I’m a social worker experiencing suicidal ideation..what do I do now? The final part of the 6 part series.

The following blog post will complete the series that explored the experience of being a social worker with suicidal ideation.  This series looked at both the professional and personal factors that influence social workers having suicidal ideation, why many social workers struggle getting help or the real fears they have about letting others know their internal experiences.  This last post will take a more global look at this issue and ask the question, “who benefits from the suffering of social workers?”

A question I have pondered during this series is who benefits from social workers experiencing suicidal ideation? Who benefits from when social workers are bogged down with their own mental health needs due to prior trauma, vicarious trauma and the way being with human suffering has an impact on us as humans.  It seems to me there could be many systems that benefit from our struggle. The systems do benefit when we:

When we take client after client.

Don’t take a lunch/break.

Don’t engage in therapy because we don’t have time.

Don’t take time off,

Are not offered benefits or don’t use them.

Have unfair pay splits.

Don’t take a vacation and

Don’t say no to clients outside of our area of expertise.

The systems that benefit:

One system I see benefiting is our employer or agency.  They benefit from our labor, and from our endearing ability to suffer and take on more work.   The way we currently work combined with a lack of boundaries burns us out and we end of becoming a cog in the machine that has been created through the mental health treatment system, the criminal justice system, child welfare system and the various other employment systems. Many of which have been created since social work became formally professionalized in the United States.

Capitalism also benefits from our excessive work, lack of self-care, lack of personal boundaries and some of the ways we feel it is hard to say no.  It could also be said that our education system benefits when it shames us about wanting to make more money, when it doesn’t show how to be successful business owners or when we engage in field practicums without payment or other compensation. 

I could also list several others that benefit from our suicidal ideation and I would point to white supremacy, the patriarchy and other forms of ism that are a firm part of the United States and often very intertwined with our employment system and the system of Capitalism. Due to a desire to keep this blog post brief, I will point out the above system benefit from our own mental health needs by maintain the status quo, keeping social work a white and female dominated profession. They keep salaries/benefits low and support for families and personal time really low. 

Maybe it’s not just me:

Often the strong responses we have in our profession could point to a larger systemic issues that can also impact our ability to care for ourselves, our ability to seek help or to feel safe enough to disclose when we are having mental health issues.  At times and due to many factors, our mental health needs might not be only our fault, under our influence, or something we have to fix on our own. 

Parting Thoughts:

Being a social worker can be one of the most amazing professions. We can be a leader, we can provide hope and possibility for people and we can see people transform into the more truer version of themselves. Social work can also be one of the most challenging professions to be a part of including seeing people during the worst times in their life, encounter deep and painful system oppression, feeling helpless/hopeless in the face of the large numbers of people needing services and how the profession can impact us.  

As a social worker, we need to be mindful of ourselves and I would argue we need to do this before we do anything else for or with our clients.  Many of us need to be aware of our own trauma, how the profession and professionalization of the social work can impact us as well as being very aware of who benefits when we are mentally ill, say no, have high caseloads or don’t engage in therapy. 

Quick Note-

I am doing a few new things with the blog including releasing a short newsletter talking about the past month and looking forward to the new month as well as releasing one blog post a month.  I would love to hear what you think about this change.  Reach out to me through email justasocialwrker@gmail.com or in social media.

If you like what you are reading, please subscribe to my blog or follow me on social media through Instagram @laurieeldred_lmsw_caadc or You Tube @justasocialworker.  I would love to hear from you including thoughts for new blog posts, thoughts on your experience as a social worker or thoughts about the social work profession.