Weekly Social Workings (6)

Here's another installment of social work posts that caught my eye. Getting right to it!

The Life of a Social Worker discusses a part of his life he's tentative to speak about:

I have always held it as a shame on me that I have been homeless in the past. When I started college in 1986, I was living on the streets of Columbia, SC. I mean literally living on the streets. I would sit on the grounds of the state capital and watch squirrels. I slept at night in the Oliver Gospel Mission.

Everyone Needs Therapy has a great post about divorce:

Once the D-word is out, there’s no taking it back. It’s out. And it comes out again, and again, and again, because without that bravado that comes with commitment, the other will not say, , “I’m sorry. I know you’re miserable. I shouldn’t have said that. Let’s talk. Let’s work it out. I love you.”

Confessions of a Young Looking Social Worker has a post about a great day:

Even though I'm behind on end-of-the-month charting, this was an undeniably great day. Because of said charting and other random business, I only made 3 visits but there was no doubting that I made a comforting connection at each home. I won't delve into the minutiae of each visit- I don't have the luxury of time tonight. However, I will share the "evidence" of my great day.

That's it for now. Looking forward to next week!

Weekly Social Workings (6)

Weekly Social Workings (5)

After the blip last week, I realized that this is a good thing. It helps me read more good social work writings and it helps spread them around. This blog is still growing, but we get decent readership, so I know the word is being spread. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.
And onto the blogs:

Amy's Life in Brief discusses an issue of what to do when you know your patient personally:

But, I wonder if, had the family been in crisis, it would have been appropriate to intercede.
Certainly, if it would have been a family I knew well, I wouldn’t. At least I wouldn’t as a professional or employee of the hospital. But, only knowing them slightly, is it ever OK to get involved? And if they don’t recognize them, do I inform them that I know them and how, in the interest of full disclosure?

Midlife Musings and my Second Career talks about the vacation she's on:

I'm writing this blog from a lovely rental retreat in the Catskills. All four of us have gathered here on vacation, fulfilling our promise to ourselves to always have at least one family vacation a year. It's my last before heading off to my new job as a newly ordained social worker. We trekked up Bellayre Mountain and had the trail to ourselves.

Psyched Out has an interesting critique of a recent movie:

I really did want to see this movie due to the actually funny physical comedy in the previews I saw. And I might have been willing to sit through the hateful jokes for the good ones on my own. But when there's too much hate for my 8 year old twins and ther 7 year old friend in the first fifteen minutes, I won't give the producers my money again.

Off the Record seems to have found her niche:

...that sometimes you can't do individual work without involving the entire family. That's definitely 100% true for kids, in my opinion anyway. My teacher - who has an ego the size of Texas, but is totally brilliant - said the same thing on day 1 this week and it was like hearing a Hallelujah chorus behind me.

Social Worker in a Strange Land talks about work related trauma:

In this year, I have been attacked physically more than I ever was working in residential. I've been verbally accosted by kids and parents. I have played a role in supporting initial disclosures and treatment of significant sexual and physical abuse and other trauma with many children on my case load this year. I know two families that have lost all their possessions to house fires. I know at least five (maybe more) families that have lost a close family member to gun violence in the past six months. I have been threatened by a colleague I should be collaborating with, who instead made me feel like she wanted me removed from my job. And as egotistical as it may sound, I did not in any way deserve to be removed or threatened in such a manner. I am good at what I do.

To end this off, I'll give a shout out to one of my favorite blogs which is supposedly saying goodbye.
Adventures in Prison is shutting down:

I am writing to say this is my last blog entry and I will be deleting my blog soon.

You will be missed, that's for sure.

Weekly Social Workings (5)

Weekly Social Workings (4)

We're back again, although a little bit late. I wonder if this is the right day to be doing this, as it's a busy day, and everyone is probably off trying to think of anything BUT work. Let's see how it goes.

There are a few posts that caught our eye here, so let's not waste any time and just get into it.

Fighting Monsters explores a new system of online Cognitive Behavior therapy and expresses some skepticism about it.

I have to say my gut instinct is to be a little sceptical. Perhaps because I don’t think the human relationships can be wholly replaced but I can accept firstly, the responses of those who have actually undertaken the courses as opposed to me who will admit to knowing little about them and secondly, can understand how some people might find it easier to accept treatment without wanting to actually see and talk to another person (although the referral comes via the GP).

Social Worker To Be is feeling underutilized at her placement.

I’m getting frustrated. I hate being bored at work. I’d rather be run off my feet than sat twiddling my thumbs.

Trench Warfare is a bit flabbergasted at a name she was called by another social worker.

I'm sorry, wait...."BABY"? Did that guy, whom I've never, ever met, and only spoken to on the phone one other time in my life, just call me "baby"?
Surely not.
Surely I was just imagining things.
SURELY an adult male that lives in the 21rst century wouldn't call a perfect stranger "baby". The whole sexual-harassment-thing notwithstanding, it's just plain insulting.

Short but sweet. That's our thing here. ;)

Weekly Social Workings (4)

Weekly Social Workings (3)

It's that time of the week again, and yes we're back and sticking with it. I've found it enjoyable to look for good postings rather than lazily skimming them all. This week seems to have a theme of field placements.

The 32 Monther is thinking about termination:

I think that was really useful because I was able to center myself and realize that ultimately my terminating with my clients is a really good thing. They've grown a lot and made amazing progress. And I think I have as well. Just being able to bear witness to their development was an honor in and of itself. I am so proud of every one of them. I am also really happy that they are moving on.

Be The Change is looking at field placements, and has found one that might actually be a better fit than her first choice:

Well, it seems as though my first choice with Kids@Home is not going to work out. It is too competitive and stipend students get first choice. So, my 2nd choice is looking up. It is with the Independent Adoptions department of Children's Home Society in West Palm Beach. For those that know me well, know how much I advocate for adoption. I want to adopt myself, someday, as well.

The New Social Worker's Ms. TJ found that she was appreciated by her field supervisor:

I missed a few days. And I was late on occasion. Sometimes I was so tired it was all I could do to get through the day.

I wasn't perfect. But in her eyes, I was exceptional.

That is all for this week. Have a great weekend!

Weekly Social Workings (3)

Weekly Social Workings (2)

Welcome to the second edition of Weekly Social Workings (thanks to oregonamy1972 for the name). To recap what I'm trying to do here; I will be choosing an assortment of posts that have caught my eye in the past week and offer them up to you, in case you missed them. Might as well jump right in:

Five Seconds to Spare talks about the transitions she's having to make as she approaches graduation from her MSW:

It’s very hard to say goodbye to all the things that have been my life for the past two years – the school, the classes, the professors, the city, the internships, the friendships – and while those relationships are not necessarily ending completely (though some will, so it goes) and I will still keep in touch many of the above, it will not be the same.

Trench Warfare shares the difficulty in working with the family members of a drug abuser:

Try telling that to the freaked out family in the waiting room. The family who's been put through the ringer with a young adult--a kid (and I do mean "kid") who's old enough to have discovered the delights of illicit mind altering substances but young enough to still have plenty of options in front of them. If they would just get off the drugs.

Fighting Monsters questions society's use of medications:

I wonder how much there is a culture of leaning on medication as the ‘easiest’ option through a period of difficulty. I am by no means anti-medication. I have seen some almost miraculously positive results and pharmacology is a vital part in most treatment plans but something about the normalisation of antidepressant medication seems to sit uncomfortably.

Eyes Opened Wider has a secret to share:

I've been quasi-searching for a new job since around December. I'm not in love with my current job and there are some things about the agency that made me certain that my time there was going to be limited from the very begining. But, I'm struggling with looking for a new job. Most of this struggle comes from the feelings I still have about leaving my last job as a Foster Care Caseworker.

Well, that's all for this week. But that's not say that there aren't other great posts out there. If you have some time, come flip through some new blogs that you haven't read before. You never know what you're gonna find. ;)

Weekly Social Workings (2)

End of Week Social Work Census (1)

Well, I thought I'd try one of these roundup thingamabobbers. I was trying to come up with a witty name for it, such as The Social Work Survey, or The Social Work Census, but I'll leave that for now. I'm gonna give it a shot and see how long I can keep up with it. And so then, here we are:

To start us off, we have the blog Life of a Social Worker , whose students have surprised him with an assignment that is quite relevant to this blog:

This year, I have again assigned the Social Welfare Lab Class an assignment to do a blog. There were the initial grumbles, to be expected.

And yet, the students have impressed my beyond the expected. Several have garnered readers from outside of our program and in fact outside our country. They are impacting people across the world. How could I anticipate that. Several have been very open and spoke about what they really felt.

 Amy's Life in Brief discusses whether to suggest blogging as a therapeutic activity for clients :

...but thought to myself, “I wonder if this patient blogs? Blogging would probably be another good outlet for them.” This patient shared a number of creative writing exercises they do and also an activist-like role they have taken on since being diagnosed with their illness.

Not another "Moo" point suggests some papers that social work students should hold on to . As well, they offer up a very therapeutic suggestion on how to let go of a semester:

At the end of the year I love to throw my papers, notes, or anything school related right into the trash. In fact, my friends and I have a tradition of having a bon fire at the end of every school year just so we can get the satisfactory relief of watching everything burn. I probably shouldn't be confessing this secret on a school blog page, but I think a lot of us are aware of how gratifying if can feel to finally let go of the stress caused from writing final papers.

Finally, Kirsten from Social Work at ASU suggests a novel way that social workers can use sock puppets:

While in the StAR office one day an idea popped into my head while I was on a (sadly) usual rant about my struggles dealing with these conflicts. I was so frustrated that I just could not say the things I really wanted to say and felt almost stifledthat I was not able to say what was on my mind. So my idea was this, if I had a sock puppet of this individual I could say everything I wanted to in the safety of my own home while inducing laughter rather than perpetuating my upset emotions.

By the way, if you have a better name for this roundup, please let me know. I'd love to have something more creative. 

End of Week Social Work Census (1)