Categories: uncategorized
Date: 30 August 2007 13:52:15
Back to work today with the good intentions of being nicer to my clients and my colleagues, but no sooner had I walked in then my good mood evaporated. I feel like I go through this rant at least once a quarter... and today is the day.
As a social worker part of my job is to assess my clients to see what their needs are and how best these can be met by services. It used to be that I would have one hour slots with my clients where we could talk through their problems, discuss their options, needs etc. Then it would take me up to an hour to write up the assessment, write to their GP and document everything in their notes.
These days, this is what I have to complete at assessment.
1. 12 page assessment form
2. 2 page risk assessment
3. alert form
4. contact form
5. consent and confidentiality form
6. treatment agreement
7. 6 page National Treatment Agency data form
8. Treatment Outcome Profile form
9. drug screening
10. saliva survey
It is just insane! My assessment now take me at least 1 ½ hours to complete and about the same time again to write up and some weeks I have 4 assessments booked. It isn't that the clients have particularly changed, but I am being swallowed up by paperwork and statistics. The clients are being offered a raw deal because the government is obsessed with collecting stats which mean nothing out of the context of the work.
I always find going to Greenbelt through provoking and it makes me want to do well at my job, to make a difference and encourage and support people to change. So, the question I guess are
How do I make a difference when I have so little time to spend with the clients?
How do I simplify what I do?
How do I prioritise when I have a million and one things to do each day?
How do I stop myself losing the plot entirely?
In my experience it is the therapeutic intervention, the one-to-one sessions, that make the difference on whether someone will pursue change or not and I am becoming increasingly frustrated and feel that my ability to do my job well is being compromised. The problem is that my clients still need me to be there and they still expect me to deliver a service. I am just not sure that I can do that anymore.