Where is the Love?

As social workers we talk a great deal about helping people. However, we all can also say that each of us has encountered at least one angry consumer when we told them we could not help them with their specific need. While it is important to abide by your agency's stipulations, I believe it can be easy to push people away when their situation does not match up properly with what you offer. Where is the love in that? Sometimes we feel burnt out with all of the people with crises flying at us. Deep down we want to help, but taking that extra step to advocate for a need that we don't advertize can be challenging. I ask myself at times like these if I am looking at that person as another intake form or a real, struggling individual. Is my empathy forced or transparent? Looking at social services in general, are we truly putting ourselves out there to serve people? Or are pushing our own agenda? Is it structured to be accessible to those in need? Where is the love?