I remember as a child, going to the public swimming pool attending lessons for water safety and life saving. I was only young but I still remember one of the main lessons that the teacher drummed into us. When saving a person from drowning you never jump in to the water, you through them a rope or a flotation device, if you have nothing around use your pants as a rope. I loved swimming, and my water skills as I thought were great, but really they were on par with others. This is what I feel is the problem. We all feel like we are better than what we are, we feel as though we can jump in to the water and save people, always neglecting that the power of a drowning person will always be greater than the person trying to save them. Survival and a way of life through survival is what makes the drowning person so strong. You see a person that you think is drowning, and it can be so simple to save them, you tell them to stand up, the water is not that deep. Also you see a person struggling to keep afloat, and you know that if only they move their arms in this way and their legs in that way, they could get themselves out of trouble so easy. But we don’t realise that it took us a long time to learn how to swim. So just because we know how to swim, we think that others should know how to swim, and in tern blame the un-taught for note knowing how to swim, call them names, and persecute them.

 

The same issues come up, but with a lot more words, when training to work in the human service industry. We learn to recognise a person in need (Diagnosis), learn to render assistance (Case Assessment), and then try to teach the skills that are needed to deal with a problem (Case Management), and then recognise our own weaknesses and find people that have the skills that the client needs (Referrals). Within all this we learn to recognise how not to jump into the water with the person we are trying to help. We learn how to spot and stop transference and counter-transference, that is when a client pictures the therapist as a loved one and the therapist doing the same thing with the client respectfully. We learn how to make a great working relationship with the client without the dependency on the therapist the client may develop.

 

You may think where the hell I am going with all this.

 

I have come across friends of people with addiction issues and mental health issues invite the sufferer into their home, at times to stay for a while, to help them. I have been asked advice from others about what they can do for a person that suffer form those issues. Furthermore I have talked to others that thought they were helping a family member or friend, when in fact they were supporting their issues, and in tern getting hurt them self. The best and at the same time the worst form of help I heard of, is when a man went to buy drugs for his addicted son, and in the process was imprisoned for drug dealing. I say this as being the best and worst because it shows the love and at the same time the naiveté this man demonstrated for his son.

 

All too often it is good hearted people thinking that they are doing gods work, that jump into the water to save people from themselves. This is neglecting the reason why there are so many that have such a divers set of interests and skills. It would be the same naiveté that I would demonstrate if I would try to fix an aircraft or try to build a boat, I do not have the skills or the training. This is the same when an accountant or salesman tries to do the job of a human service worker. If you have some body that is in need of help the best thing is to find the information that is needed to get the best help for that person. This is the equivalent to throwing them a life line, at the same time you will not get hurt.

 

If you do know some one that needs help and you are un-equip to help, find a professional person that can help.