Transcription:

Liz Healy: Hello, listeners, and thanks for tuning into the Well Within Reach podcast brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. I'm your host, Liz Healy. And joining me today is Rebecca Romania, who is a licensed clinical social worker who works in our emergency room. Thanks for joining us today, Rebecca.

Rebecca Romania: Thanks for having me.

Liz Healy: So, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Rebecca Romania: Well, I graduated from Governors State University with my Bachelor's in Community Health, and then went on to get my Master's in Social Work. I recently just took my clinical license exam and passed that in October. So that's kind of where I'm at right now.

Liz Healy: Okay. So you are familiar with the different types of social work through your studies and learning, and also working in the field. Would you be able to tell us a little bit about what made you become a social worker?

Rebecca Romania: So I became a social worker due to, honestly, mental health. That's been one of my biggest things that I advocate about. I actually wasn't in the track to become a social worker and kind of had like a guiding light guide me there. So I kind of stumbled upon it by mishap, I would say. And it became a happy accident.

Liz Healy: Yeah, it's always great. I know a number of people that are social workers and they say, you know, it's not something that they would have necessarily chosen first, but they've just grown to love and understand that was just their calling. How would someone become a social worker?

Rebecca Romania: So there's a couple of ways you can become a social worker. So, you can go and get your bachelor's in Social Work. And then after that go and get your master's, which is then like a one-year degree, or you can do it the way I did where I got my bachelor's in something completely different and then took the two-year track to get my master's. After that, if you really want to be ambitious, you can get your doctorate. A lot of people who have their doctorate though, usually teach or they do research.

Liz Healy: Okay. So I understand there's several different types of social work. There's like three names for it. Would you be able to talk a little bit about those three types?

Rebecca Romania: Yeah, for sure. So micro social work is mainly where you do like one-to-one therapy or work one-to-one with a client. Next is like mezzo where we're pretty much mezzo in a hospital setting where we work with different types of people on a larger scale of more of a community scale. And then macro is more of like a political or community or like statewide, where you get more into like politics and so forth.

Liz Healy: Okay. So working in the emergency room, you're a mezzo social worker. Okay. So besides the emergency room, where are some other different places that a social worker could work?

Rebecca Romania: Social workers can work anywhere. I know that a couple CEOs of companies are social workers or HR. Majority of social workers usually work in either medical or school, I would say. So that's kind of where you're able to go.

Liz Healy: Okay. So I know that the big thing with social work, as you hear someone needs social worker, and it seems like it's a negative thing and that they've done something wrong in their life, that they need someone to correct their path, but that's not actually what the goal of social work is.

Rebecca Romania: Not at all.

Liz Healy: Can you talk a little bit about what the goal of a social worker is?

Rebecca Romania: So the goal of a social worker honestly is to kind of be a guiding light. We're pretty much a light at the end of the tunnel during any type of life experience, I would say. We're there to show you the options that you have. We're there to be your voice, advocate for you when you don't know who to talk to or if you're honestly fearful to advocate for yourself. You don't necessarily have to be in a "bad situation" to need a social worker.

Liz Healy: Yeah, for sure. Normally, people would think social worker and think like foster care. But like people that are coming out of hospital situations like long-term illness, they could also use a social worker. So I know that with the last few years of the pandemic and everything, have social workers seen an increase in workload? Have you seen things that have impacted your profession?

Rebecca Romania: Oh, definitely. COVID has been a huge struggle for anyone who's in any type of social field. So for us, it's a lot of burnout, honestly. We have a lot of cases that we are unable to fully provide services to because everywhere's closed down and they can't be in close contact. Our clients are people who are afraid to come out and be in the public or go to a doctor's office because they're afraid of getting COVID. So it's been kind of a hindrance for us, but we're working through it.

Liz Healy: Okay. So if someone was told like, "Hey, we're going to have a social worker come and talk to you," and they're nervous, what is something that you would say to kind of comfort somebody that's having a social worker come talk to them that might be nervous, like, "Oh, I've done something wrong" like we talked about previously? What would you say to them?

Rebecca Romania: A lot of it, it's not really saying social workers more about listening, I would say. I just usually meet the person where they're at, ask some open-ended questions and let them guide the conversation. I don't usually guide the conversation unless absolutely necessary.

Liz Healy: Okay. So you guys as social workers play an important role of listening and hearing what's going on in people's lives through this listening process and, you know, hearing what they're saying. How would you think that social workers are trying to bring change to the world?

Rebecca Romania: I would say by listening to our clients. Be the person who understands what they're trying to get out and trying to say. We become their fighters. We're the person that will stand up for them and allow them to voice their opinion or guide them in the easiest way to voice what they're trying to get by and just advocate for them. I mean, that's one of the biggest things of social work, is advocate for what is, you know, autonomy for your client and just be there and support them.

Liz Healy: Yeah. I think that's what a lot of people need, is an advocate for them. And, you know, sometimes people have a hard time being an advocate for themselves. But is there anything else that you think you can add to our conversation here about the importance of the role a social worker plays in someone's recovery or through a situation that they're going through?

Rebecca Romania: I would say use us. Don't be afraid to ask for a social worker or a case manager, someone who is educated in that aspect, because we have doors that are open, that you wouldn't know about. And don't be afraid of us. We're just there to help you. And we've seen some of the worst and we've seen some of the best and we're there with you no matter what, I would say.

Liz Healy: Okay. And thank you for joining us today, Rebecca.

Rebecca Romania: Thank you for having me.

Liz Healy: And thank you for tuning into the Well Within Reach Podcast with Rebecca Romania, who is a licensed clinical social worker with our emergency room here at Riverside Medical Center and your host, Liz Healy. To learn more about services provided by Riverside's Behavioral Medicine Department, visit our website at riversidehealthcare.org or call our Central Intake Department at 844-442-2551.