Learning from those people who are dying: the main element to effective palliative care social work

StartFragment3 weeks into my social work training I started a placement inside a hospice. During the 50 days that I worked there, almost everyone that I worked with passed away. I started out thinking about exactly what social work could supply to people that are dying. I completed the placement wishing each and every social worker got the chance to learn from folks confronting death. Their experience of loss and resilience, and also the opportunity to see approaches to be alongside people in those circumstances, goes to the center of what social work does well. I've been involved with an outstanding working group that has put together a fresh resource for social workers: The role of social work in palliative, end of life and bereavement attention. This resource goals to make certain that folks reap the benefits of good social work at the end of their life, and that family and friends close to them are supported throughout this time and into death.

Lived experience The resource has been mutually generated by social workers and folks with lived experience with end-of-life care. Throughout, it reveals those encounters and these feature the methods that social workers can make a difference when working together with people who are dying or bereaved. Here are some of the essential messages from the resource for social work practice, plus the voices of those with lived experience: 1. ‘I would like health workers to be positive and express what's going on properly without having to be negative. I'm quite optimistic about my life.’ (Phone interview with woman who uses a drop in centre). Social workers can recognise people’s need for acknowledgement and for a person to listen to them. We can demonstrate self-assurance and sensitivity in discovering the right time to speak about death and dying, making sure that men and women can be in charge, plan in advance and accomplish what is important to them. 2. ‘It is going to be my wife who makes judgements for me, whenever I’m unable. Nonetheless have it all down on paper, points of importance to me. It’s all down on paper.’ (Man in his 80's attending a hospice day centre). Social workers can support individuals to make judgements, advocate for, and also challenge with and also on behalf of people. Where necessary, we could use the law to allow men and women to take control. 3. ‘Enabling individuals to live their lives exactly as they want - it’s much more than the medicine, it's something apart from treatment. Comfort and ease? Reassurance?’ (Bereaved man in his sixties). Social workers can make sure that someone’s experience is at the centre of exactly what takes place. We are able to make use of evidence, legislation and systems to allow folks to live the lives they desire. 4. ‘I don’t want sympathy, simply help and support. I don’t want people feeling sorry for me. It’s just some support, I suppose, practical help and support.’ (Woman attending a drop in centre, age not known). Social workers can assist men and women to realise their own abilities and mobilise their very own resources, supply information and facts along with functional support, synchronize services and discuss solutions. Where needed, we could handle forms. 5. ‘I do not like it, whenever people who have not been sick say ‘Oh you are so brave!’ I dispise that. I would just like to be treated as me. Just see me as I was and forget about cancer. It’s not all that I am.’ (Female in her sixties/seventies in a hospice day centre). Social workers can help folks to sustain their identification regardless of change. We are able to help people to gather memories and also to leave memories behind. 6. ‘It has been challenging to ask for help, I didn’t want to and I couldn’t ? But now I am coming round. I know it is terminal and I know I need help now.’ (Female in her 60s/70s inside a hospice day centre). Social workers may embrace various needs and develop different methods of supporting people. We can easily explain how care works and assist people discover how to access critical support. 7. ‘People need to know how bloody challenging this is going to be. We shouldn’t protect men and women. This isn’t likely to be easy. It’s going to bloody challenging.’ (Bereaved partner in his sixties). Social workers can certainly help individuals close to a person that is at the end of their life to receive the support they need. We are able to help men and women take care of practicalities following death and follow up with people who are bereaved in the way that works best for them. Perspective for palliative care social work Our vision for social work in palliative, end-of-life and also death care is: men and women will have access to a palliative care social worker with the capabilities and resources to help them when they need it, and also all social workers should be able to assist people, their own families, and others close to them to understand the value of what they can do and give to each other at the end of their life and in bereavement, and to receive the help support they need. Here is what some of the social workers we spoke said about their role: ‘Tom had a positive impact on the whole staff team and I organised a reflective space the next week for team to share memories and ideas of their work with him and his family. It was well attended and allowed us all to express our feelings. Rest In Peace Tom.’ (Palliative care social worker). Palliative care social workers are a source of expertise and support for some other occupations and agencies. They could boost awareness, mentor and still provide advice to other people. They could take on investigation and get together evidence of just what allows for a good death. ‘We work holistically, blending psychological and practical skills, to enable folks to achieve just what matters most to them. We are active in bettering things, we're accommodating and adaptive, and we're at our very best as enablers when we are least conspicuous.’ (Resource working team). All social workers ought to be wanting to support people who are dying, experiencing loss or bereaved. The social work engagement We hope that the resource is going to be utilized by palliative care social workers to boost awareness of their function and the contribution they are able to make, and by those people who are dying and others near to them to obtain social work support. We hope that social workers will make use of the resource to evaluate their practice, and to identify the support they have to develop their skills and knowledge. Employers, leaders, commissioners, funders, co-workers from some other careers and educators can make use of this resource to determine the contribution that social workers could make, and also to discover how to support and develop this area of practice. Above all, we hope that the accounts of people’s experiences will allow social workers to improve our power to support individuals at this hard and greatly human time. EndFragment

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