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The Battery Life of a Social Worker: Balancing Empathy and Self-Care With Rebecca · Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community

0:02
As a social worker, as a caregiver, I feel frustrated
0:06
with systems and with
0:10
outcomes and I feel frustrated
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with people who are demanding things that are
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not possible. I'm I'm on a personal journey to
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get more in touch with my feelings and to be okay with
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those hard emotions because
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I think as a social worker, it's not always appropriate
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to let those emotions out. What does loving your
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neighbor actually look like? This is
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Journey with Care, where curious Canadians get inspired to
0:43
love others well through real life stories and honest
0:46
conversations.
0:53
Imagine dedicating your life to helping others, only to face
0:56
relentless emotional challenges and a system that often leaves you
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feeling powerless. Have you ever wondered what keeps social
1:03
workers going despite the odds? Johan
1:07
here. Today, we're kicking off a new series, battery of a caregiver.
1:11
We're exploring the lives of those who dedicate themselves to caregiving roles.
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We'll uncover what it takes, their self care strategies, and
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how our communities can provide much needed support around them.
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Joining us today is Rebecca, a passionate social worker and
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case manager, and we'll discuss self care and the toll it
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takes to work in the field of social work and the emotional toll of
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absorbing others' trauma. We'll also discuss how churches can play a
1:37
pivotal role. By the end, you'll see how simple acts of gratitude
1:41
can significantly uplift those dedicated to caring for others.
1:45
But before we get into the episode, I wanna remind you to check out Journey
1:49
with Prayer, a corresponding 5 minute devotional episode to start off
1:53
your week. You can go grab the link in the show notes or simply just
1:56
pause this episode, go on your podcast player, and look up Journey of
2:00
Prayer and follow, or you can check out the website as well. You
2:03
can get the episodes earlier on our website, careimpact.ca/podcast.
2:08
Also, this podcast is made possible through generous donors like
2:12
you. It does take financial resources to keep producing these stories and
2:16
episodes weekly. So if you'd like to become a fellow sojourner or
2:19
maybe you're part of a business and wanna sponsor an episode, maybe you wanna
2:23
promote your work in the community or an upcoming event, You can also head over
2:27
to careimpact.ca/podcast to get more
2:30
involved. Okay. I'm really excited about this interview with
2:34
Wendy and Rebecca. Rebecca has joined us on a past interview, and the
2:37
feedback was nothing but positive. She's a great communicator,
2:41
has a huge heart, and is a longtime friend of mine and a friend of
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CareImpact. You don't wanna miss this one. Now on with
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the interview. Today, I'm thrilled to have with me a guest
2:53
in our studio, Rebecca, to talk to me all about being a
2:56
social worker and what it looks like to take care of self
3:00
and to be cared for in community. And you will
3:04
hear a bit of community in the the background, and we're in our neighborhood in
3:07
my Shasta. And right around us, there are children and families
3:12
enjoying the nice summer weather. But, Rebecca, I wanna just welcome
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you here to the podcast. Thank you, Wendy. It's great to be here.
3:19
Good to have you here too. We're looking at caregiving,
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and you are a caregiver of all caregivers. When we think
3:27
of caregiving from a day in and day out professional perspective,
3:31
I can't think of anyone more in the field than a
3:34
social worker. Can you tell me a little bit about your
3:38
role as a social worker? Yeah. I would
3:42
consider myself a case manager. So I have
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a caseload of a number of
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different families that I'm working with,
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primarily children, youth, and their caregivers. And
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so on a day to day basis, I'm interacting
4:00
with different ones, whether that's over the phone, over email,
4:04
in person, attending meetings, answering questions,
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just kind of assisting them in system
4:12
navigation. So is every day the same in the
4:16
tasks that you do, or does it look differently? Like, walk me through maybe a
4:19
typical day or week in the life of being a
4:23
case manager? I think it is a lot
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of the same, but it's the people in the situations that are
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unique. There's lots of similar facts and
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similar scenarios, but every person that
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I'm interacting with has their own story, and they are
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coming with their own history. They're all coming to me
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as individuals, and so my role is to
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engage with them to kinda find out what do they need,
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how can I help meet those needs, how can I help connect them to
4:58
other people if I'm not the right person to meet their needs,
5:02
and really just to walk alongside people through
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what can be a really challenging season, some
5:09
really complicated issues, and just to be there with
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them? Yeah. So when you're working with a youth or child or a
5:16
family, they're at a point of crisis or
5:20
a time of critical need. Right? It's not just for some
5:24
simple steps forward in life and dreaming
5:28
again. You're doing some crisis intervention. Is that correct?
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In my particular role, people would be coming to me after they've had
5:35
a crisis. And so I would be providing them
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with support information after to
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continue to kind of go through some
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subsequent processes to the traumatic incident that they've
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experienced. So, Rebecca, can you take us
5:54
back to the moment when you first felt drawn into social work?
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What brought you into this field in the first place,
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and what helped spark that passion for you?
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I actually growing up, I thought I was gonna be a missionary. I
6:09
pictured myself overseas, and
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that didn't lay out exactly how I had
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anticipated. I moved from a small
6:19
town to Winnipeg coming up on 2 decades
6:23
ago, and I found myself working at a coffee shop. And I thought,
6:27
I don't wanna work at a coffee shop for the rest of my life. I
6:30
I feel like God has called me to have compassion
6:34
and to be a helper. And so I
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kind of went through my mental list of careers that involved
6:41
helping, and I came up with nursing and social work. And I
6:45
didn't know how I'd fare with bodily fluids.
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So, like I'm with you on that. Yeah. I was like, oh, I don't think
6:52
that's gonna go very well. So I decided to pursue social
6:56
work. So you took the easy route and took social work. Right? Exactly.
7:00
You don't have bodily fluids, but, boy, do you deal with a lot of
7:04
messes, don't you? But you were drawn into that. So
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along the way, as you were in your social work degree, as you were studying
7:12
and preparing for this, taking your practicum, do you feel that it
7:15
adequately prepared you for what you now experience
7:19
as social work? What's your perspective now in hindsight?
7:23
No. No. It didn't prepare me.
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I I don't think that there's any
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profession that you enter prepared for what you're actually going to do coming
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out of school. They might provide you with theories. They might provide you with
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guidance or some examples. Even in practicum, there's some
7:41
degree of this is more real. But
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until I was working as a social
7:48
worker fully fledged on my own with my own responsibilities
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not being, you know, micromanaged or overseen
7:56
directly day by day, I don't think I was really prepared for
8:00
what I was stepping into. Yeah. And and for many people who
8:04
aren't in the role, I'm certainly not, but I've been journeying with
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those who are in the profession. I've noticed that
8:12
they hold a lot of weight. In some ways, there's a lot of need
8:16
to collaborate with many people, but when this person or
8:19
this family is in your caseload, there's a lot of pressure.
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You're it to make big decisions with them and
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to help navigate that. That's a big responsibility. How have
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you managed some of that as you get more and more cases,
8:35
new cases coming on? How do you handle that when there's
8:38
nobody else sharing that load with you? Well, fortunately,
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I'm not left holding the ball by myself. I'm
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fortunate to work within a team that includes a supervisor,
8:50
that includes coworkers, and I remember reading
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an article way back when I was in school about why people stay
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this was specific to child welfare. Why do people stay working in child welfare
9:01
when it was, you know, it's widely known that that is a very
9:05
challenging place to work in. Mhmm. And it was
9:08
a study that was quantitative. They were having interviews with people.
9:12
And by and large, people stayed because of their coworkers. Because
9:16
Yeah. They felt like they were part of a team, and they had people who
9:20
had their back. And they felt supported even when they
9:24
were doing some really difficult work and
9:27
really underfunded, under resourced,
9:31
challenging situations. They stayed because of their people. And
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I can certainly say that I don't feel like I am
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on my own doing what I do day to day.
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I'm also not on my own just within my team. I feel like there
9:47
are. He made that point that as a service provider,
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I feel like we are always collaborating. We're
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always connecting. We're always looking for who else
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could support this family, who else has something to
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offer, something to to give to them so that they don't
10:06
feel like they're alone in this? But I have talked with
10:09
people who don't feel like they're part of a team,
10:13
and it's really challenging to feel like
10:16
you're it. Yeah. Because the reality is there is a lot of
10:20
turnover and a lot of teams Absolutely. A lot of turnover. And maybe
10:24
they're for good teams. It's not to say that the the team
10:27
environment was bad, but it's stressful. There's
10:30
practicalities to being a good team when you're all busy and running in
10:34
different directions. Correct? Mhmm. And and taking on a lot of the
10:38
the stress. I understand that compassion fatigue
10:42
is a huge item for caregivers, particularly in
10:45
the social work field in the profession. I was looking at the the
10:49
Canadian Association For Social Workers, and they were
10:52
identifying that there was a a huge turnover due to
10:56
burnout and compassion fatigue. Have you experienced
11:00
any of that in in some of the the good work you're doing,
11:03
but you just didn't have enough to give, you felt, in that that
11:06
moment even with a good team? Can you identify with any of
11:10
that? I think that I left
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before I got to that point. You left where? I left the
11:18
the space where I was working a previous position where I could
11:21
see the possibility of that
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cropping up within me, and I made a decision
11:29
to see if there were other options available to me and there
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were. And so, I was able to make a change,
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and I would say, by and large, avoid that. But
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then I can remember times when I would go to social gatherings, and
11:44
I remember one person in particular saying, you look like you have the weight of
11:47
the world on your shoulders. Mhmm. But, oh,
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that's that's not how I wanna live. Yeah. And it
11:54
clearly it wasn't like, I feel like, oh, I'm, you know,
11:58
kinda keeping it holding it together, not
12:01
stressed, but, obviously, that wasn't the truth. Your body was
12:05
showing that you were under a tremendous amount of of stress
12:09
Yeah. Which is understandable when you're dealing with many
12:13
different cases. And and how do you separate yourself from
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some of the crises that you're walking? You're journeying with them. You care deeply
12:20
for their outcomes. But how do you not take that with you?
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It's really hard. It's really hard.
12:27
I went to a vicarious trauma
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workshop. I actually went to it twice because I thought this is so
12:34
important, and it was such a good training.
12:38
And recognizing that even though I wasn't the one who
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is experiencing all these traumatic events personally,
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as a caregiver, I was absorbing them. Mhmm. I was
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absorb absorbing the trauma of the traumatized
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people that I was walking alongside, and that was impacting me more than
12:57
I thought. And that workshop had a lot of great ideas about
13:01
how to process your emotions and making sure that you had good
13:04
supports in place. You were practicing self care. You were creating trauma
13:08
free zones within your workplace. But
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at the end of the day, it was up to me to implement
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those things that I had learned. And some days, I did a good
13:19
job of it, and other days I looked like I had the weight of the
13:23
world resting on my shoulders. And what are
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some ways that you've helped mitigate that? When you see
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that on your dashboard that, hey, I care deeply, but
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this is getting to me or I'm carrying
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it home with me, what are some practices that you've
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been able to and I realize everybody has their own practices, but you found
13:45
some some tips and some some strategies that have been
13:49
working for you. Because how many years have you been in this now?
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11. 11. Yeah. So it's not your first rodeo.
13:58
No. It take 11 years of day to day dealing
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with crisis and families in high needs.
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What are some of those strategies that have worked? Maybe some that haven't.
14:10
I think some of the things that have worked have
14:14
been avoiding certain situations.
14:18
I I talked to a counselor and she's like, maybe you do need to expose
14:21
yourself to some some of this. Like, I don't like watching sad movies.
14:25
Mhmm. I don't like anything that remotely
14:28
reminds me of work. I have really firm fences
14:32
in my personal time to not engage with
14:36
news, media. I know I have a lot of coworkers who do not
14:39
follow those same boundaries. But for myself, I'm like, if I don't
14:43
need to experience more trauma, I don't want
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to. And for me, those things are small t traumas. If I'm
14:50
watching a movie that talks about things that I can
14:54
I I can correlate with my work? I walk a
14:57
lot. Mhmm. I walk when I'm on the phone.
15:01
I have earbuds. While you're working on the phone? Or
15:04
okay. Yeah. At it's funny. I I don't think it
15:08
was really a conscious thing. Mhmm. But I have noticed
15:12
that once I have start having a phone conversation that I
15:15
feel is going to be potentially challenging, or even if it
15:19
isn't, I find myself pacing back and forth in my
15:22
office because I remember from this training that I took so many
15:26
years ago that our bodies dispel trauma through movement.
15:30
That that's really calming and centering. And
15:34
so I find myself walking back and forth. You know, if I stay here for
15:37
a really long time, there's gonna be a little worn out path in the carpet
15:40
between the door and the window where I've Yeah. Walked my phone
15:44
calls out. Oh, that's great. Now I was
15:48
having a conversation with you the other day, and somebody said, hey. Do I see
15:51
you sitting on a park bench at lunchtime,
15:57
journaling or something like that. Is that something that you you put into
16:00
practice in your workplace that you you get out for a
16:03
bit? Yes. Yeah. I try to get out every lunch
16:07
hour just to spend some time out in the fresh
16:11
air, get some sun, get removed from my
16:14
desk, from eating at my desk, from, sometimes
16:18
lunchrooms can be a really great little oasis to connect with people, and
16:22
sometimes they are a place where people want to continue to talk about
16:26
work. And so I have chosen not to
16:29
engage in that. And I go for a little walk, I sit
16:33
in a beautiful park, I listen to music, I
16:37
pray, I sit and stare into
16:40
space and think about nothing and let my brain kind of, you
16:44
know, go where it wants to go and process through whatever it needs
16:48
to process through. Now I imagine in your day, you deal
16:52
with a lot of and a variety of cases of of
16:55
crises and emotions and mental illness and
16:59
and tragedies upon tragedies. Yet I
17:03
sit here across from you, and you have a very peaceful demeanor.
17:08
You are very positive and and peace loving, and
17:12
that's how I've known you to be. And you're very professional in not
17:16
divulging personal information, which I appreciate you you
17:19
hold and respect your your clients very dearly.
17:23
But are there times, honestly this is just a you question, not a client
17:27
question. Are there times, honestly, where you're just angry,
17:31
where you're frustrated, you're annoyed
17:35
when those emotions aren't on the happy happy, you
17:38
you feel all the other emotions that sometimes we don't feel
17:42
the permission to. Yes. You do.
17:46
Okay. Because your smile isn't showing it to me, but I know it must
17:50
you're human then, your what is what you're saying. Yeah. I
17:53
think more more than frustration,
17:58
I think I feel sad Mhmm. More often.
18:02
And I feel frustrated with
18:06
systems and with outcomes,
18:10
and I feel frustrated with people who
18:14
are demanding things that are not possible.
18:18
Mhmm. And I'm I'm on a journey, a
18:22
personal journey, to get more in touch with my feelings and to be
18:26
okay with those hard emotions because
18:30
I think as a social worker, as a caregiver in that regard,
18:35
it's not always appropriate to let those emotions Yeah.
18:39
Out. Sometimes there are. I can say that I have
18:43
cried with people Mhmm. Because we're we're
18:46
humans. Mhmm. Like, something hits you Yeah.
18:50
Deeply Yeah. Impacts you. Yeah. It would
18:53
feel fake to plaster
18:57
on a smile or just to be indifferent. It's like
19:01
this actually is really, really sad and really
19:04
painful. And I'm feeling that with you. I think that's the
19:08
that's the definition of empathy to to be with
19:11
someone in their pain. But, yeah, I definitely get
19:15
frustrated with people who don't seem to understand
19:19
or who continue to make choices that I
19:23
can look down the line and see You know where it's going. This is
19:27
not good. Yeah. Been down this path before.
19:31
So when you see those things, it's like if you were a battery and and
19:35
it was fully charged, every time those things happen
19:38
throughout the day, it can drain your battery, so to
19:42
speak. Right? It can. Yeah. So what are some of the things
19:46
that fill your battery up, that give you boosts of
19:49
energy? Not that you're deriving your your energy
19:53
from the outcomes of others, but what are some things in your
19:57
day that add life and say, yes. This is why I'm doing this.
20:00
This is this is what I'm here for. One of my first
20:04
well, no. She wasn't one of my first. She was my first supervisor. She had
20:07
been working in social services for, 40
20:11
years. Mhmm. And when I was talking with her about
20:15
a situation where things had gone really well Mhmm.
20:19
And she said to me, imagine this
20:22
situation is a pebble. Mhmm. You take that
20:26
pebble, you hold it, you keep it close
20:30
in your hand, you put it in your pocket. And on those days
20:33
where things are not going well, you put your hand in your
20:37
pocket and you bring out your metaphorical pebble and you remember that
20:41
there are people who are being impacted positively,
20:45
that you are doing good work, that people can
20:49
change, that there is hope. Mhmm. And this supervisor, to
20:52
my knowledge, did not know or love Jesus,
20:56
but I thought, yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna reflect
21:00
on these good circumstances, and I am gonna choose to
21:03
have hope when these situations feel hopeless because
21:08
I have a lot of pebbles in my pocket by now. I can
21:11
remember that, god, you're still at work even when
21:15
things don't go the way that I want them to. And and
21:19
your value of who you are in Christ and where
21:22
God has placed you in the lives of these people
21:26
is not diminished or increased based on the
21:30
outcomes of that path. Right? There's a lot of trust
21:33
that goes into this. Tell me more. Trust that he's got
21:37
them. Like, these people who are just hot mess express,
21:41
things are not going well, I choose in those moments
21:45
to trust, like, lord, I can't get through to this person,
21:49
but I believe that you can. Mhmm. I believe that you have put
21:53
many people along their path, that you love them, and you care for them
21:56
more than I ever could. And
22:00
that despite like, that's the definition of
22:03
faith. It's the things that we can't see, that we believe He's at work,
22:07
that He is going to redeem, that He's going to heal, He's going to
22:10
deliver. And what do you guys just draw up a quick little
22:14
prayer? Oh, Lord. Jesus, help. I can't see the way
22:18
forward, but I believe that you're good and you're faithful.
22:22
I I choose to trust in you in this moment for this person. And
22:26
maybe in that ironic way,
22:29
as scripture talks about when we are weak, then we're strong. When we know we
22:33
come to the end of ourselves, that's when we can really invite God
22:36
into those places. Maybe you just have a fast track to know
22:40
that sooner, saying these circumstances are far greater than 1
22:44
social worker can change or one system or a team, even the best
22:48
team or the best system, even if they were working perfectly,
22:51
that when we come to the end of ourselves, we
22:55
realize the strength of God. And maybe that's what I'm seeing in you
22:59
after a full day of crisis after crisis and meetings
23:03
after meetings and system bureaucracy that you you deal with,
23:07
you can still smile because maybe it's more than you,
23:10
and maybe that's what you're representing here. That
23:14
resonates with me. Mhmm. Because I I also,
23:18
was researching mental health among social workers. You
23:21
get a bad beating day in and day out. This isn't
23:25
because you're not strong or you're not equipped or you're not
23:28
professional about it, but they're estimating about
23:32
45% of social workers when they're in
23:36
the the field of social work in Canada have reported symptoms of
23:40
mental health challenges and often related to anxiety,
23:43
depression, PTSD, vicarious trauma. All of
23:47
these things are things that people don't go in and and earn a
23:51
social work degree saying, let me be Sign me up. Sign me
23:54
up. It's a 5050. Can you speak to social
23:58
workers or those that are interested in caring? God is still calling
24:02
people to care. 100%. What can you tell people
24:05
going in with those kind of statistics about
24:09
caregiving? Keep your eyes on Jesus.
24:13
It so feels cliched as
24:16
it leaves my mouth, but, honestly, that is
24:20
what keeps me going. I feel like he has called
24:24
me to this, that he has a plan and he has a
24:27
purpose. And I I
24:31
my practice is to spend time with him daily to reconnect, to go
24:35
back to the source because you're absolutely right. I don't have
24:39
it in myself to take care of these people, to deal with
24:43
all of the mess and the stress and
24:47
continue to have joy and to
24:51
feel peace. It's the holy spirit within
24:54
me, and it's also staying connected
24:59
not just to the Lord, absolutely, 1st and foremost, but also
25:02
staying connected to other people and people who
25:06
are healthy. There's I have all sorts of people in my
25:09
life, but I really need to make a concerted effort
25:13
to stay connected to people who help to
25:17
support me and to care about what's
25:21
going on in my life outside of work and inside of
25:24
work. But So tell me more about that. What does a
25:28
caring connection look like in community? When do you feel belonging
25:32
or supported even after a full day and you can't
25:36
tell anybody the situation? You're sworn of confidentiality.
25:39
And yet you are still Rebecca the human, not
25:43
just the Rebecca the professional. So what does it look
25:47
like to be human in community and be cared for in that?
25:51
So I'm a single person. I live in community with other
25:55
women, but I don't have kids. I don't have a partner. And so
25:59
then I have thank the
26:02
Lord. He surrounded me with families who
26:07
have kids, and I spend time intentionally
26:11
with these people. I go and play
26:14
and get hugged and give hugs and enjoy
26:18
bedtime routine and going to the park.
26:22
I have a really amazing group of friends that
26:26
and just actually a couple a few in particular that I can
26:30
be really honest with about when things are
26:33
going well and when they're not. Mhmm. And I can ask
26:37
for prayer. That was actually it's not something that's part of
26:41
my life right now but for many, many, many
26:45
years I was part of a prayer meeting
26:49
that your wonderful producer, Johan,
26:52
was spearheading, where the focus
26:56
was specifically focused for people who are working or who were
27:00
looking for a job. Eventually, it kind of morphed. It
27:03
also was for people who are going to school, and it was
27:07
so encouraging because here we were,
27:11
we were not a big group. We were not a fancy group
27:14
or a well known group, but we were faithful.
27:18
We were faithfully getting together and praying
27:22
for our workplaces and praying for our coworkers, praying for our
27:25
clients, and our patients, and our students. And
27:29
every time that there was something work related that I was feeling
27:32
was heavy, or I was, you know, wanting prayer, I could
27:36
bring it to this group of people, and they prayed for me. They
27:40
prayed with me. And that was really,
27:44
really amazing. We are on a break, just, you know, seasons are
27:48
they come and they go. But, say, find people who
27:52
can pray with you. Well and I think that's a great,
27:55
invitation actually for churches. Every
27:59
church I've gone to believes in prayer. But sometimes we
28:03
think we need to be praying for the quote, unquote missionary, the
28:06
pastor, the ministry leader, the program that is under the
28:10
church roof. But what if we flip the script? What
28:13
if we prayed for those that are going into the
28:17
marketplace, those that are going into the hospitals, into the courtrooms,
28:21
into these places of crisis? You are an
28:25
agent of care and compassion that we should be
28:28
upholding. I love that idea. Can you give me other
28:32
examples and ideas that churches could grab hold of?
28:35
Or maybe there's a listener right now saying, you know what? I I'm part of
28:39
a church, but I'm just not sure if I'm cut out for I couldn't do
28:42
what Rebecca's doing, and I'm not a foster parent, and I'm just not
28:46
sure. And yet you're saying prayer has been instrumental for
28:50
helping propel you forward. Are there other ways that
28:53
people in the church can support people like you
28:57
in the roles that you're doing? I yeah.
29:01
I'm off the top of my head, one way is just to
29:05
ask them. Mhmm. Like, if you know a social worker, if you know a
29:08
foster parent, if you know somebody who's working in a crisis
29:12
service, you can ask them, how could I help you? How can I support
29:16
you? How can I pray for you? Have them over for dinner.
29:20
Just get to know them, build relationship with
29:24
them, be a faithful friend. We
29:28
all need more friends. And I think that would actually break
29:32
down some barriers as well because a lot of people in
29:35
society, all they hear about a social worker is
29:39
taking children and and being part of the system
29:42
and and all of these things that are so untrue of
29:46
who you are and is a disservice, if they would only get to know you
29:50
and hear your story and your your heart of compassion, they
29:53
too would be enriched, wouldn't they? I certainly think so.
29:57
Yeah. Yeah. If if I had a nickel for every
30:01
time I tell people I'm a social worker, oh, that's really
30:04
hard work. Like, all jobs are hard.
30:08
All jobs have rewarding parts to them and hard parts to them,
30:12
and god calls us all to different roles. And I think that
30:15
we all have a role to play when it comes to loving children and loving
30:19
families. And just encourage you, ask the Lord, like, what is
30:23
your role? How can you be part of the story that he is
30:27
writing in the lives of children and families that are around
30:30
you in your church community? Get connected with Carry
30:34
Impact. Like Yeah. And that's what we're passionate about at Carry
30:38
Impact is to come along and connect and equip these churches to care
30:41
because we believe everyone's called to care. Mhmm. And there's ways that
30:45
we can do so, not all trying to emulate who you are and who
30:49
God created as you, but we believe that everybody has something within them to
30:53
give. But sometimes we just need the tools and the connections
30:56
to to be able to do so effectively. One of the ways
31:00
we've seen actually a shift in thinking, I would
31:03
say, here in Winnipeg as we've, engaged
31:07
churches to care for those in need, and we've been
31:11
bridging the church into connecting them with social
31:15
workers, particularly in child welfare here in our
31:18
city. We've seen shifts in thinking
31:22
to, oh, gotta stay away from CFS
31:25
because they take children away or hearing some
31:29
some hard stories, because there's a lot of hard stories. Right?
31:33
To, oh my goodness, having a a heart of compassion
31:37
for those workers that are in it day in and day out. And we've seen
31:40
churches not by our own initiative, rallying together those
31:43
that are responsive to the care portal that we, needs that
31:47
we make available, saying, how can we love
31:51
our social workers? How can we care, for them? And
31:55
asking that question to social services and the
31:58
cards and the the cookies and the treats that are brought there,
32:02
I've never seen such delight in social workers' eyes
32:06
than to receive a simple thank you, a simple we see you,
32:10
we're here for you, and we care. That is
32:14
amazing. That 100% that does not
32:17
happen. Mhmm. Just day to day people,
32:21
particularly, I would agree in child welfare specifically, but
32:25
lots of different places where it's really thankless.
32:28
Mhmm. And so for somebody to say, I see you. I see your
32:32
heart. I see what God has placed you
32:36
in this space to do and acknowledging that,
32:40
that's so beautiful. I remember one
32:43
particular social worker as we were just giving them thank you. Just
32:47
a very simple thing and some gift cards for Tim Hortons or something
32:51
like that. Tearing up and say, you know what? We
32:54
have been called a lot of things. We're used to receiving the f bombs
32:58
and being sworn at on a daily basis, but we don't even
33:02
know what to say when the church stands up and says thank you.
33:06
And I'm like, wow. That's such a simple way to show
33:10
compassion and fill the batteries up of those that are giving
33:14
day in and day out. Are there other ways that you wanna
33:18
encourage our listeners? Maybe they're a social worker or considering
33:21
it. Maybe they're wanting to support people like you
33:25
in in the caregiving profession. Anything
33:29
advice that you would like to give some lasting words?
33:32
I really love that. I love the idea of just saying thank you,
33:36
just acknowledging just like your words have so much power.
33:41
Aside from connecting with them, building
33:44
relationship and, you know, joining in with
33:47
CareImpact in ways that you can bless people and bless social
33:51
workers. A number of years ago, the AGM or
33:55
the annual general meeting, basically, the large gathering of all
33:59
of the people that I worked with was hosted by a
34:02
church. And there were other events where
34:06
the church opened up their space, provided food,
34:10
and I was just blown away thinking,
34:13
wow, the church is doing this for a bunch of social
34:17
workers? And my
34:20
coworkers who don't know Jesus. I don't know exactly what was
34:24
going through their minds, but I can't help but think
34:28
they were thinking the same thing. Wow. The church
34:32
is doing this to support people who they
34:36
don't know, who they've never met, who there's a
34:40
lot of stigma attached to being a social worker.
34:44
And that was really powerful.
34:47
And I'm sure it cost the church money, it cost
34:51
time to the people who made the soup and
34:55
prepared the space and the food for us.
34:59
It was time and money well spent, well invested,
35:03
not just in blessing social workers, but being
35:07
Jesus to people who otherwise may not have
35:10
any really positive experience of
35:14
what it looks like for Christ followers to
35:18
actually do what he would do and to love the way that he loves. Well,
35:21
I love that because I was there. I know you were. I didn't even know
35:25
you then, but I was speaking there and and helps make that connection. That's what
35:29
CareImpact does. You were like, you know, I was talking with the CEO and saying,
35:32
you know what? You're finding a hard time finding places. There are empty church
35:36
buildings and people who care. I put myself out on a limb, and
35:39
churches showed up. Thank you, churches. Mhmm.
35:44
And they were blown away. And out of that act, it was co
35:47
created. Social services needed to trust me
35:51
with the church, and the church needed to trust me with social services.
35:55
And I saw this beautiful dance happening, and people were
35:59
confused and emotional, because
36:03
they were being cared for so well. But out of
36:06
that, we had around those tables, we I I asked and I
36:10
challenged the social workers. I said, at your desk right now, you have things
36:14
on your desk that community needs to help you with. We can't
36:18
do your job. We don't want your job, but there are ways that the community
36:22
can be supportive. Can you write down those things
36:26
that right now you could you would really benefit from the
36:29
support of a compassionate community? What would that look like? Let's dream a
36:33
little. So they were around their tables. They were they were all abuzz, and
36:36
everybody was talking and writing this down after, they they
36:40
collected all the papers, and somebody put them all together and synthesized
36:44
all the same answers together. And out of that, over 90
36:48
different recommendations of how the community could care for them
36:51
and for their families to make their job a whole lot better and
36:55
to make the outcomes that much better for community. Out of that
36:59
came the invitation to sit around their table, and out of
37:02
that came the opportunity for wouldn't it
37:06
be cool if we had technology and care sharing technology came into
37:10
Canada as a result of that because the social services
37:14
allowed the church to care for them, and the church dared to
37:17
care for those, that were serving these children and
37:21
families. And that's part of our story. You're you're telling part of
37:24
our story, and it gets me excited because God has
37:28
allowed us to utilize this care sharing technology for
37:32
big systems that are have so much needs
37:36
day in and day out, and here's a practical way they can enter in a
37:40
need. I just saw one today. There's a a youth who is wanting
37:43
education, and he is new to Canada, living on
37:47
his own in assisted living, and needing a desk and a chair. And now
37:51
it's going out to all the churches and say, who has a desk? Who's a
37:54
chair? And how can we make this connection possible so that this youth knows
37:58
he's cared for and this social worker knows she's not alone? And so
38:01
I get pretty jazzed up about that, and I'm so grateful and
38:05
so thankful for you as a social worker and what you bring to
38:09
our city, to Winnipeg, to the church, and for what you
38:12
are sharing with our audience here today. Thank you so much for coming on to
38:16
the podcast. Thank you, Wendy. That really means a lot.
38:21
Thank you for joining another conversation on Journey with Care, where
38:25
we inspire curious Canadians on their path of faith and
38:29
living life with purpose in community. Journey with Care is an initiative
38:32
of CareImpact, a Canadian charity dedicated to
38:36
connecting and equipping the whole church to journey well in community.
38:40
You can visit their website at careimpact.ca or visit
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38:47
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39:02
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39:06
And always remember to stay curious.