The Challenges and benefits of being a Social worker in Guyana

Social Work is a noble profession that seeks to enhance human wellbeing. The Social Worker provides services to humanity. As a professionally trained Social Worker, my practise in Guyana over the years has been beneficial yet challenging.

The Guyanese society spans many cultural groups and socioeconomic backgrounds. The clients I am serving have multiple needs which present an opportunity to gain multicultural experiences. Also working with a variety of cases has widened my scope of skills and competencies in generalist practice.
 Ongoing training is a very important aspect of Social work especially since social issues are not static and as professionals we need to be informed of the various social phenomena. Working with Lifeline Counselling Services, a non-governmental organisation has exposed me to many training opportunities which has increase my knowledge and enhanced my skills.

Guyana has many social agencies both governmental and non -governmental that collaborates to assist the clients. Hence, in performing my role as a Social Worker,  I had numerous  opportunities to  link persons to appropriate services,  in so doing I was able  to establish relationships with other professionals.  These bonds assisted me with my professional development such as learning best practice.

Building a strong coping mechanism in harsh working environment is one such benefit which I have experience since joining the profession. One has to learn how to weather the storms of disappointment when the organisation offers services that does not meet the needs of the clients yet strengths are gained from being able to serve humanity though resources are limited.

While enjoying the benefits of serving the Social work profession in Guyana challenges are ever present. Poor working conditions prevail –low salary when compared with other countries, lack of job security especially while working in the project environment. The Social worker functions with an air of uncertainty concerning the future of the organisation. Low staff morale coupled with high staff turnover, especially within the NGOs has been factors of discouragement which serve as demotivators. A troubling concern is the lack of safety and privacy for both the client and Social Worker. However, in addressing this safety issue from the Social Worker‘s prospective, it puts us at risk of being accused of breaching confidentiality and client abuse. In Guyana there have been reported cases of client abusing the Social Worker vice versa. In many instances work spaces are not design with emergency exits.

Further case overload and burnout continue to plaque the profession over the years. This is more common in Governmental agencies that serve the country  with limited staff  however NGOs are not exempted from this trend  more so since  they are target driven. Service to humanity donor driven thus the Social Worker becomes burnout and is frustrated with the many deadlines and donor driven schedules.

In the Guyanese context Social Workers lack status. There is no strong support body that represents Social Workers, coupled with the fact that we practice without license make us more vulnerable to misrepresentation and malpractices.