DO NO HARM

Musings of the local Social Worker

I'm a Social Worker in the Sunny Island of Singapore. Being in a people's profession, I work with individuals and groups in the community. My love and passion for the work I do is fuelled by the amazing stories and experiences I have in working with clients and groups in the community. Valuable lessons this colourful life has taught me, lessons which may be futile if I don't take the effort to document them in some way (hence this blog). 

This blog is about my personal views, thoughts and ideas. Most of them relate to my work and experiences with people and the community. Some probably won't.

A part of me feels that some information may be useful to at least someone out there. Feel free to share your own stories with me.

I'm a social worker, hear me roar!

Fareez

 

Canadian Carnival

The place where I staying, is somewhere in this picture.

 

My latest adventure has found me in Toronto, where I am involved in a work externship with the wonderful team at Oolagen,  a youth mental health service that is influenced by Narrative ideas, not only in working with the people who consult them, but also in how the organisation is run. I have not been able to post much in the past, particularly due to recent busyness in my role as a manager in my organisation.

Since I have slightly more time to reflect on practices, will take a bit more effort to document my adventures here!

One interesting experience I had here was when my landlady, Jane Martin (who's really a very nice lady), brought me along to a Neighbourhood committee meeting, where members of the small community of Winchester were meeting to discuss concerns about the presence of drug related activities in the nearby rooming houses. Pretty impressed about how the community did not practice a NIMBY (Not in my back yard) mentality and instead were keen on discussing ways to ensure that the programmes conducted for residents were appropriately done. They were also keen to be involved in supporting the individuals and families there.

Will update more soon...

Preferential Flexployment

 

 

 

In 2013, a number of us from my organisation coined the term "Preferential Flexployment" as a viable alternative to structured forms of employment in Singapore (we skilfully played on the terms flexible employment, combined them to create flexployment! Get it? No?)

As mentioned by the newscaster (smugly I might add), it is essentially the idea of part time employment with greater flexibility. Take for example Bakery Hearts, a Social Entrepreneurship wing if you may call it as such (you can find out about Bakery Hearts here, here and here). 

Multipliers: How the best leaders make everyone smarter

   As I partake in my journey into social work leadership, I thought that it would be good to start documenting some bites of tips and ideas from books I have read, which I have started using in the teams I am in. 

 

The Non-Suicide Contract

 

The practice of getting our clients to fill up a non-suicide contract is common in risk management work. Whenever there is a risk of suicide, we tend to be compelled to get our clients to fill up this form, which states that they would not be attempting suicide as it is illegal in Singapore. Often, there is a generic form that social workers would be able to use. 

My grouse with the non-suicide contract is that it seems to be a practice that is more focused on "covering our backsides" as opposed to ensuring that our clients are safe. We work towards filling up the forms, and then develop a false sense of safety as long as the form is filled up, because we feel that we have done our part. If anything were to happen, at least we can show others that a non-suicide contract had already been done between the social worker and the client. 

Hope is my Key

(dedicated to the therapists of the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture)

 

 

 

Meandering hills

Dusty Roads

Stories of Despair

Stories of Pain

 

Despair and pain are but 

Filters

Layers of 

Dirt

That I must wade through

With hope as the key

 

Hope is the key

It unearths 

Stories of Survival

Stories of Skills

Stories of the sacrifice

of Parents and Martyrs

 

Hope is My Key

It guides my questions

Winning small victories

In the Journey

Of my People

 

Outsider Witness Response to the Life Certificate Presentation

The following recording is the outsider witness response to the Life Certificate presentation we did at the Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture (TRC) in Ramallah, Palestine.

The respondents are: Ala' Harb, a psychologist from the TRC; and Mehmet Dinc, clinical psychologist and lecturer from Istanbul, Turkey. Hana Masud is doing the translating.

 

Presentation @ Ramallah, Palestine

We had the chance to present the Life Certificate methodology in grief work in Ramallah Palestine, at the Second International/Palestinian Narrative Congress. The Congress, with the theme "Strengthening Stories of Survival and Resistance", was a joint collaboration between the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC), and Dulwich Centre Foundation International.

 

 

The following script is the presentation we did:

Journeying in Jerusalem

 

One might be wondering why in the world is this Singaporean social worker in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, a specific answer to the question would probably not be found in this post (perhaps a later one). For the time being, will just be sharing certain key experiences worth documenting.

Crafting Alternative Stories about Others

 

It is easy for us to start dismissing and disliking people. We do it by ascribing labels on behaviours we find upsetting. The problem with labels is that, once placed, we start to be blind to the range of behaviours or state- of-being that lie outside the label's "sphere of influence" (for want of a better word).

Labels can be infectious. Although we tell ourselves that we are going to know the person first before following the label, we are inevitably affected. The moment we see a behaviour that may fit the label, the person's future in our mental schema is set. Perhaps the first step is to acknowledge that labelling occurs as opposed to telling ourselves that we would not be influenced by it.

I am no stranger to this experience, and still very much struggle to see people beyond their labels. However, in my personal experiences, some of my greatest friendships have been made with people whom I had disliked and labelled, but stumbled into accidental ways of knowing different aspects of the person that connected with me.

 

As I reflected on this accidental turning points in these meaningful and enduring relationships, I thought about possible meaningful relationships I could have made with others who were dismissed by the labels I made of them. How then, can we intentionally make effort towards opening up possibilities for meaningful relationships in life situations where labelling is entrenched?

Foster Care Film Snapshots

In this "Snapshots" series clip from the Foster Care Film and Community Engagement Project (fostercarefilm.com), Charell Charleston discusses what one caseworker did to make her feel special as a young child in foster care.

Foster Care Film Snapshots: Charell on Caseworkers from Foster Care Film on Vimeo.