Social workers want more opportunities to explore their potential as professionals in the private sector.
President of the Barbados Association of Professional Social Workers (BAPSW), Sharon-Rose Gittens, said there were about 500 social workers and about half of them could not find jobs because of limitations within the ranks of the Government service.
“Most social workers work in the Welfare Department, National Assistance Board, Child Care Board, the Psychiatric, Geriatric and Queen Elizabeth Hospital. More are needed in non-traditional areas [private sector] . . . given the changing work environment,” she told the MIDWEEK NATION after an hour-long march in The City by members of her organisation yesterday.
Gittens also said social workers were misunderstood and stereotyped as people who gave handouts to the needy.
This was supported by former coordinator of the social work programme at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, and head of the Institute for Gender Development Studies, Dr Letnie Rock.
She said social workers dealt with “delicate issues such as abuse, neglect, addiction and abandonment in different aspects of life”.
Rock, who has been in the industry since 1977, also said the hands-on technique of social workers was conducive to change and that approach might be necessary to tackle violence in schools.
“The difference between the guidance counsellor and the social worker is that the counsellor works primarily in the school setting and helps with career guidance and any other help the child may need with their teachers. The social worker, on the other hand, works with the child in the school and the home and connects those two.”
About 150 people took part in the first march, which included students of Queen’s College as well as members of a tuk band. They walked and chanted from Cheapside to Heroes Square. Many onlookers with their phones took pictures and made videos; others even danced to the infectious beat of the drums.
Social work final year student at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Allan Thompson said he was tasked with planning this year’s activities to commemorate World Social Work Day. He added he was pleased with the turnout.
Lecturer Thérèse James said the event was also a celebration of the profession and its contribution to society. (SB)
