A huge workload and inadequate access to psychological support is leading to worrying burnout among social workers, the Maltese Association of Social Workers believes.
The burden of their work is causing experienced social workers to look for other jobs, with the profession losing out on important wisdom, association chairman Anthea Agius told The Times.
The caseloads are impressive, with social workers in the child protection sector expected to manage between 40 and 50 children at one time, three times as many as their British counterparts.
The caseloads among social workers dealing with refugees are even higher and Ms Agius said one social worker had 125 cases at one point in time while six social workers were expected to handle a caseload of 600 elderly people and families every year. Sometimes, the caseload means that a social worker can only deal with an individual suffering abuse just once a month.
All this poses a burden on the social worker, both as a person and as a professional.
"They are experiencing a very strong internal value conflict between the service they want and they should be giving to their clients and what they can provide," Ms Agius said.
The association believes that the heavy caseloads mean that clients are not receiving the optimum service and social workers are put in the awkward position of having to prioritise between different cases.
"Prioritising can be very risky because delicate situations can flare up at any time. While a social worker is prioritising one case, there can be crises in other cases, leading to constant crises interventions while neglecting other cases. Social workers are just fire-fighting."
Moreover, because their job brings them in contact with abused, violent and traumatised people, social workers tend to suffer from secondary traumatisation. "Training can never prepare you for some of the suffering that people experience," she said.
Ms Agius explained that, if social workers are not psychologically supported, their exposure to suffering puts them at high risk of burnout. While some social workers have access to psychological support, this is not available across the board, something that concerns the association. Moreover, when social workers feel the need for psychological support, many times this is already too late.
"Just like construction workers use protective clothing, psychological support is important for social workers because they are constantly exposed to trauma, violence and abuse," Ms Agius said.
The association has drawn up a number of recommendations targeting a reduction in the caseload and has also proposed a pilot project to tailor psychological support to different needs.
Its recommendations include measures for a better work-life balance and to motivate social workers to pursue their career development within the profession in a bid to retain them in the field.