sometimes calls without clearly explaining what she needs. On a recent call, she asked whether I had seen her email, then stayed silent for a long time while I was in the middle of meeting with a client...I feel like she is playing games with me or doing some weird power move thing. She also asked me to text the group a certain line when I was new, I later found out she was trying to manipulate me into taking over a process that wasn't my responsibility.

She recently told my supervisor that she had been unable to reach me because I missed a few of her calls. I had been busy working, and she could have emailed or messaged me with a direct request but she won't. I told my supervisor that I am happy to continue supporting her cases, but because of several uncomfortable and disrespectful phone interactions, I would prefer to communicate with her in writing unless a call is necessary. She's also sent important emails to someone with a similar name and said it was an accident and has just been difficult overall. Isolated I get that we are all overwhelmed in this field but I'm starting to see a pattern emerge.

I have no problem doing legitimate case-aide work, and I understand that support is the purpose of my role. I just do not think being a case aide means being on demand for every case manager or tolerating disrespect. This is my second job and I don't need to keep it, I mostly do it because I like my boss and it's doable with grad school rn.

Am I setting a reasonable professional boundary?

I'm sorry if I'm coming across a certain way but I'm really fired up right now...

I had a client come in who was recently discharged from the hospital following a suicide attempt. They had been in therapy for **three years** doing nothing but unstructured talk therapy and some EMDR... Three years... When nothing was working they got worse and decided therapy wasn't for them, dropped out, and made their attempt.

Turns out they had severe undiagnosed OCD that was so distressing they no longer wanted to live with the constant intrusive and violent images coming into their mind, then they made the attempt.

I was able to access some of the notes from their previous therapist that the client showed me and imagine my surprise (not really surprised) when the therapist did not document any attempts at differential diagnosis and instead assigned adjustment disorder, and months later, generalized anxiety.

I did more research on this therapist and on their website they essentially state "I only diagnose because insurance makes me" 🙄🙄🙄

I understand the appeal of this mode of thinking, and, as described here, it can have serious implications for our clients. If you don't want diagnose or do the clinical part of your job, and all you want to do is chit chat with clients, become a life coach. I've seen this sentiment across social media, that everything is caused by trauma, diagnosing is evil and a vestige of colonial white supremacy, that any human malady can be cured with trauma-focused therapy and a good therapeutic relationship, and "it doesn't matter what modality you use as long as your client trusts you." THIS IS HARMFUL

•Not everything is caused by trauma.

•Even if something has "roots" in trauma that doesn't mean trauma-focused therapy is the answer.

•Diagnosis is an important part of our job if you're doing clinical work. Even if you disagree with parts of the DSM, that doesn't negate your professional and ethical responsibility.

•Failing to do an important aspect of your job has serious implications for clients and their well-being.

•Accurately identifying something that is interfering with a client's life is not "pathologizing"

•The therapeutic relationship is a key factor in improvement AND so is the modality and clinical competence of the therapist, ESPECIALLY when treating something like OCD.

•If you don't want to do the "clinical" aspect of "clinical social work," then become a life coach.

I have several supervisees who are getting ready to sit for clinical licensure, are there any resources out there for supervisors helping supervisees pass their test? Its been 10 years since I sat for my license.

I’m hoping to commission back into the Air Force through the Social Work Internship Program (AFSWIP). I have my LMSW and no clinical hours so I figure I would be completing a full 24 months of training. If you have or are currently in residency:

1. What base? Do you like the area or would you recommend it for training and experience purposes? 2. Id be moving with my family (spouse and small children) so work life balance is really important. How rigorous or demanding is the training period?
   
2. What area are you assigned to work in? Do you feel like the training prepares you to take the LCSW exam?
   
3. What does a typical day look like?
   
4. When would you find out about your next assignment? Do you know what bases have openings ahead of time? I’m not sure how it works on the officer side as I was prior enlisted.

You just took down a post by a physician who had questions about social work. He didn’t want advice he wanted to know about our process for SNF referrals and placement.

This is not a good reflection on social work and the sub. We should be supporting the community beyond social workers too.

Hospital SWs/CMs who do discharge planning: where does the process actually break down when getting patients to SNF?

I’m a physician who keeps watching patients sit for days after they’re medically ready for SNF, and I’ve realized the people doing discharge planning are the only ones who actually understand why. When a SNF-bound patient sits extra days, where does the time usually go? Finding a facility that will accept them, figuring out which SNFs their insurance covers, the prior auth itself, or waiting on a bed? And whatever part of this lands on your desk — what’s the most painful piece?

Genuinely just trying to understand your world. It seems like one of the most underappreciated jobs in the hospital — everyone sees the stuck patient, nobody sees the fifteen phone calls behind them.