March is celebrated annually all over the world as Social Work Month, when a special role is given to social workers and the role of their work in society. On the other hand, the International Federation of Social Workers has established a tradition of celebrating World Social Work Day on the third Tuesday of March, and for almost ten years this day has been included among the days of celebration, remembrance and celebration in Latvia. In Ventspils, social work is organized by the Ventspils Social Service, whose employees provide various types of assistance to the most vulnerable groups of society – the poor and low-income, orphans, disabled, refugees, elderly people – and help people to solve problems related to poverty, violence, addiction and mental illnesses. . c.
Recognition of the municipality
On the afternoon of March 19, employees of the Ventspils Social Service, celebrating their day, met in the Marriage Ceremony Hall of the city’s Birth Registry Department, where they greeted the best representatives of this field, and also listened to words of thanks from the representative of the municipality, deputy executive director Kaspars Wittenbergs. Wittenberg wanted social workers to stop for a moment, break away from the work routine and enjoy the festive moment, admitting that social work is undoubtedly not easy. He explained that the social worker has three parts of the body that are very closely involved in this work: the head – because, as in any intellectual work, knowledge, skills and the ability to navigate the large amount of normative acts, articles of the law and regulations that must be applied on a daily basis are required; the largest human organ, the skin, which must be quite thick, because the help of the Social Service is most often sought by people who are in difficulties; but the most important, according to Wittenberg, is the heart – it should be good and wide.
On behalf of the municipality, two social workers from the Department of Support for Families with Children – Alesja Pavlova and Sigita Strauta – were especially greeted with letters of appreciation. Both of them have been dealing with raising children for about twenty years, as well as issues related to various problems of children and parents, and they received warm, appreciative words from Una Lapskalnas-Alksnes, head of the Social Service of Vitenberg and Ventspils.
Faith in the good
Alesja Pavlova is a social worker working with families and children and has been in the Ventspils Social Service for twenty years. This day is important to her and the recognition expressed by the municipality is an unexpected and very important assessment of her work. “This holiday unites all social workers and reminds us that we must celebrate the holiday and not forget about ourselves in order to be able to go further and help others. The appreciation expressed to me was quite unexpected. This is a high rating for me – as a film actor can receive Oscar! This is confirmation that I am on the right path.” On a daily basis, Pavlova greatly appreciates the support of her colleagues, as well as the support of the institution’s management. She sees in her work a constant opportunity to develop and improve. On the other hand, in difficult moments, Pavlova finds strength in the belief that a person or a situation can change for the better. She reminds herself that people should allow themselves to overcome crises and believe that they will succeed. “Work gives me great satisfaction every day, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this job for twenty years!”
A meaningful direction
Sigita Strautas, senior social worker of the support department for families with children, calls World Social Work Day a day of honoring the profession. “One of the basic values of our work is service to people. It’s about building a relationship with the customer. This work requires a lot of endurance – both emotional and psychological. In addition, the social worker must be at peace with himself, with his physical health. The day when social work is honored makes one appreciate that the social worker is important and needed. It is important that we are seen as a resource in the human support system.” Professional stability gives Strauta peace and self-confidence in her daily work. “I know what needs to be done, I know my duties and predict the possible situation. Stability is understanding myself, getting harmony in life, so that I am at peace with who I am outside of work. If I’m not at peace with myself, then I can’t give him positive emotions when working with a person.” Strauta also emphasizes the importance of peer support.
In total, she has been in this profession for 21 years, and 19 of them have been spent in the Ventspils Social Service. Strauta admits that social work has changed a lot during these years, and so has the social field in Ventspils. Twenty years ago, the profession of social worker in Latvia had only really started to take shape. In recent years, very big changes have taken place in the paradigm of thinking. “If initially social workers separated children from their parents, now professional competences have stabilized and we no longer do this. Initially, the social worker had to perform certain actions without even understanding why.» She explains that currently social work has taken a meaningful direction and the primary thing in this work is building relationships and getting to know the situation in order to understand the client’s needs and his internal resources. «Allow a person to be an expert in his life! Often, only allowing a person to make mistakes leads him to develop and become aware of his own risks.” Strauta reminds both himself and his colleagues every day that when he gives a task to a service client, it is primarily a task for the specialist himself. If the task is not completed, it is primarily the social worker’s responsibility. In addition, the client may also disagree with the specialist, and in such cases he is allowed to weigh for himself whether what the social worker recommends is even necessary. “For example, in the past, the regulations very strictly stipulated that a person must first obtain disability status in order to receive some help from the social service, even if he does not wish to obtain such status. In the past, the work would focus on getting the person to agree and settle the status, but now social work is done through meaningful conversations, finding out what exactly the specific person needs in the specific situation. Also understanding why a person is not focused on cooperation with a social worker.»
Strauta does not hide that she is currently in her last month of work at the Ventspils Social Service. She will not change her field of activity, but will move from the municipal institution to work in the public sector and will start work at the Child Protection Center in April. In addition, in her new workplace she will still have the opportunity to cooperate with her current colleagues in the Ventspils municipality. “I will do that very gladly, because the relationships in the team have always been important to us and they are very supportive. We’ll all be just a phone call away!”
