You must be wondering what the heck this picture has to do with the title of this blog, but don't worry I will explain it later on.
There seems to be a divide among social workers about whether or not they should reveal their "professional" title or if they should just go by their job title such as counsellor, case manager, investigator, mental health therapist, child/youth worker, program assistant, case aide, determiner of eligibility, outreach worker and so on.
Some people have shame in being labelled a social worker because of our not so clean professional past. However, in the last couple of decades we are demonstrating a more inclusive process with our clients and we try to make joint decision when we can based on their wishes.
Then there is the other group (which I fall into) that when asked what they do, they say I am a social worker. It can come up in a variety of situations, if I happen to meet someone who seems in distress with family issues and asks for any suggestions, emergency accidents where I can provide emotional support to those hurt (like in the above picture) or if someone makes an uninformed comment about an area of of social work which I have knowledge about and which I can speak to. Overall, I feel it is my duty to put a positive face to the name of social worker, especially if these people have had negative experiences with social workers in the past. It also helps to demystify the profession as people will ask me what I really do in my job. You might also get criticisms about others in the profession but you can just apologise for that situation and say that we all have different personalities and strengths - however, I will NEVER condone unethical actions by a social worker.
You really have to take into consideration the situation you are in before you reveal whether or not you are a social worker. If you feel you will be at risk of abuse then don't say anything but if you feel like you have a great teaching opportunity then I say go for it!
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