February 2009 - Awake and Dreaming

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duldrums

If you ask me, there's always a let down when you come back from vacation. Sometimes I'm home sick, but not this time. This time I just wanted my holiday to go on forever. I missed Sophie cat, and my church, but really, I was soooooo happy to...

Published 27 Feb 2009 4:45 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: coffee, holiday, life, me, thoughts, work
What I'm reading this week: Prozac Diary

Slater, L. (1999). Prozac diary . New York, NY. Random House. I realize this makes two book reviews in a row about medication, and I promise the next one won’t be (although it is about healthcare, and then comes suicide, it is a social work blog after...

Published 26 Feb 2009 12:12 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: book review, mental health
Oh how I miss Social Work supervision aka all the things I wish there’d been time to say

For the most part, I’ve been doing pretty well working without any proper supervision. As I’ve said before, it’s nice not to have to over analyze every single little thing I do. Most of the people I work with are completely uninterested in debrief and...

Published 25 Feb 2009 12:08 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: first aid, learning, life, me, social work, thoughts, whining, work
I felt his pulse stop...

Most of the people reading this have probably taken CPR at some point in their lives. Most employers require it these days and even if they don’t, many people take it for personal interest. Most of the people reading this have never had to perform CPR...

Published 24 Feb 2009 12:02 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: first aid, firsts, intoxication, IPDA, thoughts, work
Actions and Consequences

When I was a child, my parents taught me that there was a consequence to each of my actions, good or bad, and often, if I did the wrong thing, they were the ones to enforce the consequence. For example, leaving my room in a mess despite repeated warnings...

Published 22 Feb 2009 11:57 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: alcohol, attitudes, emotions, FASD, homelessness, intoxication, learning, mental health
Situational Ethics: A Case Study

Jared is a man whose burned a lot of bridges, and when I say a lot of bridges, I mean it. Jared is not welcome, ever, at any of the other shelters in town, and has been permanently restricted from many of the hotels, medical clinics and rooming houses...

Published 21 Feb 2009 11:51 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, ethics, necessary evils, shelter, snow, substance use, winter, work
Situational Reactions (ethics)

One of the convenient things about having the drunk tank located half a flight of stairs away from the shelter is that when clients are intoxicated and behaving badly it’s very easy to have police or downtown watch who are dropping someone else of put...

Published 20 Feb 2009 11:45 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, ethics, nights, substance use, thoughts, work
update

I'm tired. I'm going on vacation in two (2) count them TWO days!!! I can't wait. I also have good library books, and new shoes. Things are looking up. I have many real things to post about, but right now the idea of actually writing something...

Published 16 Feb 2009 7:34 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: holiday, life
self injury and personal bias

Self evaluation and reflection is a good thing. It helps us become better at our jobs and it helps us become better people. When I was in school we had to spend copious amounts of time examining our attitudes and our biases. It's not that I've...

Published 12 Feb 2009 10:43 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: IPDA, thoughts, work
unexpected lessons

I have this thing when I'm shift manager. I won't ask someone to do something that I'm unwilling to do myself. That means that when it comes to the things I don't want to do most, unless there's someone else who wants to do them, I...

Published 11 Feb 2009 9:56 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: learning, life, thoughts, work
label mania

I freely admit these days that I am addicted to coffee... not just any coffee in particular, but double-double's from Tim Hortons. For those of you not lucky enough to live in Canada where this milk of the God's exists, that's coffee with...

Published 10 Feb 2009 9:43 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: coffee, homelessness, thoughts
old and drunk

Whenever pension cheques come out the drunk tank fills up with those over sixty five, many of whom are definitely elderly. Some of them are still quite spry, but others are just WAY to old to be sleeping in a cold cell on an inch thick mat. And yet, every...

Published 9 Feb 2009 2:07 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: alcohol, health care, intoxication, IPDA, substance use, thoughts, work
reflections on who I am

Today during yoga I was reflecting on things and I started thinking a lot about how shy I am. Reading that may surprise some of you who read my blog, because I'm fairly sure that I don't come across as shy... or maybe I do, who knows. The thing...

Published 8 Feb 2009 4:53 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: me
Sophie cat takes a bath

Somehow my pictures posted backwards, the one at the bottom is supposed to be the first one etc... but in anycase, it was time to give the Sophie cat a bath today. She REALLY needed one, she smelled all dusty/musty. Maybe that's a sign I should vacuum...

Published 7 Feb 2009 5:30 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: life, sophie
What I'm Reading this Week

I decided that since I read a lot I should start writing about what I'm reading if for no other reason then making me process what I read. I often pick non fiction from the new non-fiction books at the local library and this book stood out to me because...

Published 6 Feb 2009 8:33 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: book review, mental health
self determination

I've noticed an interesting trend since I started working at the shelter. I suppose in reality I understood the theory of this, but I never really understood just how true it can be until I started working. People need to make their own decisions...

Published 5 Feb 2009 6:01 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, detox, homelessness, social work, substance use, thoughts, work
why they stay

I tried to blog last week about how hard it is for people to leave the shelter... it didn't come across quite the way I wanted it to though. I really shouldn't blog when I'm so tired my eyes keep closing. So, my thoughts on why people don't...

Published 4 Feb 2009 10:05 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: homelessness, mental health, shelter, substance use, thoughts, work
crazy dream

I have always had really vivid dreams. It sort of goes in cycles for me. I'll have crazy dreams for a few weeks and then not remember a thing for months, then come to a dream cycle again. I also have dreams when I hit the snooze button, and that's...

Published 4 Feb 2009 4:32 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: church, life, me, sleep
sick and homeless

This week seems to be healthcare week on the blog, or maybe ill health week, or something like that... The image on the left is rhinovirus, or the common cold. One of those things we all get, all hate, and most of us get over pretty quickly. I've...

Published 3 Feb 2009 7:10 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: health care, homelessness, shelter, work
health issues and homelessness

Everyday I am amazed by the number of people who come into the drunk tank with serious health issues who are on no medications other than pain killers. When a person is intaked we have to ask them about health issues as well as their medications so that...

Published 2 Feb 2009 6:46 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: health care, HIV, homelessness, substance use, thoughts
frequent caller

One of the things we try and work on at the shelter is cutting back on the number of 911 calls and wasted emergency room visits among the homeless. Studies of my city have shown that there is a group of homeless/mentally ill/both citizens make up an average...

Published 1 Feb 2009 6:19 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, health care, homelessness, substance use, thoughts, work

February 2009 - Awake and Dreaming

Syndication

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duldrums

What I'm reading this week: Prozac Diary

Oh how I miss Social Work supervision aka all the things I wish there’d been time to say

I felt his pulse stop...

Actions and Consequences

Situational Ethics: A Case Study

Situational Reactions (ethics)

update

self injury and personal bias

unexpected lessons

label mania

old and drunk

reflections on who I am

Sophie cat takes a bath

What I'm Reading this Week

self determination

why they stay

crazy dream

sick and homeless

health issues and homelessness

frequent caller