Dialogue session

This morning, there was a dialogue session held at the workplace. The Chairperson of the Training and Professional Development Committee of the Singapore Association of Social Workers came to have an informal dialogue session with my fellow colleagues from the various centres under my organisation. She facilitated the session. Most of the colleagues have training and qualifications in social work.

Among the topics for the session were: the registration of social workers, continuing professional education and the professional development framework. There was quite a fair bit of concerns raised by the participants of the session. Hopefully, this session would lend a humble contribution to the bigger picture of raising the standards of social work practice in Singapore. This, in turn, could help earn a greater level of recognition for social work practitioners.

I wonder if the speaker-cum-facilitator of the session was trying to be nice. She tried passing a compliment quoting my name in it. Basically, I suppose she had wanted to highlight that beginning social workers who have only been in the profession for two or three years may already appear confident and competent. Perhaps she was trying to indirectly convince the participants that the professional development framework will be achievable even for the beginning social workers.

Anyway, I felt I was singled out. I did not quite like compliments to be passed this way. Maybe it has to do with me being an introvert, or maybe not? Whatever it is, if you were to pass me a compliment the next time, please do not make it a public affair without giving me ample notice and preparation. I would prefer to receive compliments given in an intimate setting. If you were to make it a public affair, please at least give me some notice and time to prepare myself mentally. When the comment was passed, my colleague who sat beside must have felt my unease, and gave me a nice pat on the shoulder.

I survived the session alright. The professional development framework was generally fine, but I felt there were areas to be refined. I suppose the speaker will have lots of things to follow up on after the session. Appreciated her time and efforts.