Delivering social services care is a ‘calling’ not a job

Nov 19, 2017 News

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 – Ann Greene

 

A fire at the Drop-In Centre last year which claimed the lives of two young boys has evoked many changes in the delivery of social services care, especially as it relates to minors.
For instance, in adherence to recommendations detailed in the report of an investigation into the fire, a number of measures have been implemented, including the changing and upgrading of staffers.
This is according to Director of the Childcare and Protection Agency, Ms. Ann Greene, who has since developed an action plan which takes into account all of the recommendations detailed in the report.
“All of the recommendations made, we have responded to. I was able to develop a matrix which outlines who has to do what, by when; and for me, I am continuously working the plan,” Greene disclosed.
The report into the fire investigation was tabled in Parliament about two weeks ago but, according to Greene, a number of corrective measures have already been implemented. She said, “in terms of the staff, this year we have changed some of them, those who are trainable, we have trained them up to certificate level.”
Greene, who has been involved in the field of social services for many years, asserted “the whole thing with social services that people need to understand is that it is not so much about training. Training is one part, but this work here is not just a job, it is a mission.”

In fact, she is of the firm belief that in order to fall into social work and other social services-oriented areas for that matter, “you have to have a calling from God himself…in much the way people say they got a calling from God to preach. You can train and train, but you have to bring a lot of you into what you do; you have to bring a level of commitment and passion and you have to be willing to grow;. You have to embrace life-long learning, and learning for this work is not a one-time thing,” Greene stated.
It was this very view of the profession that Greene had long embraced. She disclosed that because she recognised the depth of the field of social services that she has been constantly expanding her horizon to not only improve her understanding but to embrace innovative tactics to realise the desired results.
“I have worked in human services for so many years and then I went on to do a Masters in Human Services. You have to understand that training for this field is not a one-stop,” Greene underscored.
The Childcare and Protection Director was recently able to impress this point of view on Social Workers in training at the University of Guyana.
“I told them I am looking for some good Social Workers, and of course, they asked me what makes a good Social Worker…I was able to let them know that ‘your own self-realisation is the greatest service you can render to the world’,” Greene noted.
The ‘self realisation’ mantra is one that Greene has been sharing with her staff at the Childcare and Protection Agency for many years. “This ‘self realisation’ is learning to be in touch with yourself; you have to know whether you are in the right profession or if what you are doing is just a little job,” said Greene as she confessed, “I have been in it for years and I haven’t worked a day in my life.” She qualified her statement by pointing out that “if you do something you love, you don’t work.”
“We have trained people and they have trained to the highest, and then some days they are off and they operate so, and they handle people so, “Greene noted. For such reasons, she disclosed that “in human services, there has got to be constant turnover of staff, because you have to be constantly looking to ensure that people embrace self-awareness; some people burn-out when it comes to this job.”
As such, the Childcare and Protection Director has emphasised the notion that “you have got to be good for you before you can be good for people; so you have got to know your stressors.”
It might have been for this very reason that one of the recommendations detailed in the report of the fire investigation is that staffers be entitled to off-time. This is particularly imperative, Greene said, since those tasked with the delivery of social services care are in fact deemed secondary victims.
“People don’t really understand that and we get attacked sometimes…they don’t understand that every hour of the day, we hear sad stories and we have to deal with all of that,” said Greene as she recalled how Social Workers are sometimes chastised even when they try their best.
She recalled occasions when persons have described trained professionals offering their services to the Ministry as “so-called” Social Workers. Greene noted that while many of the Social Workers employed by the Ministry of Social Protection are relatively young, there are established Standing Operation Procedures [SOPs] designed to guide how they function.
The SOPs, Greene said, are complemented by those with institutional knowledge, such as herself, who have been striving to tackle existing shortcomings in the quest to improve the delivery of social services.

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