TRENDING CONTENT
Essential social work skills include empathy, authenticity, resilience and respect.
These skills help us cope with situations and meet the needs of service users or clients.
However, the best coping mechanism in social work is definitely humour.
Finding humour in situations that stress you out in social work releases endorphins and makes you feel better about the situation.
It is not always healthy to have social work humour or joke about serious topics, of course, but sometimes all you need is to laugh about whatever stresses you out.
Social Work Humour for the End of A Long Day
I always had this vision about the social worker I thought I’d be, but……………
Why is humour so important in the social work workplace?
- Eases tension with colleagues
- Helps us through difficult times
- Helps breakdown barriers with service users or clients
- Helps social workers engage effectively with service users or clients
- Helps social workers cope with stress and anxiety
What is the one thing, the common denominator, in today’s society that makes everyone not want to get out of bed?
If you think about it, everyone is obsessed with working.
If you don’t have a job, you’re considered a failure and no matter how much you don’t like what you’re doing, you have to wake up anyway and go to work.
Adulthood always looked better when you were a child and had no responsibility.
Now you have to pay bills and that means going to work, even if you don’t want to.
Having a job is not only important to pay bills, it’s important for your mental health.
Yes, not doing anything all day might sound good, but if procrastinating and laying in bed lasts more than a week, you start developing something very similar to depression and if time goes on and you still haven’t found a job, you might need to see a therapist because your mental health is going downhill.
On the other hand, though, if you work too much, you might also have to go to see a therapist.
There needs to be a work life balance.
What exactly is a work life balance?
Finding a balance is fundamental to remain stable mental health wise.
Nowadays, finding this balance seems almost impossible because–I’m sure every social worker has gone through that–many corporations want their employees to be available 24/7, which leads them to have more stressful lives and suffer from mental health illnesses.
A study by Harvard University revealed that 94% of working professionals admitted to working over 50 hours per week, some of them even said they worked 65 hours per week.
This means that these people do not have free time to spend with their families or friends and will, one day or another, struggle with mental health issues.
Should social workers have humour in their work?
Each social worker needs to have some free time to enjoy life.
Humour might be a coping mechanism that might actually work, but underneath those layers of humour, there is a lot of unresolved stress that can be very dangerous.
Before we delve into these famous “meme-work” or “social work meme” or “social work humour” everyone is obsessed about, we want to give you three useful tips to deal with stress and balance your life.
1. Perfection is unnecessary
If you strive for perfection as a social worker, you’re also an overachiever.
This personality trait is useful in certain situations and very dangerous in others.
If you’re an overachiever, you’re also very ambitious and might be a social worker who is a workaholic.
I might have described you, right? Shocking!
As life goes on and more responsibilities build up, perfectionism becomes almost impossible to reach.
You have to sacrifice your ambitions for family and friends or you end up working 24/7.
Some people do prefer that lifestyle, but at the end of the day, it is not sustainable.
Burning out syndrome is real and those self-destruction tendencies become very dangerous and destructive.
Let go of your perfectionism and live a happier, more fulfilling life.
2. Have a mental health day
Sometimes you just have to unplug; shut your phone and let those notifications build up.
It’s important to disconnect because every time your phone rings and a new notification lights up, your off time gets interrupted.
“Sometimes you should just shut your phone down, and enjoy the moment,” says Robert Brooks, a professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and co-author of The Power of Resilience: Achieving Balance, Confidence and Personal Strength in Your Life.
3. Make time for your family and friends
After a long day at work, all you have left is your family and your friends.
Make sure you spend time with me and show them how much you appreciate them.
It might not be always possible to hang out with your friends and you might have to choose some people over others, but make time for everyone in your life.
Especially the people who make time for you.
No one likes to spend a Sunday alone, and if you’re one of those few people, then you’re lying or too busy to enjoy life.
Remember to also make time for yourself!
Self-care is as important as making time for your friends and family!
Slight changes are necessary, but we believe in you.
Now, to get to the main point of this article, we’ll go through some of our favorite memes and funny social work quotes.
Gen Z and millennials will for sure appreciate all these memes.
Popular social work memes
1. Every workplace has a crew
Every work place has this crew:
- Does 99% of the work.
- Has no idea what’s going on the whole time.
- Says he is going to help, but he is not.
- Disappear at the very beginning and does not show up again until the very end.
Can you see yourself in any of these 4 characters?
2. Just when you thought it was over!
“When your co-worker asks a question that makes the meeting go on for 25 more minutes.”
We’ve all been there.
How annoying can that one co-worker be?
Just let us go home, Susan!
No more social work talk please!
3. Not again!
“When your boss asks for proof that you’re in the hospital.”
Desperate times call for desperate measures!
4. Time does not fly, it seems!
“When you think you’ve been working for 4 hours and it’s only been 17 minutes.”
How many times have you said to yourself: “I swear to God it was 3pm three hours ago!” Worst feeling ever!
5. Surely I just went to bed!
“When your alarm goes off and you have to go to work because you didn’t die in your sleep.”
Very dark humour, but we’ve all been there!
Sometimes all you want is to sleep in, but you have to get up and go to work!
Growing up and being an adult sounded way better when you were a kid, right?
Before you go!
We should not avoid social work humour.
Social workers should engage in humour, as it is necessary for successful relationships and for improving the overall wellbeing of a social worker.
According to Frost (1992), clients or service users can educate social workers on finding humour in situations. Whilst it is unethical to laugh at people and their problems, it may be helpful to laugh with them as they describe the humourous aspects of their experiences.
The social worker who uses humour is also a more resilient social worker. Furnivall (2011) argues that amongst other attributes which build resilience in children in care include a sense of humour, particularly the capacity to laugh at one-self, and the same applies to building resilient social work practitioners.
Should social workers have humour in their work?
- Perfection is unnecessary
- Have a mental health day
- Make time for your family and friends
Popular social work memes
- Every workplace has a crew
- Just when you thought it was over
- Not again!
- Time does not fly, it seems!
- Surely, I just went to bed!
Why is humour so important in the social work workplace?
- Eases tension with colleagues
- Helps us through difficult times
- Helps breakdown barriers with service users or clients
- Helps social workers engage effectively with service users or clients
- Helps social workers cope with stress and anxiety
Socialworkhaven.com Useful Resources
- Social Work To-Do List
Social Work To – Do List: What To Include: We sometimes struggle with managing our daily tasks as social workers. This is not because we do not have the skills. The work load, crisis and challenges we face can be overwhelming. That is why a social work to-do list may help us manage better.
- Recommended Books
Best Social Work Books Every Student Must Read is a great article full of highly recommended and engaging books. Helping student social workers to equip themselves with knowledge and skills. It is a great way to empower yourself and encourage you to read more.
- Social Work Registration
Social Work Registration: Get it done – is a useful article that walks you through the social work registration process.
- Social Work Burnout
51 Effective Ways to Fight Social Work Burnout helps practitioners explore 51 effective ways to fight Social Work Burnout. Social work burnout can affect the way we execute our role. It can cause social work stress, and a stressed social worker cannot perform their role effectively.
- Active Listening in Social Work
Why You Should Actively Listen as a Social Worker raises awareness of active listening in social work. Social work active listening involves the listener paying close attention to the speaker, making sure not to interrupt, and reflecting on what they have heard. This helps the speaker feel heard and validated, and it can also help them clarify their thoughts and feelings.
- Social Work Humour
Social Work Humour for the End of a Long Day This article explains when social work humour is important. Essential social work skills include empathy, authenticity, resilience and respect. These skills help us cope with situations and meet the needs of service users or clients. However, the best coping mechanism in social work is definitely humour.
- Social Work CV Writing
Social Work CV Writing This article is a must read – whether you are a student, newly qualified, or an experienced social worker, and looking for a new company to work for, you will find these 13 fundamental tips useful if you want to create the perfect Social Work CV/resume that will make you outshine others and get noticed.
- Social Work Values & Respect in Social Work
Social Work Values & Respect in Social Work Social work values include respect, dignity and worth of individuals, pursuit of social justice, integrity and competence. This article explores what ‘respect’ means in social work. Social work values are the beliefs and principles of social workers, which guide their practice and help them to determine the right course of action when making decisions.
References
Community Care. https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2011/01/06/why-humour-is-so-important-in-the-social-work-workplace/
Frost, C (1992) Having fun in social work Middle Tennessee State University paper accessed online http://capone.mtsu.edu/cfrost/soc/thera/HUMOUR.htm
Furnivall, J (2011) Guide to developing and maintaining resilience in residential child care Community Care Inform article
Good reads. https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=funny+quotes&search%5Bsource%5D=goodreads&search_type=quotes&tab=quotes
Gilgun, JF and Sharma, A (2011) The Uses of Humour in Case Management with High-Risk Children and their Families British Journal of Social Work (2011) 1–18
Guéguen, N (2010) Men’s sense of humour and women’s responses to courtship solicitations: an experimental field study. Psychological Reports: Volume 107, Issue , pp. 145-156. doi: 10.2466/07.17.PR0.107.4.145-156
Hill, C E and O’Brien, K M (2004) Helping skills: Facilitating exploration, insight and action Washington American Psychological Association
Holt, J (2008) Stop me if you’ve heard this before: A history and philosophy of jokes London Profile Books
Howe, D (1998) Relationship-based thinking and practice in social work, Journal of Social Work Practice: Psychotherapeutic Approaches in Health, Welfare and the Community, 12:1, 45-56,
Kadushin, A and Kadushin, G (1997) The social work interview New York Columbia University Press
Meachin, H (2013) Media watch: How Clare in the Community offers a welcome chance for a laugh Professional Social work February 2013
Moran, CC and Hughes, LP (2006) Coping with stress: social work students and humour Social Work Education Vol 25 No 5 August 2006 pp 501-517
Siporin, M. (1984) ‘Have you heard the one about social work humor?’, Social Casework: The Journal of Contemporary Social Work, 65, pp. 459–64.
Sullivan, E (2000) Gallows humour in social work practice: an issue for supervision and reflexivity Practice 12:2 pp 45-54
Witkin, S. L. (1999) ‘Taking humour seriously’, Social Work, 44(2), pp. 101–4.
Wolin, S J and Wolin, S (1993) The Resilient Self New York: Villard Books