Before entering the social work career, you might not realize the challenges you will face, some on almost a daily basis. While you might be prepared for some situations, like dealing with an abused client or drug addiction, there are some things you can’t quite prepare yourself for.
Whether you are just starting your social work degree or you are in the first few years of your career, here are eight challenges you will likely face.
1: Burnout
Social work stress can often lead to burnout, which is exhaustion caused by being overworked. Unfortunately, it is more common in human services and healthcare roles, which is why social workers must look out for this worrying obstacle. Remember – you don’t have to go through any stress alone. For bad cases of burnout, remember to reach out for professional help.
If you haven’t experienced burnout, here are some things you can do to prevent it from happening in the future –
. Take Regular Breaks
You might think it’s better to work through an eight-hour shift to be able to get home a little earlier, but in reality, this is far more detrimental to your stress levels. Taking regular breaks will help you gain perspective through a much-needed breather.
. Get Enough Sleep
Social life is important, but sleep is essential if you want to get through your working day without feeling overworked. Aim for seven to nine hours per night, and consider looking into better sleep hygiene.
. Eat Well and Exercise
It’s amazing the difference a good diet and workout can have on your overall mood levels. By incorporating healthy meals and enough movement into your day, you will ward off high-stress levels.
. Talk More
There is no use in bottling your stress up. Instead, talk to your co-workers, family, friends – anyone – about how you are feeling before your stress levels reach levels too high to control.
2: An Upsetting Case that Gets to You
Upsetting situations are plentiful in social work. After all, you are dealing with some of the most vulnerable people in society, many of which have gone through domestic violence, sexual abuse, drug addiction, and more. There may come a case, though, that gets to you more than others, to the point you can’t shake it even when you get home. When something like this happens it’s essential to work through your emotions – remember that you are doing all that you can, and you cannot control everything.
3: The Inability to Separate Home from Work
Some jobs are easy to separate from home life, especially when they don’t require too much brain capacity. Other jobs, like social work, aren’t as easy to shake off once you leave the workplace. That’s because you are faced with so many intense situations, and you might find that a case doesn’t leave you no matter how much you try. In this scenario, you must try to do activities at home that distract you from the hardships you face at work. That could mean a creative hobby, a binge-worthy TV show, or a catch-up with your friends.
4: An Extremely High Work Load
For social workers, you can expect a lot of work each day, sometimes more than you can tick off. A good tip for managing a heavy workload is taking it one task at a time. Some people are tempted to multitask with the hopes that it will speed the process up, but in truth, this will only cause confusion and slow you down. Make a list of your tasks in order of priority, and then steadily work through them to avoid over-stressing or falling too far behind.
5: An Angry Client that Won’t Calm Down
Some clients will be a dream to work with; some may even inspire you. Others, however, may test your patience until it reaches a limit you never knew you had. Angry clients are difficult to deal with, and this is a challenge you will likely face numerous times as a social worker. Luckily, you will get better at handling them and learn not to take anything said personally over time.
6: Feelings of Competitiveness
Every single career has at least some level of competitiveness. In such a compassionate career like social work, though, you might not think it applies so much. That is where you’d be wrong. Instead of comparing yourself to other social workers who may be a little more ahead of you, focus on your own experience and education so that you can build a social work career that’s right for you.
7: The Feeling That You’re Not Doing Enough
Social work isn’t about being a superhero and fixing everyone’s problems. There will be compromises you have to make, and sometimes, there will simply be nothing you can do for a client. The situation is very upsetting, and you might feel you’re not doing enough, despite the fact you’re putting in everything you have got and more. It’s important to talk to other social workers whenever you feel like this so that you can understand that everyone goes through this at some point, and there’s no reason to beat yourself up over problems you cannot solve.
8: Compassion Fatigue
One of the scariest challenges social workers often face is compassion fatigue, and this is true for many human services and healthcare workers.
It’s interesting because most people who choose to enter a social work career are the most compassionate people out there, but everyone has their limits. After dealing with numerous inattentive, ungrateful, and rude clients, you might reach the point where you can no longer find compassion, no matter how much you know they need it. To help you get over compassion fatigue, you should prioritize self-care, join a support group, and learn to manage your stress healthily.
As you can see, social work is often a challenging career. If you learn how to overcome those challenges, you will become a successful, caring, and inspiring social worker.
