In South Africa there’s a great need for qualified and dedicated social auxiliary workers to work alongside social workers. Social auxiliary worker Lorraine Moroane tells us why she enjoys her job.

The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), Health and Welfare SETA (HWSETA) and the South African Council for Social Service Professions have identified social auxiliary work as a priority career in South Africa, as this skill is currently in scarce supply. Social auxiliary workers complement and support the social workers’ team in offering services to individuals, families, groups and communities.

Lorraine says that social auxiliary work is an important career, particularly in South Africa where there’re many social developmental needs in traditionally under-resourced communities. However, few people choose to pursue a career in this field. “The greatest need is in the rural areas and sometimes young people rather want to work in the city,” she explains.

A social auxiliary worker’s job description varies, depending on one’s area of interest and place of employment. Lorraine’s currently working for the National Institute Community Development and Management (NICDAM), an educational and development Trust that focuses on social development in Southern African communities through SAQA accredited training, community development programmes, government support programmes and social research.

Her job involves training and mentoring, and what she enjoys most is working in communities. Together with a social worker, she provides emotional support and is also involved in crisis intervention. She says it’s very gratifying to identify recurring issues - such as unemployment, teen pregnancy and HIV – and helping people find solutions to these problems. “It’s important to understand the culture and way of doings things in a particular community. This helps to build trust,” she explains.

Social auxiliary workers have to love people and be empathetic. “Remember that you’ll encounter difficult things that are emotionally taxing. Whatever type of social work you do, you have to leave your work at the office when you go home,”  she says, adding that the job is also very humbling: “What you sometimes see makes you grateful for what you have.”

You have to be trustworthy and true to yourself. “You have to build relationships with real people and they want to know that you’re authentic,” she says. “You need a strong personality and you can’t be judgemental.”

Lorraine is studying part-time through UNISA to complete her Bachelor of Social Work. It’s a four-year Honours equivalent course and students can continue to Masters level. The course has a theory and practical component. In third year, students participate in “role play” exercises and in the fourth year students do case, group and family work. Once she’s completed her fourth year, she can work as a qualified social worker. At UNISA, students can sign up for a variety of subjects including sociology, psychology, criminology and developmental studies, depending on their field of interest. High school students require Matric exemption and humanities-related subjects.

“This is my dream job. I don’t want to do anything else,” says Lorraine. While still at school, she considered other careers such as climatology, nursing and teaching, but she encourages students not to be swayed, but to obtain a qualification in a field they love. She completed her BA in Social Science before she got round to studying social work, but she struggled to find a job. “I now realise that there was a reason why I could never find a job all those years ago. I was just supposed to do social work,” she says.