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dumped on the door step

The other night a taxi stopped in front of the shelter. This isn't all that unusual as people are always calling to get picked up from the drunk tank. In this case though, the taxi was dropping someone off... I guessed almost immediatly what had happened...

Published 23 Mar 2009 1:05 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: health care, homelessness, necessary evils, nights, thoughts, 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
"holiday's" over

My holiday is almost over. I go back to work tomorrow night (or well, I guess it's tonight seeing as I'm writing this after midnight). I'm in the process of staying up late so that I can sleep all day. For some reason, it's working! Having...

Published 2 Jan 2009 10:25 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: holiday, learning, life, nights, work, yoga
what you do unto the least of these

There's a verse in the Bible which has been on my mind a lot lately. Jesus is telling a parable about the Kingdom of God and what things are going to be like in the end times. Jesus tells his followers, as recorded in the book of Matthew. In the story...

Published 30 Dec 2008 12:36 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: church, crying, emotions, homelessness, intoxication, necessary evils, nights, snow, whining, winter, work
overwhelmed - or something

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed these past few days. The enormity of the problems I see on a daily basis can be kind of consuming. For the most part, I'm quite good at maintaining a healthy distance, putting things in perspective and staying...

Published 16 Dec 2008 1:24 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: church, crying, emotions, first aid, firsts, homelessness, intoxication, IPDA, me, nights, social work, winter, work
if you build it they will come

Every night we keep a record of everyone we have to turn away from the shelter. I'm a huge fan of this record, for me it serves a few purposes, but mainly, I just really appreciate the fact that the documentation records each and every person. The...

Published 26 Nov 2008 4:21 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: homelessness, nights, shelter, snow, thoughts, winter, work
false alarm

I think I've written about this before, but it happened once again. When people come into IPDA, they're supposed to be searched. This may seem rather trivial, but a bad search can lead to bad consequences, hangings, cutting, or fire. Yes, that's...

Published 26 Nov 2008 2:29 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: intoxication, IPDA, nights, shelter, whining, work
passed out in the snow...

One of the things I do at work is go out in our van (with someone else) and drive around looking for people. We hand out condoms, safe rides home, and a watchful eye. People in our city know that we will treat difficult situations with compassion and...

Published 23 Nov 2008 6:34 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: first aid, nights, snow, van patrol, work
when everyone else takes a sick day

Everyone but me called in sick the other night. I got to work only to discover that none of the other scheduled staff were coming in. I was not impressed. I did however know that there was a stomach virus going around, and I was actually sort of expecting...

Published 19 Nov 2008 5:52 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: nights, shelter, sick, work
gong show

Sometimes, the only way I can get through my shifts is to have a mantra that goes like this "i love my job, i love my job, i love my job". And the truth is, I really do, it just has it's moments... take one of the days this weekend for example...

Published 17 Nov 2008 6:22 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: crisis, intoxication, IPDA, nights, whining, work
sleepy day off

This is not my cat. However, my cat also does not come with a snooze button; she is getting better though. It used to be when my alarm when off, the Sophie cat was right up on top of me, headbutting me and making sure I got out of bed. It was annoying...

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

Filed under: nights, sleep, sophie, the enforcer
SNOW!

Well, it snowed here a while back and while most people are trying to dig themselves out, the homeless are trying to find a place to dig in for the winter. The first night was horrible, it was practically a blizzard. I had to psych myself up in the car...

Published 12 Nov 2008 6:22 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: homelessness, nights, shelter, snow, social work, thoughts, winter
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
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
Drunk Tank Ethics

Mr. nice guy and the enforcer got in an argument a few nights ago. It's a common discussion, but things got pretty heated with both of them saying that management was on their "side". I've never heard mr. nice guy be so outspoken about...

Published 26 Sep 2008 3:26 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: ethics, homelessness, IPDA, mr. nice guy, nights, thoughts
bad bad day

I had a bad day at work last night. There's no other way to describe it. Yuck. Part of it is that I'm really stressed about packing, cleaning and moving, but part of it is just that last night sucked. I went into it with a really good attitude...

Published 30 Aug 2008 2:58 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: emotions, first aid, IPDA, mental health, nights, work
happy birthday to me :)

It's my birthday tomorrow, and best friend, with assistance from bestest bud, planned a surprise party for me in between street ministry and work. I have never had a surprise party before, and I was VERY surprised! Best friend was convinced I'd...

Published 10 Aug 2008 3:57 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: friends, life, me, nights, street ministry, work
Lazy Sunday

I'm having an awesome lazy Sunday. Or well, I suppose it's not so much lazy as just very pressure free. I don't work tonight, so I have no agenda - well, i want to stay up late, but that's not the point... Church went really well this...

Published 4 Aug 2008 12:50 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: church, intoxication, IPDA, nights, sleep, work
money on the streets

I'm on permanent nights now. It's awesome. I'm really rather pleased with the entire situation. I like the clients, the staff, the time, the work. Yay! Last night was a normal CRAZY night in the life of IPDA. Intoxicated Person must be Detained...

Published 3 Aug 2008 2:04 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: intoxication, IPDA, nights, work
van patrol!!!

Okay, first of all, I have to say that most of the girls working the streets around my area don't wear boots like that, but that's besides the point I suppose. Saturday evening/night I worked a double, and it was AWESOME! I got to take a paramedic...

Published 29 Jul 2008 6:44 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: first aid, nights, thoughts, van patrol, work

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