So having worked in our field for awhile now, I have noticed that there are people in it for a variety of reasons. Some for good, and some not so good.
People on occasion who provide services to our clients will make the work all about them, which in most cases, ends up doing more harm than good.
Unfortunately in our line of work too, participant teams are not made up of all social workers, or staff members who can see when they are doing something wrong to a client.
So bearing these things in mind, how do you deal with workers who are in there and providing more harm than good to the client?
How do you address it when a staff's actions (or sometimes lack of!) begin to sabotage the person's progress?
What if just documenting this and/or getting rid of them are not necessarily realistic options? (i.e. you or your agency does not supervise that employee; the client and/or their family WANT this staff to remain on the team, there is no one else to send to this particular client, etc.)
What do you do in these kinds of situations?
Can anything be done?
If the staff person is licensed or certified as a professional of some sort, then harmful actions toward clients can be reported to the appropriate regulatory board. This is a major reason to advocate for the regulation of professions - without it, the worst that can happen is the person gets fired, but can go out and get another job in the field. A regulatory board can prompt them to make needed changes in practice, or force them to change fields.
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