Meet Ben

Ben’s an ex-opera singer with two young children who is training with us in Chester.

We’re following his training journey with us to get a feel for life on the programme and hear what it’s like to be a mental health social worker.

Catching up after the first placement

We caught up with Ben recently to find out how everything’s been going. He’s been training with the local authority adult mental health team in Cheshire West and Chester. Here’s what he had to say…

So, how’s it been? That’s a big question but honestly, what’s it been like learning on the job?

It’s been great. I cannot overstate just what a positive experience it’s been for me – it’s like I waited until 33 to find the job I was made for.

Of course, there’s lots to do and it can be stressful, but it feels like a genuinely important job and it’s fantastic to actually be in a position to offer support and help to people.

The programme is intense, but a lot of what you do on the job applies to the academic side of things so every day on the job you’re learning something which applies to essays, assessments and other academic bits. I can see how easy it could be to get overwhelmed, but everyone is incredibly supportive and there’s a lot in place to help make sure you won’t.

What was your first day like? And week?

It could have been really intimidating, but I couldn’t have felt more welcomed or indeed needed.

On our first day the Principal Social Worker (our particularly senior manager) sat down with the six of us who had joined from Think Ahead and told us how pleased he was that we were there, and just how much the local authority needed and valued social workers.

It was great, and I’ve heard those same supportive messages pretty consistently ever since: as a team and a local authority we’re stretched, we’ve got loads of people to support but keep doing what you’re doing, because social work works.

Our Consultant Social Worker, who manages and supervises us directly, arranged a nice gradual introduction with a schedule full of shadowing opportunities and visits to local centres and resources. She gave us all the stuff we needed to understand our role and how things work in the area.

After that initial induction stage, we then had a slow drip feed of people to work with and support.

And who are you supporting?

People in all sorts of different circumstances: people living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, autistic people and people with learning disabilities… everyone and everything. I’d say the people I’ve been seeing have tended to be middle aged or older, but our team works with 18–65 year-olds.

I’ve been working independently with around five people and supported or shadowed qualified social workers with a couple of other people. I’ve been working with one person since the start of my training placement which has been lovely. It’s also really satisfying when you’re able to confidently discharge someone: case closed, support provided, person in a better position than they were.

In terms of what I’ve been doing, it’s been a bit of everything as well. I’ve completed a good few Care Act Assessments, working out what a person wants and needs and what we can offer or suggest that they can benefit from. Writing them takes a lot of thought as the assessment belongs to the person you’re writing about.

What’s been great about these is that they’re not a generic tick box questionnaire. Our local authority has specifically integrated a Strengths-Based Approach in Care Act Assessments, so they’re designed to focus on the person in front of you and help recognise the positive aspects in their life. Together, we recognise their resilience, and identify what support and strengths they can bring themselves, before working out what we – the local authority – can then do to further support them.

Have there been any standout moments for you? Anything that made you feel particularly proud to be doing this job, or anything you’ve found particularly tough?

I’ve been working with one person who has learning disabilities. They had only begun receiving support in their late 40s, as they had always lived with and been supported by their mother. Their mother had, sadly, died a few years before I got to know them, and only following their mother’s death had they been in contact with the local authority and begun receiving support for their needs.

In a situation like that, there is of course loss and grief to get through which is one thing, but we’re really here to support them in finding their independence. Doing so can be incredibly difficult, as the world assumes people can write, walk, talk and formulate thoughts in a way which the system considers to be ‘average’ or ‘normal’. But if that’s not the way you operate, or you have a disability or a label, you could be stuffed.

In this case, the person I was working with needed to move home. They were struggling to manage alone, and considering moving into accommodation where more care could be provided.

I supported them in calling the landlord, who refused entirely to accept a verbal termination of the tenancy. The person I was working with was not able to read or write confidently, and still the landlord insisted on a written and signed termination, failing to offer any reasonable adjustment including the support of a housing officer until threatened with complaints and legal pressure with reference to their responsibilities under the Equality Act.

If the person I was working with hadn’t had someone to fight their corner with them, they wouldn’t have had a chance. And worse still, the same experience was repeated every time we tried to discuss matters with the electricity company, and I’m sure would be the same in many other instances.

Supporting them in challenging that discrimination and failure to offer any support or reasonable adjustment was enormously satisfying. In the end they chose not to move, but I would hope that it might change the way those companies act in the future, allowing them a greater level of independence so that they don’t always need that support. It’s fairly horrifying that anyone in that position without external support would be denied any level of independence, however.

What’s your next training placement then?

I’m starting in Children’s Services and really interested to see a different side of things.

I’m in Early Help and Prevention which is probably the nicest end – with two small children I don’t know how well I’d cope with the sort of things that can come through Child Protection.

Anyway, as I say I’m really looking forward to it, to seeing how children are supported, what the differences are and how they transition to adult services.

I’ll let you know how I get on!