Day 9

Today was the fourth FGD session at O'Joy centre, the second session with service users. What struck me about this particular session was that there was a caregiver there as well, and caregivers of elderly are typically either the spouses or the children of the elderly. In this case it was the wife of an elderly man, who lives in JB. Her coming all the way down for the FGD was very surprising and quite touching.

During the discussion, I noticed that she had the tendency to take on the role of a co-facilitator, explaining and elaborating on the questions asked to the gentleman participant who seemed to be slightly hard of hearing and quieter in general. I wonder if this is an extension of her role as caregiver (since caregivers are often the intermediaries between those under their care and everyone else in general) or simply part of her character and personality.

More importantly though it was interesting because in Singapore the caregivers of elderly (or even for special needs persons as a whole) are a vulnerable population in and of themselves in the sense of the stressors that accompany the multiple roles they have to play daily. While there are support groups and all for them, I get the distinct impression that they are still a group that is insufficiently supported in Singapore. Typically caregivers have to deal with the stress from caring for their charge, work-stress (if they are working), stress from financial issues, and so on. Added to that the stress that many place on themselves in terms of feeling guilty about their feelings of resentment, being tired or angry etc. That is a lot of stress that they have to deal with, and typically they do not have an outlet to vent at or someone to vent to. So to be able to hear from the viewpoint of a caregiver in this session was quite enlightening, particularly as she felt that counselling actually did help her and her husband.

Apart from the discussion session itself, looking at the way the centre was decorated (with pictures and items from yesteryears) and learning why it was done up in such a way was a good learning experience for me. I have done work with older adults before as a theatre student, where we worked with SAGE to conduct a 12 week drama workshop with a small group of seniors, and we tapped on their memories of the old days as well, asking them to bring items that reminded them of important parts of their childhood, as well as bringing music from their era to play on the stereo when we conducted exercises with them. Being able to recall memories that are often associated with happier and more carefree times is a good form of therapy and a good way to break the ice and put the elderly at ease. For some reason I had not thought of using that in a social work setting despite my having used this in the arts before.

Thinking deeper about this, sometimes I feel that we focus so much on the problem at hand and trying to help people "get better" as quickly as possible that we forget to explore more interesting and creative ways to help bring relief to the client. Particularly as these more creative methods have less empirical evidence to support their efficacy (particularly quantitative evidence), sometimes it's difficult to get the support necessary to begin to explore such avenues in working with clients.

In addition to that I wonder if we as social workers are willing to begin exploring new avenues of counselling or therapy, or if we are so set and comfortable in our ways of working that we feel there is no need to explore these new avenues of therapy. Or if we as a society in Singapore is ready for that, given how even traditional counselling is difficult to "push" for with our clients (and how they don't even know what it constitutes). However, in this case it could be possible as well that the new avenues of therapy might be able to counter this, because they would not involve as much "talk" but more doing, which might appeal to some clients who are less in favour of talking about painful secrets and experiences so easily.

At the end of the day however, the crux of the matter is whether people are willing to admit that they have a problem that they do not have the resources to fix - often this means there must be a "letting go" of their pride, which is an issue for Singaporeans (more so than face). In that case, we might have to consider how to "repackage" coming forward for help - that it does not mean that you are helpless, but that you have difficulty tapping into your natural, inner ability and resources to cope with a particularly stressful situation in life. In this way, it would perhaps make it easier for clients to come forward and seek help.