The one way streets of our systems

The standards in our systems seem like one-way streets. None of the services I encountered would have tolerated even a minute of what I experienced. Would the crown have allowed me to confront him, take pictures, and make threats more than once? Would the judge have let me act in such a manner in her courtroom? Would the appeal judge have accepted me commenting on his sleeping or trapping him in a room? As for local police, I’d likely have ended up in handcuffs. Causation was never considered—only my response. Can we call that a double standard?

Why are the standards for social workers and the people they serve so low? These low standards persist because we’ve tolerated them for years. Social workers are responsible for protecting our most vulnerable, families, and children. If we’re not safe in our roles, it affects those vulnerable families. The Nova Scotia College is fully aware of the challenges I faced, and of the profession’s decline due to high caseloads, unrealistic expectations, and burnout, among other issues. They acknowledge it, yet fail to take meaningful action. Their policies are just words without follow-through. The ethics the College promotes feel like a one-way street.

The NSGEU isn’t doing enough to ensure workplace safety. When concerns are raised, their response is to form committees and shift responsibility back to overworked staff.

The decline in our systems is connected to the one way functioning.