"Are you reading me?" "Are you getting inside my head?"

[pingouin]

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Clearly that person led a pretty darn sheltered life.

Do they think social workers just drive around, pick a house at random, kick down the door and steal their kids? All the folks I know who did it say there are occasionally mistakes, but even half the people who DO get their kids back probably shouldn't.

I'm sure it isn't easy at the time, but I think getting kids out of some of those homes would be one of the more rewarding parts of social work. My mother did home health care for awhile and I used to hear all kinds of stories about her ripping kids away from mothers and father who had brought their kids to the brink of death either through neglect or outright abuse. Just wish the system was better set up to care for them.

Not to mention that there are SO many different kinds of social workers...not just child welfare workers.

Psyched77 hits on my big pet peeve- there ARE so many different directions you can take a SW degree that it's ludicrous to lump them all into the same category. Unfortunately "social worker" is often synonymous with "human services worker", which is why states are pursuing title protection for SWs. You can be a CPS worker and have a BA in English, but you have to have a SW degree to be a "social worker".

And Ollie, yes- people who said those things to me have lived rather sheltered lives and are (primarily) of an older generation. To this day, I couldn't tell you what it's like to rip a child from their home because I've never done it. The closest I've been is having to send 2 kids into foster care from the ER a few months ago, but mom was already arrested and as it turned out, grandma's blustering was mostly about the fact that she didn't have a ride home from the hospital. Although it was relieving to know they were going to be safe, it also sucked big-time to see their physical injuries, watch the psychological injury (a child extraordinarily overprotective of the infant sibling), and not be able to adequately explain why they couldn't go home with grandma like they did the last time this happened.

 

[deleted190534]

And Ollie, yes- people who said those things to me have lived rather sheltered lives and are (primarily) of an older generation.

Yeah...being a foster parent changed my perspectives on just about everything.

 

[islandgirl1]

reminds me of the moment I told my mother I was going to minor in Social Work and she said "you want to be like Judging Amy's mother?"
*sigh*

 

[Cosmo75]

Slightly off topic but....a friend of mine once introduced me to another person with the following statement...

"X, this is blindchaos, blindchaos this is X. X, Blindchaos is studying psych in grad school and works in group homes - she's just like Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the ****oo's Nest!"

Yeah...thanks for that 😛

LOL

 

[MaddieMay]

This was in an article (Newsweek?) that someone posted the link to about a month ago. Naturally, the article was written by a life coach. I wonder if maybe she read that and that's where she got her information from?

Hmm, she does read Newsweek religiously. But what training do these yahoo Life Coaches have? I have to go look this article up.

 

[MaddieMay]

I could publish a "Mental Health For Dummies" pamphlet! Tell me you all wouldn't buy them in bulk to give to people who have no idea about each profession's scope of practice.

Brilliant! I'm on board. Can we dedicate it to my sister?

"To Dr. Know-It-All, whose psychiatry rotation was 15 years ago and who never had a SW/Psy.D./Life Coach rotation."

 

[american red]

Q: Are you analyzing me?

A: Yes, but everyone analyzes one another. I'm just better at it.

 

[EquestriAnn]

Q: Are you analyzing me?

A: Yes, but everyone analyzes one another. I'm just better at it.

A1: Yes, and it seems that you have a lot of pent up sexual frustration. It's really been a while, eh?

 

[moonflwr]

A1: Yes, and it seems that you have a lot of pent up sexual frustration. It's really been a while, eh?

LOL I like that one.

I think I posted this in the humor thread but I'm going to post it here too because it seems relevant:

Our Psych club t-shirts said "Yes I am analyzing you and your inner child needs a spanking. That will be $100, see you next week"

One of the prof's came up with that.

 

[SeaSquirt]

Speaking of Social Work, did anyone watch True Life: I Have Schizophrenia? (If not the entire episode is on MTV's website. I'd rate it a 3/5.)

Anyway, they had a social worker there counseling a girl with schizophrenia, so that helps break the misconception around SW.

 

[MaddieMay]

Speaking of Social Work, did anyone watch True Life: I Have Schizophrenia? (If not the entire episode is on MTV's website. I'd rate it a 3/5.)

Anyway, they had a social worker there counseling a girl with schizophrenia, so that helps break the misconception around SW.

My connection is pretty slow, so I couldn't watch The True Life... etc

I'm embarrassed to not be familiar with the misconception you mentioned about social work. I have the utmost respect for social workers and have explained to countless people the similarities and differences and overlap regarding what psychologists and social workers can do (aside from psych testing, etc.)

Would you enlighten me as to the misconception you mentioned?

Thank you. 🙂

 

[pingouin]

Well, most SWs do not work strictly in mental health, so stereotypes abound about what we do. For example, as I stated above, through my career people have assumed incorrectly that social work = child protection, social work = case management, social work = only working with poor people and/or ethnic/cultural minorities, etc, etc, etc. And although certainly SWs are found in all of those roles, they are not the exclusive domains of SWs and SWs do many other things.

As much as I enjoyed the TV show Judging Amy, my biggest bitch- and that of many of my colleagues- was that if Tyne Daly's character was going to be a "social worker", why did they have to perpetuate the stereotype and make her a CPS worker? And a burned-out somewhat bitter one at that?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

As much as I enjoyed the TV show Judging Amy, my biggest bitch- and that of many of my colleagues- was that if Tyne Daly's character was going to be a "social worker", why did they have to perpetuate the stereotype and make her a CPS worker? And a burned-out somewhat bitter one at that?

Whoops!

I actually know/knew one of the main writers for J.A., too bad I don't watch the show. 😀

 

[pingouin]

Perhaps that should be the case.

Perhaps. However, other doors have opened that don't look like they're shutting anytime soon.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Perhaps. However, other doors have opened that don't look like they're shutting anytime soon.

Or kicked down. 😛

 

[pingouin]

Or kicked down. 😛

Semantics. 😀 I said they were opened, I didn't say how. Plus it's a matter of perspective. It's not like either of us were around in the field to watch it happen or do anything about it at the time.

We should get this thread back on-topic...

I think I've posted this before, but my hair guy asks for advice all the time. Last night he told me he thinks he needs a therapist. I wished him luck in finding one. (I thought he had one.. oh well.)

 

[psychsebs]

Semantics. 😀 I said they were opened, I didn't say how. Plus it's a matter of perspective. It's not like either of us were around in the field to watch it happen or do anything about it at the time.

We should get this thread back on-topic...

I think I've posted this before, but my hair guy asks for advice all the time. Last night he told me he thinks he needs a therapist. I wished him luck in finding one. (I thought he had one.. oh well.)

Did he ask you for a exchange of services?

You know free haircuts/hair styling for you being his therapist? Might not be the worst deal haha.

 

[pingouin]

Did he ask you for a exchange of services?

You know free haircuts/hair styling for you being his therapist? Might not be the worst deal haha.

Even taking the "that would be completely unethical" factor out of the equation, for my mental health I wouldn't want to treat him. I can tolerate him every 6-8 weeks for 1-2 hours and then blissfully go home.

One time when he pushed the limit a little too far on what was a vacation day for me, I did ask if my highlights were going to be free that day. He was a lot quieter after that..

 

[MaddieMay]

Thank you for the explanation.

Highlights are expensive. I've never had any because of the cost. No wonder he clammed up. Good work. 🙂

 

[haloeffect]

If its a woman...compliment her shoes
If its a guy...ask if thats his best pick-up line
If its a famliy member say 'you never left' then stare!
If it a lecturer...becareful
If its your pet...do not consult your lecturer!
If none of these work look at your watch and make that 'very' important phone call. 😀