By Angela Borgerding and Lisa Mallett (aka “The Mapsys”)
Most of the group left Columbus around 4 pm on Thursday May 5 and 39 hours later landed on the other side of the world. Dazed and confused we somehow managed to gather our belongings and make our way to our lodging. The rest of the day is pretty much a blur as everyone was so tired no one really remembers anything from that day.
By the next day we managed to gain our bearings and realized there was a unique new city that lay ahead of us.
We began to travel around seeing the sites of Melbourne. Throughout the week we began to notice a common trend amongst our group…the navigation struggle. 
Many a times we have managed to get lost, misread signs, ended up on the wrong side of the road, stood in the middle of the road, among other touristy mistakes. A common question within the group became “where are we?” followed by “does anyone know where we are going?” or a similar “what’s the address?”
One might wonder how getting lost in a new city might have any connection to social work, but truth be told, this is what our clients face on a daily basis. They struggle with navigating many unfamiliar systems that come with complicated maps and hard to read road signs. They struggle with getting to meetings on time because their kids can’t find a second shoe or because they are so tired from sleeping on a friend’s couch, or worse, the street. We have a system for clients that is ironically not designed for them.
And that is where we come in. The social worker is like the tour guide. Our role is to guide clients through this new and confusing system to the best of our ability. We try to avoid “over servicing” clients, just like a tour guide knows not to try to visit too many sites in one day. We try to plan routes for clients that allow them the least amount of room for confusion; much like mapping out a tram route, the less changes the better. Finally, we have tricks of the trade from
our experience that allow us to know how to best serve the client. We take the confusing map of a system and help our clients navigate it. Much like doing what the locals do to learn how things work in a city, we use evidence-based practice to utilize the tools that have been proven to work.
When determining the easiest and quickest routes to our various destinations, it became clear that the process became exhausting at times, even for the most fit among us. What does this mean for our clients? We always run the risk as part of a system of getting bogged down in policy, procedures, details and ever increasing roadblocks to successful service delivery to our clients. For instance, if we put them on a path to recovery that takes too long, they may risk the loss of children, home, employment opportunities and other basic living needs. The path may be too exhausting and the client too overburdened with all they need to accomplish to reach their end goal. As social workers, we should always strive to decrease that burden as much as professionally possible and consistently work to improve ease of delivery for our clients. However, we too are human. We are there in the experience with the client, ensuring that if either party makes a wrong turn, we are able to navigate back to the track together.
