Why People Quit Social Work, And Leave The Field: The Truth

Hello everyone. I'm Gabby and I am a Macro Social Worker and Career Coach. In this video, I will highlight 5 main reasons people decide to quit the field of social work and leave this career path. I think this is a great field, but it isn't for everyone and hopefully this video can help folks to decide if it is for them, and how they can best navigate their careers and lessen burnout.

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[MindyourSociety]

Hello y'all. Please let me know below if you have any tips for Social Workers to prevent burning out and leaving the field!

[shellh.]

Tips I would give after 20 years and then severe burn out would be:
1. Ask if you can sit in a meeting before fully accepting the job. If you hear client bashing and if that seems to be acceptable, then you know they are not client centered and have lost sight of their point and purpose as an agency to help others.
2. Do not be a part of the problem, speak up! You see a bad social worker and you say nothing, then you become a part of the problem and this will eat at you. The directors will admire you and see you as a leader/advocate for both the agency and the clients. But you have to be careful of how co-workers may react. This is the same exact dynamic in policing.
3. Ask for raises! Write up all the reasons you feel you deserve a raise and present a letter to whomever would be able to make that happen. I was doing it every year for a while and they never turned me down especially with my list of responsibilities they kept adding for me. Always advocate for yourself as much as you do your clients!
4. Refuse certain dangerous situations. You don't have to always be tough. Put your foot down and insist on a police escort or simply do not proceed. You can be traumatized in social work if you say yes to every situation.
5. Pay close attention to what your body is telling you. Sometimes your body feels the burn out before anything else.
6. Make sure you have good boundaries with both your co-workers and your clients. Try not to share too much and remember that you're going to work not to make friends but to help others. It's okay to make friends but don't get sucked into the clicks. Crossing boundaries can backfire.
7. Learn the tricks of how to build trust quickly with clients and also how to engage so clients want to work more as a team opposed to you doing all the work. That could be a whole video in and of itself.
8. Try to find a way to stay on top of deadlines and paperwork. Assign yourself specific days to get caught up.
9. Be a team player and usually coworkers will try to return favors if you helped them out in the past. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours goes a long ways.
10. Build strong relationships in the community. Having good resources is one of the most important tools for social workers. It takes a village!

[ricotheopinionist]

Hello, Gabby. Last summer, I officially bowed out of social work for the most part after 24 years of working as a therapist in mental health and substance treatment in outpatient facilities as well as residential/in-patient treatment facilities. Frankly, the politics and the heightened drive for profits on the part of the agencies just wore me out. I enjoyed working with my clients. I am a helper. However, the paperwork and staff meetings doubled and even trippled as the pay remained the same. The stress of large case loads went up as the pay remained the same. I just lost the will to do it anymore. However, all is not lost. I still enjoy facilitating education groups on substance abuse and mental health, but on my own terms without the bureaucratic nonsense. Very good video. Enjoy your day.

[channellowery]

I think an important factor in burnout is how we are socialized to take care of ourselves as social workers. Often times social workers are advocates of self care but do not do a good job with this themselves. Having a good self-care routine and staying connected to friends and family and not always pushing myself to do everything has helped me in my journey of getting my masters and now I'll be pursuing my PhD in social work to focus on research.

[thefaithfulbrother]

I've had some crappy social workers I've dealt with homelessness for years but I had one social worker that put me on a good path she got me all of the resources I needed she got me a apartment and got me a lot of funding to move in and I made sure to thank her she moved alot of pieces for me and I saw how powerful knowledge and a few phone calls can make I was blown away by how fast she got me in a apartment when the other social workers were dragging their feet. I know have a passion to help people get on their feet there's no better feeling to me then seeing someone get their life back.

[eurekaelephant]

I was a social worker for ten years. Its not natural to be dealing with problems 24/7 for a start. Some sort of balance is needed and thats what you cant really get being a social worker. I am much happier living a simpler life.

[Lovealwaysak]

I want to quit so bad🥺 being in this career has only increased my depression and anxiety’

[shellh.]

I got burned out after 20 years because of every job having unethical social workers and having to report them. The clients didn't burn me out, it was protecting my clients from toxic coworkers. Lots of very dysfunctional individuals in the field abusing their power and so many in management who truly are not client centered. I was over it. I would be interested in being an auditor or in policy to stop some of these programs that waste tax payers money.

[natasha]

I definitely relate to the third reason. When I was getting my BSW, my program only informed us about licensure and I thought that was what I wanted to do (although my heart was always in macro). When I was doing my clinical field placement for my MSW, I quickly recognized that direct practice was not for me and it caused me to panic since I felt I invested so much in something I did not want to do. I am volunteering now with an agency doing advocacy work, and searching for jobs that pertain to case management, since I enjoyed that type of work with clients during my generalist field placement in undergrad. The strength of Social Work is that it is a malleable career: If you feel you are in a rut with a population or setting, you can change. All issues are related, and you can bring your knowledge from one area to another.
I am grateful to have supportive parents, friends, and I exercise regularly. Running is what got me through 2020, haha!

[keyboarddancers]

I'd suggest social work is like being a lawyer but you also have to keep a big smile on your face!
I left social work after 27 years; older people, mental health, substance misuse, young offenders and child protection. A lot of frustrations and joys (heavy emphasis on the former). I now give private music lessons and it's now virtually all joys. Social work has provided me with extremely effective social skills which of course is of immense benefit in a teaching capacity. I now *NEVER* finish my week feeling utterly exhausted.

[maremarechiqk]

Burn out was always worrisome for me when I decided to pursue a social work undergrad degree. I’m currently looking into going back to school to get my MSW and your channel is such a wealth of knowledge. Im currently a school administrator looking to one day make a shift ♥️

[maremarechiqk]

I just love how intentional you were when deciding to go into the field of macro social work. Your point about the important of knowing ALL of the options within social work, is such a great one ☝🏾. That’s definitely a way to avoid potential burnout

[vicversa]

Both school teachers and social workers suffer financial marginalization from the Government. If there are more social workers and teachers, in politics, at the decision-making levels like in the senate, then their remuneration would be tremendously improved and there would be lesser issues that require advocacies.

Social workers should be in huge numbers at the legislative and executive arm of Government.

[stephroses]

Great video! School social worker here making 70K 3 years post my MSW and summers off! Good work life balance…. It also helps feeling like I’m part of a team (OT, SLP, and Psychs).

[yourgo]

I have heard quite a few times that social work is the easy way out. I never understood the reason in needing to have a masters degree for something that was considered the "easy" way out, other than money for big organizations, in terms of education. I then realized that it was a predominantly woman driven field, then it all made sense. You make a woman work extra hard in earning her MSW or related degree, feed her scraps, and have her in the mindset of chasing a check, only to get her to lose her license. In my opinion, society doesn't see the value that they perceive to be "natural" gifts for women. I was told I should want to be a psychologist, because that's more masculine, and I would be a doctor, not a mid level. I turned away from it for that reason, several years ago. I went into another field that wasn't my passion. I don't believe in turning women into modern day slaves, in order to feed my fragile ego.

[CriticalHealingMoment]

Great video Gabby! I’ve been frustrated and burned out by just my grad school experience. I’m still on this social work journey even if it takes me longer than usual to get my MSW. But I’ve also made peace that I can do what I want without that social work title because what is important to me is continuing to work for social change.

[abigailminidoodle]

I really wish I had watched your videos before attending graduate school. I greatly appreciate your candidness about this field and what the role entails. I think your videos are going to help a lot of people determine if they are a good fit for this career path.

[njahan]

Right now I am doing my Masters in Social Work. I got to know a lot more things from the videos on your channel. I could grasp a bit of what to do and what not to do as an emerging social worker.
Looking forward to your more videos. ❤

[ashag]

Thank you for sharing this! I’m 29, and recently re-enrolled in school to get my Bachelor’s in SW. Your honesty and willingness to share your knowledge are very much appreciated! I’m so happy to begin this journey!

[ambryms]

Thank you for this. I’m a social worker in palliative care and am considering leaving the field. Beyond the reasons you shared, the lack of career development opportunities is a huge reason for this. I took this job out of school many years ago and it is a ‘terminal position’, I am in a medical system and there are no SW leaders. I watch my colleagues in other professions have all of these areas of development (team leader/director, research, fellowships, taking on residents) and there isn’t a straight forward equivalent. This makes it really difficult to stay in the field long term.