STOREEZ

Rough Sleeper

“They tell me this place is keras, lots of Jinn and ghosts around,” Rosli started, opening his cracked lips take a long drag of his rolled-up cigarette.

“But I tell them this is all bullshit. I got sleep under trees, near the toilet. Even Sembawang park, near the Mandai Crematorium, nothing also. No Pontianak or Pochong, and I can sleep very well. Actually, nothing to be afraid of la. Even if we see all these beings, why do we need to be afraid? We are better off than them! We can walk around in this world and touch our feet on this ground, feel the air, and breathe.

“These beings, they should be jealous of us, because they are stuck in between this world or the next. If they can walk in this world, you would see them walking around in the day, right? Why should we be scared of them then? So funny to see people afraid of things they never see before, but life is like that right? Some more, some of these people are those who pray regularly.

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). 

The "Act Like a Man" Box

 

 

My wife, recently came up with this song for our Fikri:

Strawberry Shortcake, Blueberry Pie,

When you're feeling sad, its ok to cry

When you are done crying

Wipe away your tears

It's time to get moving

Time to face your fears!

Yay!! (followed by exaggerated facial expressions of joy and insane clapping).

I simply love this rhyme she created.

The Community Work Conundrum

 

Social Service delivery in Singapore is currently undergoing what one might call a realignment of spirit (as opposed to a cosmetic facelift). There is a concerted state led effort towards reorganising and recalibrating social services to ensure quality service, whilst at the same time establish key benchmarks for family service centre social workers to aspire to. This shift represents the emphasis for social workers to focus on social work. Social work as it should be practiced, and social work as aligned to the proficiencies expected of one armed with a 3-4 year degree from a reputable university. 

This version of social work defines 3 main activities that undergird practice: Case management, Group work and Community work. The first two activities are clearer in the sense that they focus on supporting behavioural and situational change for vulnerable populations such as ex-offenders, youths, women affected by abuse, etc. These are two activities that have been practiced regularly in Singapore. 

It is the last activity (which is the focus of this article) that may cause confusion: What exactly is Community Work? Could it be an extension of group work, where instead of working with a closed (or open) group of 12 persons with addiction issues, we work instead with an open group of 50 - 100? Most likely not. Does it involve working with the grassroots leaders and residents' committees? Would it involve social action?

Reflections on Chronic and Terminal Illnesses, and the role of the Community Social Worker

 

For me, a social worker working from a community based setting; assessment is an essential aspect of social work. Assessment guides our intervention, and is also an important step in identifying how different members of a family system are affected by the problem. Within the realms of palliative care, there is that additional step to explore further how the patient is emotionally and physically affected by the terminal illness. There is also a need to understand the experiences and need of the caregivers in the family who are inextricably linked to the patient.

Our Singapore Conversation

 

I happened to have had the opportunity to facilitate a group discussion during a recent Singapore Conversation under the Singapore Association of Social Workers, where my group moved to talk about whether we as a Singaporean society were caring enough for disadvantaged groups in the community. 

Was a bit disappointed with the outcome of the conversation, as no clear outcomes or directions were delineated. It developed into the usual discussion of whether one should depend on the government to set directions, or whether the community (of Singaporeans, social workers, etc) can be empowered to better support disadvantaged persons in the community. But of course, realistically speaking, one might not have much expectations when partaking in a time limited endeavour where topics such as "Whether the disadvantaged were being cared enough Singapore" could only spark general conversations. 

Supporting families with Persons with Special Needs

 

 

I recently wrote to the Straits Times forum about reviewing services with special needs (Published in 8/6/2013):

Review Services for People with Special Needs

THE recent incident where a woman was charged with her son's murder is unfortunate ("Boy's fall: Mum charged with murder"; Tuesday).

I am a social worker at a family service centre, and this tragedy puts into perspective the need for further analysis and discourse over the support required by families with special-needs members.

I have come into contact with various families that expressed concerns over caring for children or siblings with special needs.

Dignity?

 

I looked at my case notes again, as I compared it to what I observed to be reality. This was a referral from the local Member of Parliament, one of those we had to respond to urgently. Feelings of urgency were usually subjective; subjective to who observed the urgency, subjective to what this person was feeling when he felt this urgency. I flitted with a joke that the report writer from the Meet the People session was probably suffering from a bad bout of gas, before going back to the task at hand. 

"Old man with one leg selling tissue paper at the hawker centre. Looks like he has financial problem. Please assist, and make sure he gets the help he wants, so that he does not have to be in the streets." was the monotone message invoked by the referral. 

Letter to Berita Harian

A letter to Berita Harian from the dear Wifey, on the importance of the social worker in the community.

It's heartening when your life partner supports the very profession that takes you away from her for long hours.. =)

For (proficient) malay readers only. 

 

Salam sejahtera Puan/Tuan

 

 

Saya merujuk kepada artikel yang ditulis oleh Cik Nur Dhuha Esoof pada tanggal 25 Julai 2012, Rabu, berkenaan 'Penerima Biasiswa Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam.'

 

Pertama sekali, saya menabik usaha Cik Nur Dhuha yang telah membuat liputan berita yang sangat baik tentang kedua-dua belia yang meraih biasiswa suruhanjaya tersebut. Pencapaian mereka mengharumkan nama bangsa dan harus dijadikan contoh teladan kepada masyarakat Melayu/Islam di Singapura.

 

The Ivory Tower

The parable of the ivory tower is an oft used adage in social services, where us field practitioners would chide the limited knowledge our administrators and policy makers have. We feel that they are too disengaged from the needs of the ground, simply because of their limited field experience. We then quickly discount their policies and ideas, creating further tension between practitioners and policy makers. This sentiment has also affected social service policy to the extent that practitioners on the ground are encouraged to move into policy work as part of logical professional progression for their careers. We assume that someone with  a lot of experience on the ground would be more effective in formulating policies that would cater to the true needs of the community.

However, personal observation gradually shifted my perspectives on this, especially since I have observed individuals with strong field experience finding difficulties at the policy level (although this is very much a generalisation.)

I had the chance to speak to Human Resource consultant recently; consultants who would provide advice and problem solving skills to Human Resource departments in big organisations. When posed the question on whether one should have a few years experience in Human Resource before going into consultancy, he was quick to reply that few people actually successfully transit from experienced line practice in HR into HR consultancy.

The problem, he said, was that although HR knowledge was important to the consultant, understanding how HR fits into the macro perspective of the business organisation is a totally different ball game. Being too entrenched in a niche aspect of HR may impede one's view of the entire HR framework, and be too myopic when it comes to resolving issues and problems at the policy level.

Perhaps this emphasis of ground knowledge is an overstated fact. More importantly is the need for one to be well versed in current theories defining local practice, as well as conducting appropriate research and analysis of how social problems fit within the entire socio economic structure of society. Perhaps we might do better getting experts from various fields of politics, economics, etc, instead of just depending on the pool of ground enriched social service trained practitioners.

We can only stand to gain from learning from success stories from other professions.