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Social workers: the first line

Mental Health

In this series of columns about therapy options for mental illness and mood disturbances, we have talked about psychiatry and psychology.

I have received a huge feedback of opinion about both of these separate, but related professional disciplines.

However, as I look back on my original intention for this half-year bunch of articles, and as I reflect upon the feedback, I realize I might have gotten things backward.

When we or a loved-one experiences a mood or psychiatric episode the needs attention, who sees us first?  Who first takes our hand and says: “It’s OK. You’re OK.  Lets do something about it.”

Most often that person is a social worker — or someone initially trained in social work.

Too often, the road to treatment begins with misfortune — an arrest and brief stay with the good men and women of the RCMP, or a late-night admission to St. Mary’s Hospital or possibly rescue at a shelter, transition house, or Arrowhead.

In all these scenarios, the initial encounter begins with a social worker.

Social workers are gentle, but tough. They listen, trust, understand, but they weren’t born yesterday. They know the road. And above all, social workers are practical — and resourceful.

Here is a typical process, related to me by one of my correspondents.

It began with a six-year period of depression and anxiety. No drugs or alcohol, but it ended in the assault of a partner, an arrest, and a visit to the emergency ward at St. Mary’s.

The attending physicians did not admit this person, but the social worker on scene recognized the need for social and psychiatric care and made some connections.

She was first referred to a mental health outreach social worker who, in turn, referred her to a social worker at a transition house. Housing and stability are fundamental to recovery.

Once sheltered, this person was gently assessed and referred to counseling and employment opportunities. Guess what? Her employment counselor was also a social worker who, practically minded, found the client an easy (but paying) job.

Local housing was secured.

But stuff happens, and things did not work out. Despite all the help, everything fell through, which led to physical and mental illness, bad habits, bad friends.

But the social workers did not give up. Daily visits and walks and talks have taken place. The bottom line is that for folks with issues, the front-line and subsequent social worker attention can help enormously.

I think that vulnerable people trust their social workers because they are non-judgmental and resourceful.

At this point I am going to indulge my right as an informed person to say this: social workers are vastly underpaid and underappreciated.

While doctors, psychs, psychologists, and such make a pile of money (which is well earned), the real front-line workers make pennies.

The men and women who do not have medical degrees, but who have a social commitment and who are paid so poorly to care for so may, these are also folks to appreciate.

I have interviewed so many people for this series, and the one thing that is common is this: with a social worker, resources are more evident, and the stigma of having to see a psych or attend counseling is avoided.

Next time: alternative therapies.

Editor’s note: Hugh Macaulay is vice president of the Arrowhead Clubhouse in Sechelt. He writes monthly about mental health issues with a focus on the Sunshine Coast.