Human contact...human service

SGEU (Saskatchewan General Employees Union) has created a campaign to draw attention to the important human dimension to social services.

Social services workers help people reach their potential.

They help keep children safe, families healthy and build strong communities.

Social services workers make a difference when they support people in crisis. A crisis could mean financial hard times. A crisis might be an unexpected illness or injury, that occurs in conjunction with a loss of income and costly medical expenses.

Social service workers help people live healthy, productive lives.

"Some of the people we work with confront barriers, such as a mental or physical disability, drug or alcohol addiction. We work with them to find solutions -- because they need to deal with those challenges before they can move forward."

They help keep kids safe and build stronger families

Sometimes the problems and tensions within a family can be too much, and parents just can't provide a safe environment for their kids. Often -- with professional help -- families can deal with their crisis, and become stable and caring. But sometimes, children just need to be cared for somewhere else for a while. Just to be safe.

Take a closer look...
at the people who are our clients

* A young mom who must leave an abusive relationship to keep herself and her children safe
* A middle-aged worker who has unexpectedly lost his job and needs to be re-trained.
* person who lives with a mental illness and sometimes is just unable to cope.
* A teenager who has grown up in poverty, who has already been in trouble with the law, and who doesn't have the advantages other kids have when it comes to succeeding in school or getting a job.
* A senior whose income doesn't cover drug costs and nursing home expenses.

Our people, our province

* We care about the people we work with and about the future of our province. And we know you do, too.
* Every time we help someone move forward in their lives we are helping build a stronger, safer, healthier province for us all.
* Without the support of those of us who work in Social Services, many more people in our communities would be alone, struggling, in crisis. That affects us all.

More time and resources

* We do this kind of work because we are committed to helping people. Because we care. But, too often, we don't have the time and resources to meet the needs of the people we are there to help.

A stronger safety net

* Sometimes we go home after a long day and worry that a family is in trouble or a child may be in danger because there were too many clients to see that day, too many other obligations. We worry about those who might simply fall through the cracks.

Lasting solutions

* Not all of the people we work with are in immediate crisis. But almost all of them need to connect with us, to develop a relationship built on trust before we can make positive changes
* Before you can truly help someone, you need to understand who they are, what barriers they face, and what they are capable of doing.
* You need an ongoing relationship to figure out their unique situations and to work together on solutions.

Building relationships, changing lives

* We need the time to have face-to-face contact with the people we work with. We are not just there to hand out cheques. We are there to make a difference in people's lives. To work with individuals and families to problem solve and to find ways to make real, lasting changes.
* That's how we help build stronger families and communities.
* Let's make a public commitment to keeping our families and communities safe and healthy.

Let's ensure there's human contact in our human services.

 

 

See the full campaign with videos designed for televion at;

http://www.sgeu.org/campaigns/index.html?ap=1&x=118678