Published on 12, July, 2020
My name is daisy, hii *waves*. I am 33 years old and have always been different, slightly odd so I'm told by those who know me. I've always been sensitive to sounds and especially to light I wear sunglasses a lot of the time because of the brightness. Being around people makes me uncomfortable, always has even being around my family makes me feel like this. I was a social worker up until recently. But I was involved in a case where a young girl had to be detained and taken from her family and her parents called me a hollow emotionless woman with no conscience. I don't normally have much emotion and feeling, well by that I mean it takes a lot for me to show it and I struggle with that but what they said to me hit hard and I'm now jobless. I quit because I felt in a way they were right and I felt bad for their daughter. I was doing my job but having had that I can't do it again. I've always loved animals so am thinking of training and working with them. But I'm afraid now in case I'm no good like I was at being a social worker. I'm on the sick at the moment, my anxiety and depressive state are making it impossible to work and I've had suicidal moments. I was like this in my late teens so I'm gutted to be like this again. But one of my doctors also said I had some traits which could be autism so here I am.
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Anyone in the children side of social work will find it super tough because it’s such a difficult area. Most social workers will think of a change after a couple years. Maybe a time out is needed…. Then maybe look into adult care or hospital discharge area etc… to do that job of yours you are obviously a special person and I doff my cap to you. But also if you feel and complete change is needed then go for it. Life is too short
Hi Daisy,
Although you ended your career after a negative experience I imagine you had many, many positive outcomes for other children as their social worker. Try not to write off your whole career because of a bad experience.
The parents were obviously devastated and while what they said to you was hurtful, it has made you delve a little deeper into understanding yourself and getting some answers to the questions you have about who you are. I think that is very positive.
Take the time off sick to look after yourself and your mental health and build your confidence back up. Learn more about Autism and women and explore a diagnosis if that's what you want to do.
You can be a brilliant social worker and be autistic.. Trust me :)
But if you decide social work is really not for you anymore then you can close that chapter of your life and start a new one.
Welcome to the group.
You sound similar to me, i was a zookeeper but now work in social care.....both tough jobs
Welcome to the community! Sorry to hear that you are going through a rough patch right now; I would definitely give the training to work with animals a try. I suspect that your fears that you will be no good working with animals is probably a by product of the bad experience you described. I imagine that you are underestimating yourself and you'll probably get on fine with the training.