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decisions, decisions.

My thought for today is that I either need to go back to Yoga or back to therapy. Maybe both. I'm not making a decision till after my holiday though. stay tuned tomorrow for why I'm pissed off about the material I learned in my food handlers course...

Published 23 Sep 2009 3:39 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: attitudes, counseling, homelessness, me, pet peeves, yoga
the investigation is over!

I wish I could do this to Mr. boss man at the shelter, unfortunatly, that would definitly get me in worse trouble then I was in. Some of you may recall that I was being formally investigated for unprofessional conduct...two months ago. Well, I finally...

Published 1 May 2009 12:16 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: attitudes, crying, me, staff relations, whining, work
just an all around sad story

This is a story about death. This is a story about everyday life. This is a story about the poor and the middle class. This is a story about people struggling to get by. This is the story of inequality, unfairness and injustice. This is truth. Everyday...

Published 22 Mar 2009 11:38 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, death, first aid, homelessness, intoxication, mental health, thoughts, work
standing up for yourself

Something I've been trying to encourage my clients to do lately is to speak out. It seems like every day I'm hearing another story of injustice, and the abuse of my clients. It bugs me, and while I can, and do, speak out about it, I think they...

Published 14 Mar 2009 9:23 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, homelessness, pet peeves, social work, thoughts
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
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
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
Leaving the Shelter

I really want to be sarcastic about this picture. I really, really do, but I'm not going to be, because finding a picture of "empowerment" is hard. It really is. I mentioned earlier that the enforcer and I got in a fight, it was about empowerment...

Published 30 Jan 2009 8:31 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, homelessness, mental health, shelter, substance use, the enforcer, treatment
and sometimes it's so so so worth it

There are definitely moments during which I hate my job, moments when I question everything I'm doing, and not doing, and of course, there are moments when I'm simply so overwhelmed I feeling like quiting. Then there are the things that make everything...

Published 22 Jan 2009 7:36 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, first aid, thoughts, van patrol, work
digging deeper - treating people as people

I'm not entirely sure why, but this photo evokes really powerful emotions in me. Tonight was my night off, and I spent some time working on a project for church. I was looking for photos which so a variety of different people from a variety of different...

Published 5 Jan 2009 12:38 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, church, intentions, intoxication, IPDA, me, thoughts, work
examining evil aka examining my biases

There's one client who for a long time I was scared of, petrified of even. Ever since I started working on the side of the tracks where he makes his home, I've been scared of him. He's the kind of person who has a reputation in the neighbourhood...

Published 2 Jan 2009 10:04 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, intoxication, me, mental health, thoughts, work
when bennie won't bathe

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Published 12 Dec 2008 4:45 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, ethics, IPDA, necessary evils, pet peeves, the enforcer, thoughts, work
non sensical ramblings about homelessness (part 6)

It's interesting not being in school. I no longer am forced to really examine my thoughts, feelings and biases about things on a regular basis. In some ways that feels really nice, but in other ways I feel like I'm kind of losing out. I've...

Published 28 Nov 2008 2:16 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, homelessness, pet peeves, policy, shelter, social work, substance use, thoughts, work
feeling safe

We're trying really hard this month to help people find accommodations outside of the shelter system. We've been filling up every single night and turning away more and more people as the weather gets colder. What's the problem? People don't...

Published 13 Nov 2008 8:22 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, homelessness, pet peeves, substance use, thoughts
macaroni and cheese

I fully intend this post to be (at least slightly) more coherent then the last one! This week when I was volunteering we had a really great group in helping us, so I took the time to actually eat with one of our guests, someone who also stays regularly...

Published 4 Nov 2008 2:28 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, homelessness, street ministry, thoughts, 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
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
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
over confidence

Okay, so I just slept from 4PM to 8AM with only minimal interruptions. That is so, so, not healthy. Neither, apparently, is my over confidence. I've noticed at work, that my favourite supervisor has been really laying into me about putting myself...

Published 1 Sep 2008 4:06 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, first aid, IPDA, learning, me, mental health, sleep, work
perceptions

On van patrol a while back I saw something which made me thing about just how much of what we do is based on our perceptions of a situation. As we were driving past one of the hotels on "the strip" (think U.S. welfare hotel, but with no kids...

Published 29 Aug 2008 9:15 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: alcohol, attitudes, learning, van patrol, work
where do we put the emphasis?

I've been doing a lot of thinking about addiction and substance use treatment and prevention. In particular, where we place the emphasis and what our priorities are. It's a very difficult issue, with good arguments on all sides. And the thing...

Published 24 Aug 2008 6:18 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: attitudes, substance use, thoughts

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