'What I wish I had known when I became completely overwhelmed with work'

by Sophie Baker

This is the seventh instalment in Sophie Baker’s ‘What I wish I had known…’ series, where she reflects on her approach to practice when she started out – and what she would tell her younger self now.

As I laid in bed, I felt my heart racing and my muscles tense.  It was 2am but the worry of looming work tasks had pulled me out of sleep.

I would work late and start early, but still felt like I was behind. I hadn’t completed a report that was due soon, hadn’t called the headteacher I had promised to contact or made the referral that had to be prioritised.

But feeling overwhelmed wasn’t just about having a long ‘to-do’ list.  There were also times in my career when I felt emotionally overwhelmed from the weight of my professional responsibilities and the circumstances of the children and families I was supporting.

Findings from 2023 Social Work England-commissioned research showed that 39% of social workers were thinking of leaving the profession in the next five years, and 41% had low morale. So learning to manage work-related stress feels more important than ever.

Here's what I wish I had known during times when I felt overwhelmed as a newly qualified social worker.

Spotting the signs before the storm hits

As a less experienced social worker, I found myself becoming gradually overwhelmed without realising it.

I failed to notice the subtle shifts in my emotional responses to work - my enthusiasm, confidence and persistence began to dwindle, and I was unusually pessimistic.

In hindsight, I wish I had known the importance of regularly checking in with myself emotionally. I learnt over time that these self-reflective and intentional pauses allowed me to acknowledge quiet feelings, identify their triggers and consider how to respond.

I discovered that talking about my emotions out loud to myself helped.  For instance, ‘I notice that anxiety is present’, instead of, ‘I am feeling anxious’, provided a sense of control over my thoughts.

Additionally, slowing down my thoughts by closing my eyes for a minute, taking mindful deep breaths and softening any tight muscles in my body gave me a moment to emotionally stabilise myself.

I used this technique a lot in the early days. Deep breathing while I sat in my car before going into a home visit significantly improved my self-awareness and ability to regulate my emotions before crisis crept in.

Distinguishing urgent versus important

My to-do lists would often feel overwhelming. But not all tasks are created equal.

I used to find the constant hubbub of the office hugely distracting. But I see now that at times I could be a ‘time martyr’, filling my time by helping colleagues rather than taking responsibility for my own work, which felt too grand.

If I am honest, I was a bit of a procrastinator, delaying those pieces of work I knew would feel difficult.

I wish I had known about some simple time management techniques. For example, there is the pomodoro technique, where you set up 25-minute work sessions with five-minute breaks in between. Short spurts of work with a quick break factored in would have helped me focus better.

Additionally, I wish I had been aware of the Eisenhower matrix, which would have helped me set priorities and avoid distractions. This model asks the worker to list their tasks, divide them into four quadrants and rank them from urgent and important, to non-urgent and not important: simple, but effective.

Understanding my work patterns and habits came with time. Over the years, I have come to recognise that I am far more productive in the morning. This simple acceptance helped me plan my most difficult/time-consuming work early in the day, when I knew I’d be at my most focused and motivated.

Building on my resilience

I remember lots of my friends’ saying things like, ‘I don’t know how you do it’, ‘You are so brave’, or ‘I couldn’t do it’ etc.

It was as if they thought that I was just born with the resilience to work within a stressful work environment. But that resilience was something that took time to grow and develop within me.

My ability to ‘bounce back’ from life’s difficulties and my resourcefulness grew alongside my experience and confidence.

As my ability to self-reflect (thinking about why I do what I do), empathically reflect (thinking about why people do what they do) and show reflection in my communication (being open to challenge and critique) grew, so did my resilience.

I also wish I had known that my level of resilience would change from day to day. This could depend on many factors, some as simple as how well I had slept the night before, where I was in my menstrual cycle and how my personal life was panning out.

I have now learnt to be kinder to myself about that.

What is your employer doing to help?

I remember times when I kept questioning myself.

I doubted if I was cut out for the job when my caseload grew, my supervision sessions became less frequent and my work hours stretched out.

At the time, I blamed myself, thinking I just needed to be more resilient. In hindsight, my struggles weren’t a reflection of weak resilience, but a sign that the organisation around me was struggling to manage its growing demands.

I would tell myself that it wasn’t all about me. My employer had a duty of care to create a system that worked with me, not against me. I should have had regular, effective supervision and manageable caseloads. These things certainly shouldn’t have been considered a luxury!

Organisations play a huge role in our wellbeing. I needed help to stop internalising everything and learn how my work environment was shaping my practice.

Use supervision and peer support

Acknowledging that things were feeling tough as a newly qualified social worker was tricky.

I always held a fear that I would be judged as underperforming if I told my supervisor that I was feeling stressed about my workload or anxious about a child.

I cannot stress enough the importance of reflective supervision in lowering the risk of stress and burnout. Good supervision offers space to explore the complex, challenging and often exhausting situations that social workers navigate.

It is a key tool for strengthening our resilience and emotional wellbeing, and management should be investing in it.

What do you do when feeling overwhelmed with work?