Letter on the occasion of the celebration of the International Day of Social Work

Today is the International Day of Social Work. Discipline that concerns me. 

I studied with good teachers, who made me see the objective and goal of our work. The virtues and difficulties of the discipline. For the internship I had a great tutor (who is my partner now).

Since I graduated I have been working with elderly people and people with functional diversity, although our field of work is very wide and we accompany very diverse groups and situations. And it is today, when I want to thank all the social workers for the work we do. A beautiful job, but sometimes hard. Work in which the dignity of the person is paramount.

Sometimes we have to suffer. At other times we enjoy the achievements (big and small). Sometimes we have to work alone and sometimes in a team. An accompaniment through which we respond to the needs of the person. Teams and workers from other disciplines whom I would like to thank and highlight the need to work in a coordinated and systemic way. In a better team.

Congratulations to everyone for knowing how to find the right balance, despite the dilemmas, doubts and difficulties we encounter along the way.

Thanks to all the people we have been able to accompany, who allow us to accompany their lives and learn from them and from each situation. Without them, social work has no meaning.

Today is usually a day of celebration, but this year 2020 has given us a challenge, a challenge to be faced by all of us.  It is a special day therefore, a situation we wish we would never meet again and from which we would like to learn the most from the social transformation that is taking place. The COVID pandemic19 confronts us with a different situation of care, of isolation, of taking extreme measures for the health of all.

In this scenario, social work, or rather, social workers, play an important role: in those places where people who need support live, in every home, in every community, in every centre... there are teams behind it where social workers are also present. Responding to needs and trying to anticipate them. A reflection of the discipline's capacity to adapt, which will continue to grow every time we come across something that is a hindrance or a challenge and we owe it to the people.

A fond memory for my colleagues. We are little ants but our work has meaning and significance for those of us who accompany us. 

Thank you for reading me.