October 2008 - Awake and Dreaming

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Finding Balance

Balance is not the easiest thing in life to achieve. I realized yesterday, after I spent the majority of my morning crying (and eating most of a frozen pizza) that my life was out of balance. I continued on my way, upset, but glad for a night off and...

Published 29 Oct 2008 2:21 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: emotions, life, me, staff relations, the enforcer, thoughts, work
bad bad bad

The meeting this morning did not go well... and while I don't think the enforcer will actually try and sue me for slander and libel, well, he did put it out there. He says I'm trying to be the coordinator and tries to claim the incident never...

Published 28 Oct 2008 3:15 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: emotions, staff relations, the enforcer, work
the usual

I've been trying to think of a good post, and a few are in the works, but nothing has stood out as really amazing. I wanted to write something though. So you get this. I find it amazing that my job can be boring. I see different people and encounter...

Published 25 Oct 2008 8:09 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: homelessness, nights, substance use, work
sometimes we get what we want (and realize we're not sure we want it)

So after a lot of heart searching a consulting with a couple colleagues I trust, I decided I would talk to my boss about what happened, and what's been going with, the enforcer. It was hard, harder then I thought it would be. I discovered there's...

Published 21 Oct 2008 2:58 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: crying, emotions, necessary evils, nights, policy, staff relations, the enforcer, whining, work
the body in the shelter

At about five to six we turn on the lights and wake everyone in the shelter up. It's early, but we open again at seven after a cleaning. If people don't wake up, we have to go around and wake them up. Saturday morning, someone didn't wake...

Published 17 Oct 2008 10:26 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: death, shelter, work
confidentiality

Confidentiality. All through school I've had it drilled into me. Confidentiality, confidentiality, confidentiality. And when are the times you can break confidentiality? - Threat of harm to self - Threat of harm to others - Abuse of a child And that's...

Published 13 Oct 2008 10:14 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, counseling, crying, policy, staff relations, the enforcer, thoughts, work
tear off a piece of me

I got in a huge fight with the enforcer today. The kind where I wound up running to the bathroom and crying. NOT a good thing. I'm not sure I'm ready to write about it, although I will. I had so many posts planned out in my head, but now I'm...

Published 10 Oct 2008 3:41 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: crying, emotions, the enforcer, work
sad story

We have some frequent fliers in the drunk tank. They're people who wind up there time and time again. Some of them are shelter goers, street people, people who've gone through detox and treatment many, many times, and some of them aren't....

Published 9 Oct 2008 3:30 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: alcohol, attitudes, intoxication, IPDA, thoughts, work
like little children

An ongoing conversation among the staff at work is the fact that in many ways we feel like we are working in a daycare though we are in fact working with adults. There are many reasons for this, but in some cases it is just the pure immaturity that we...

Published 9 Oct 2008 3:00 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: homelessness, whining, work
oh to be a social worker

I am SO sick of the staff at work hating me because I'm a social worker and trying to convince me that I'm horrible because of it. YES, I am a young, white, female social worker! I accept that! But, that's the way things are, and it's...

Published 8 Oct 2008 7:49 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, homelessness, pet peeves, social work, staff relations, substance use, thoughts, work
he'll die alone

I'm not sure why I'm writing about death again, except perhaps that it's because I'm surrounded by it. Living on the streets is not easy on the body, nor is the sometimes constant substance use. Many of the clients I work with, although...

Published 6 Oct 2008 2:46 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: death, homelessness, work
office politics

I find that picture incredibly amusing, although I'm not sure it completely relates to what I want to write about. My favourite supervisor is leaving the night shift. My awesome, yet very old and very in need of moving to days supervisor, is moving...

Published 6 Oct 2008 4:17 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: nights, staff relations, the enforcer, whining, work, yoga
dear person at the door

Dear Person at the Door, The shelter is full, I apologize for that, I wish I didn't have to turn you away, but I do. Getting mad at me will not change the fact that we are full, I refuse to let you make your housing crisis into my crisis. Asking me...

Published 3 Oct 2008 8:58 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: homelessness
merciful death

One of my clients died on Monday. An older woman, although certainly not old by Western standards... old for the street though. She likely died of alcohol or drug related causes, they'll be no autopsy, it doesn't really matter after all. This...

Published 1 Oct 2008 2:45 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: alcohol, homelessness, thoughts, work

October 2008 - Awake and Dreaming

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Finding Balance

bad bad bad

the usual

sometimes we get what we want (and realize we're not sure we want it)

the body in the shelter

confidentiality

tear off a piece of me

sad story

like little children

oh to be a social worker

he'll die alone

office politics

dear person at the door

merciful death