– veteran social worker urges colleagues in the field

AS the work of veteran social workers were honoured and remembered on World Social Work Day, the newcomers and youths who practise social work were encouraged to be proud of their profession.

The work of the persons who were honoured was used as an example to teach aspiring social workers what exceptional work should be like, especially when it concerns people who are in dire need of assistance.

Veteran social worker and representative of the Guyana Association of Professional Social Workers, Arnold Mickle, said everyone with a desire to do good is not necessarily a skilled or professional social worker, but a philanthropist at heart.
“Social work is a profession, and we have professionals in social work, but sometimes I wonder if we see it as a profession…I suspect that sometimes we are not seeing ourselves as professionals like our counterparts who are doctors, lawyers and engineers,” Mickle said at a function at the Pegasus Hotel on Tuesday to mark World Social Work Day.
He voiced his displeasure at the disparaging way in which some social workers view the profession, in that rather than be proud of their achievements and flaunt them like other professionals, they view them as inconsequential.

“I often talk about this. How we can professionalise the profession of social work and we are not proud of ourselves as social workers?” he said, adding that every year, hundreds of persons graduate from the University of Guyana (UG) with qualifications in social work, but the association has less than 20 members.
In order to address the shortfall, he believes that there needs to be a change of the perception and picture of the social worker.

Mickle suggests that change needs to start at the level of the university, so that persons would be taught that there is a noble profession ahead.
They also need to work with new social workers to change their mindset, because many of the persons who practise social work do not professionalise it.
“You must professionalise your service delivery, so that the world can know of the magnitude of work they do,” he urged, adding that social workers are change agents.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Social Protection, Lorene Baird, echoed Mickle’s sentiments, adding that social workers are at the core of any society.
“As biased as this may sound, I really do not know of any other profession that is as involved in addressing the needs of human beings across the life-cycle in so many diverse ways as social workers do,” she said.
Baird believes that the social worker enables individuals to strive and contribute to building equitable, inclusive and sustainable communities at local, national and international levels.