Do-gooding White Lady Saviour Complex

Early in training for social work, you will likely be warned that if you showed up to become a saviour, you had the wrong idea. You will be told you can’t save anyone. You will be told this is not even the goal. You will be told trying to save people is an abuse of power.

Likely, a trainer will suggest that if you are struggling to witness their pain, you must remember that this period in which your lives have crossed is just one part of their journey. Someone will warn that if you think you can save people, but fail, you will not be able to survive this work. You are assured that people are resilient.

Even as I write about these teachings in this cynical tone, I acknowledge how important they have been in reducing my compassion fatigue and in helping the traumatized youth and women I’ve worked with for over a decade.

Technically I am not a social worker by training. I patched together information from all over to build my social justice-oriented approach to helping, as well as my understanding of what was expected of me by the institution of social work. For me social work is the labour of service and solidarity.

I’ve tried to walk the talk. Some guest speaker said, “People are experts in their own lives.” I’d never felt like an expert in anyone’s life, including my own, but I added “client-directed” to my ethics. At some point, I was given language like, “Engage the community in meaningful activism, collaborating to change the material realities of their lives.” So I…