Michael addresses the challenges faced by children's social workers and the lack of time and support they have to do quality work. He highlights the pressure and workload that social workers face, often taking their work home and sacrificing personal time. He discusses the emotional and mental exhaustion of dealing with multiple cases simultaneously, likening it to a headless chicken running around. The episode also explores the contradiction between the importance of self-care and the demanding nature of the work. 
KEY TAKEAWAYS


The workload and expectations in the field of children's social work often leave little time for quality work, leading to high levels of stress and pressure.


Social workers often struggle to find time for self-care and personal life due to the demanding nature of their work, which can lead to burnout and high turnover rates.


While social workers are encouraged to prioritize the feelings and wishes of the children and families they work with, their own thoughts and feelings are often disregarded or seen as insignificant by managers and organizations.


The lack of empathy and care shown by some managers and organizations towards social workers can contribute to a negative work environment and a sense of being undervalued.


The social work profession needs to address these issues and prioritize the well-being and support of its workforce in order to retain and attract talented individuals.


BEST MOMENTS


"The problem, at least as I see it, is that due to the pressure of the workload and what your organisation expects of you, there is little if any time to do quality work."


"Frequently people take their work home and do it in the evenings and weekends. But of course the issue with this is that it eats into valuable time that you need to have free in order to care for yourself and manage your life."


"As I write these words a picture forms in my mind of a headless chicken running around all over the place, exhausted, directionless and unproductive due to attempting to deal with multiple emergencies simultaneously."


"We know there is a national shortage of social workers and that numbers of children and families requiring social work involvement are continuing to rise."


"Their behavior which I have little doubt is mirrored by the examples other social workers face up and down the country speaks volumes about the lack of care that exists in the profession that purports to care so much about children."


ABOUT THE HOST
familycourtcoaching@gmail.com
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Michael Watson is a qualified social worker and author with over thirty years of experience working with children and families. As an expert in family court, Michael is in a key position to assist, advise, and coach parents through their private law family proceedings and provide them with the information and skills to represent themselves successfully in court. His two books, ‘How to Represent Yourself in Family Court’, and ‘FAMILY COURT: Giving Evidence In Family Court’, provide parents with a clearer understanding of family court proceedings, legislation, and parenting skills.