What It's Like to Be a Social Worker

Are you interested in becoming a social worker? Have you ever wondered what it’s like to work in that field, especially as a millennial? My college roommate Carolyn Catania entered the world of social work right out of college, and I spoke to her to find out what it’s really like to be a social worker, especially in a place like New York City. Here’s what she had to say:

I’m sure it changes daily, but what is your typical day like?

The only thing typical about my days is that I drink a lot of coffee – the top priority of my day is ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the children and families I work with, and achieving permanency for each child, as foster care is meant to be a temporary intervention. I work in foster care in the Bronx. All my work is conducted in a trauma informed manner – since this population has often experienced numerous traumas in their lives it is important to recognize how this can impact behavior and the healing process. In foster care, we work with both the biological family, the foster family, the children in care and various outside service providers- so there are many parties involved on any given day. As each individual has a different story, and a unique set of personality traits, strengths, and past history, my days can look different depending on who I am working with. While there may not be a typical day, and it’s certainly not your average 9 AM – 5 PM day, it’s never boring!

My daily tasks can vary from testifying in family court, to writing service and behavioral action plans for a particular client, facilitating psychoeducation groups, crisis deescalation, meeting with city officials like the Administration for Children Services (ACS), conducting home visits, transferring children to different foster home placements, advocating for services the children on my caseload may need at school, or working with their parents and caregivers towards addressing the safety and risk factors that resulted in child welfare involvement.

What’s the hardest part of this job?

Now that’s a tough question. Over the past three years that I’ve been in the field, I’ve found that working to create systemic change on a macro level has been the most difficult; it can be challenging to want to provide help to children and families in vulnerable situations and be limited in my ability to do so by outside factors. The child welfare system, by its nature, interacts with many other city organizations such as the legal system, Human Resources Administration, the NYPD, Juvenile Justice, Department of Education, Homeless Services, and even at times other state’s child welfare systems. Sometimes the communication between these systems can fall short, often due to conflicting policies or regulations, and it can make it difficult to coordinate services for the families I work with and ensure their needs are met in a timely and effective manner. Currently I work in direct practice, but in the future I hope to become involved in policy work and advocate for city wide change to some aspects of the child welfare system in the hopes of creating a stronger, more trauma focused environment that can better support the children and families it was designed to protect and assist. It can be frustrating when the systems intended to assist individuals when they are most in need can at times create more barriers than benefits.

Is there any story or case that sticks out to you?

Oh so many! I have the best job, and really love working with children in particular. The clients I work with are some of the most inspirational, resilient people I have ever met. Anytime I get to work with a youth or child towards achieving their goals and realizing their potential, overcoming the challenges they’ve been facing, develop coping skills to manage and better identify their emotions, improve their self-esteem, or work towards creating stronger communication skills, and a sense of peace of mind, since entering foster care and removal from their home can be a traumatic experience, it’s been a good day. I have found it’s all about appreciating and focusing on the small steps; since change is hard, and as humans we often fight against it, it doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s still worth striving to empower others and work persistently with them to help create positive change.

One of my favorite moments was definitely when a teen on my case load was officially adopted after years in foster care. It was a very long, emotionally difficult process but the ending was incredible and I was honored to have been a part of that. She’s out of foster care now, but called me the other day to tell me not only is she graduating high school, but she’s going to college on a scholarship and I couldn’t be prouder of her.

Do you think this is a great job for millennials to get into?

Absolutely, I got involved in social work after studying psychology as an undergrad. It was a great fit because it allowed me to use my interest along with the skills and education I had gained about human behavior through my psychology background, and past experience working in the field of mental health, in a practical way right after graduation. I’ve found that being a social worker in foster care requires a lot of energy, flexibility, ability to work collaboratively with others and effectively use technology, such as the online databases we use to track each case-skills which millennials would definitely be able to bring to this type of position. Social work can be a very demanding job, often with long sometimes unpredictable hours, millennials may best be able to adapt and thrive in this type of environment. If millennials are looking for a diverse, challenging, and rewarding field to throw their drive, persistence, compassion and energy behind, social work is worth some serious consideration.

What would your advice to others considering a job as a social worker?

My advice to others considering a job in social work would be simple – it can be a fast pace field, often driven by crisis and unpredictable situations that require not only your attention and empathy, but also an understanding that some things may be out of your immediate control and it is important to learn how to process and manage this so you can continue to clearly advocate for what is needed, and work effectively. In any helping profession, it’s common to experience episodes of burn-out or compassionate fatigue, so my advice would be to strive to be as gentle with yourself, and your coworkers, as you are with your clients, and understand that as social workers we often enter the lives of individuals during some of their most difficult, trying days, and overwhelmingly stressful situations. Be prepared for the unexpected, remember why you started, and never give up.