Nuturing the next generation - Darius Leow

Darius is a social worker at Care Corner Singapore Ltd – Circle of Care (CoC), and the main cluster worker at MOE Kindergarten @ Huamin. He works closely with preschools, stakeholders, and families to support their development.

A young spark in social service

Darius’ passion for social service sparked when he was young. He vividly remembers his church’s community group staying by his side when his grandfather passed on Christmas Day. He was moved that they chose to spend their day grieving alongside his family, instead of enjoying their holiday. Through that experience, Darius had a desire to be a pillar of support for others going through difficult situations.

Darius grew up with his two older sisters who are also passionate about social service. This allowed him to learn and understand more about the profession from a young age, growing his initial interest.

Personal reflection through service

For Darius, his role as a social worker has brought him tremendous growth and development as a person.

He has not only learned to understand families better but has also grown to understand himself and his values. Working in social service has helped Darius widen his lens and open his mind to new experiences and emotions. It has given him a deeper glimpse of how complex human experiences can be, allowing him to further empathise with others.

Darius believes that having the support of others is essential for growth and for getting through difficult times. He realises that it is completely okay to have setbacks or burnouts, and he views these challenging situations as an opportunity to grow as a person. Having family, friends, and colleagues by his side gives him comfort and keeps him motivated to continue giving back to society.

A glimpse of life as a Social Worker

As a social worker in CoC, Darius has experienced collaborating with other systems which provide robust care for his clients. He works closely with key people in the children’s lives, such as parents, teachers, principals, therapists, and doctors, to create a stronger network of support for the families.

He has been able to expedite referrals to the hospitals or calls with his client’s therapists. He believes that through collaborating with different systems, there is greater support given to families of different levels, such as marital, parent-child, health, and learning support.

Over the past two years, Darius has formed strong partnerships with the preschool’s leadership and teachers. He has also driven the implementation of CoC’s interdisciplinary model and membership management guide which provides the guidelines of good practice standards.

Facing challenges via resilience

Despite facing frustration at times when systems are unable to derive the best support for a family, Darius realises that everyone’s ultimate goal is to understand the family, provide support for them, and care for them. His career excites him as there are still many opportunities for him to collaborate with different stakeholders who share the same passion as him.

Darius often wonders how much of an impact he has made on families’ lives as it is hard to measure tangible impact during the child’s early years, such as measuring a child’s growth in emotional and social development.

Despite facing this challenge, Darius has been encouraged by the families that he has worked with. With the conversations he has had with the families and parents on how to support their child’s development at home, he realises that it sows seeds of understanding in them about the importance of supporting the child’s early years.

The resilience and love of families to want to provide the best support for their children, despite facing difficult situations such as poverty, is what keeps Darius motivated in his career. From his experiences with these families, he has gained renewed hope about the importance of his role as a social worker in journeying with families through their child’s early years.

While there are challenges being a social worker, Darius finds beauty and purpose in this rewarding career.

A role in Social Work is one of many roles in social services. To find out more, click read about a career in Social Work.