Submission to The Social Lens: A Social Work Action Blog by Helena Chen, 4th Year BSW Student.
Being accepted into the social work profession has brought me so many emotions. It has given me feelings of empowerment. Other times, it has brought some extreme lows. Social workers bear the role of seeing people at their most vulnerable. But they have the opportunity to be the bridge that can link others on the way to a full quality of life. I am on both ends of the field. Someone who receives and someone who provides services.
I wanted to talk about mental health and the realities of being a service recipient, from somebody who has been in the system for the last decade. I could go on endless tangents, of experiences that made me feel dehumanized and just awful about myself. The self-stigma was so harmful to me, and to be honest, they came from the professionals who worked with me.
Within inpatient care, I met patients who were so low that they couldn’t form thoughts, and others who were brave and willing to fight for their health. Unfortunately, so much of inpatient work is based in crisis. And when they are discharged into follow-up services in the community, the system will let them down with their limitations.
But it was through the work of one social worker that gave me the life that I have today. I never thought it was possible to live such an inspired and functional reality after many times of crisis. She graduated from the MSW program at UBC. She was the first professional who did not judge me based on my mental health diagnosis. Despite years of psychiatrists, counsellors and psychiatric nurses who had me on their case load (which was all that it felt like), in her office, I was safe. I began to gain insight and be more open to healing.
So here’s the reason why I am here, training to be a part of the helping profession. Despite current issues of the system, change is possible. I want to be that someone who tells others that their pain is valid. That It is not their fault; that healing and recovery is more than attainable. That they deserve it. I want to be somebody’s advocate, the way that very few were to me.
THE SOCIAL LENS: A SOCIAL WORK ACTION BLOG - The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the original author(s) and do not express the views of the UBC School of Social Work and/or the other contributors to the blog. The blog aims to uphold the School's values and mission.
