Stakeholders in the field are calling for “debureaucratizing” and “demedicalizing” social work to return to a practice closer to people and their needs. This is one of the main findings of the commissioners of the Estates General of Social Work, who are presenting their recommendations this Friday after months of public consultations.
“Social workers are the very basis of the social safety net in Quebec. And what most hinders their practice with nearby populations is the health system itself, says Commissioner Ariane Émond in an interview at Duty. The most serious problem they have identified is really the bureaucratization of their profession which means that they are less and less in the field. » And this, while waiting lists are growing.
In their report, which is around sixty pages long, the commissioners recommend “the reduction of administrative tasks” in order to “debureaucratize social services”. They identify numerous problems linked to the “accounting logic” which pushes professionals “to place individuals in boxes” and to “accountability” which is based on the quantitative to the detriment of the qualitative.
They believe that “the hospital-centric vision” and “biomedical logic” undermine the role of social work and prevent professionals from offering services commensurate with their skills. They also recommend that players in this field “free themselves” from it to reach their full potential. “There is reason to demedicalize social work and emancipate it from the subordinate position in which it finds itself in relation to health,” write the commissioners.
“We are not saying that social services must leave the Ministry of Health,” explains Commissioner Denis Bourque in an interview. We think that there is an advantage in combining these two things, but not in subordinating social work to medical orientations. »
Dissonance
The commissioners, who heard from more than 500 stakeholders in the field, including social workers, users and community organizations, noted that the gap is widening between the aspirations of social workers and the reality of their daily lives.
“Social justice and the defense of human rights, equity and collective solidarity that result from it are seen as cardinal values for social work,” they write. However, the vast majority of people consulted noted a dissonance between the ideal reflected by these values and their daily implementation in the practice of social work in Quebec. »
Recalling that social workers are “at the forefront” to bear witness to the repercussions of social issues on populations”, the commissioners believe that they must be allowed to “return to the field, in living environments, schools, HLM » in their neighborhoods.
“The social worker does not just want to be a spectator and manage the consequences of social dysfunction in Quebec,” argues Commissioner Denis Bourque. He wants to be able to act on the causes through prevention because he has expertise. »
Right to housing
The commissioners recommend in particular anchoring the right to housing in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. “It came up very strongly in the consultations,” explains Mr. Bourque, who recalls that the inability to find housing causes many social problems. “We must be able to recognize that this is part of the living conditions that a society must be able to offer to all of its citizens. »
The commissioners recommend that stakeholders in the field — who will meet at a summit next April — take action to have the importance of their work recognized. “The increase in inequalities, the deterioration of public services and the growing climate crisis further illustrate the need to reorient social work as a vector of social transformation in order to act on the causes of social dysfunction. »