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Maturity and optimism are the key qualities for social workers, according to one who has been working in the field for more than a decade.

  After graduating with a diploma from the then Baptist College in 1988, Corinna Kwok Yuk-ping worked as an outreach social worker. The work was challenging but equipped her with better communication skills, she said.

   'I was interested in social work because I wanted to work with people instead of working with machines or data,' she said.

   'Sometimes we are too concerned about ourselves and become self-centred.

  'After working [as a social worker] for years, I find myself more concerned about the world.'    When Ms Kwok worked as an outreach social worker, her clients were mainly gangs of youths who hung around in parks and fast food shops.

  'Outreaching is a kind of teamwork. When I met problems that left me at my wit's end, I could consult my colleagues and team mates.'    Every day brings new challenges for social workers.

  'Once my client drank bleach and I had to rush her to the hospital. I had to try to appear calm although I was trembling.'    These challenges did not put her off social work and she upgraded her qualifications by earning her bachelor's and master's degrees in social work through part-time study.

   After several years as an outreach social worker, she became a school social worker in the New Territories, which was a totally different experience.

   'We are not only serving students, but also teachers, the headmaster and the school, because each school has its own atmosphere and regulations,' she said.

   Ms Kwok learned to adapt herself to the changes and won the trust of others. Afterwards, she was put in charge of a youth centre in Sha Tin.

   'Running the youth centre is like running a business; each of my decisions affects the success of the youth centre,' she said.

  She now has more administrative work to do but still enjoys communicating with young people and encourages them to set themselves targets.

   A good social worker should stick to her principles, she said.

   'Your boss, your clients, your colleagues will place pressure on you and make you confused, but there is no formal answer to one single issue,' she said.

  'Society is always there, but when you observe it you can see many new things you hadn't noticed before. That's what I've gained.' 



Social work calls for optimism