Awake and Dreaming - Other blogs - Social Work Blog

chronic suicide ideation

As most of you know, I work in a program for adults with mental illness who want to reenter the workforce. One of the main criteria for program admission is current stability. In other words, you have to be emotionally ready to work and have enough control...

Published 25 Oct 2009 3:10 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: counseling, student, thoughts, work, workshop

realities of life

I haven't posted about death in quite a while. Since switching jobs, I haven't had nearly as many encounters with death, although I will say that every time I work at the shelter, one of the first things I find out is if anyone has died. So, it...

Published 3 Oct 2009 6:24 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: death, thoughts

mindlessness perhaps the opposite of mindfullness

I had an awesome day today. Starbucks, pick up people for church. I lead the service a church this morning (sermon and all) and I didn't die during the children's story. Children's stories are NOT my forte. After church I drove people home...

Published 28 Sep 2009 4:33 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: church, holiday, life, thoughts

learning contract

So I haven't given you guys an update on my social work student since my panic earlier this month. I had NO idea having a student would be this much work. Or well, I sort of did, but really, it's A LOT of work! I think I'm settling into a...

Published 27 Sep 2009 4:09 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: counseling, social work, student, thoughts, work

Health Day

So, today I took a "health day" not a "sick" day, but a health day. In other words, I took a day off before I got sick, hopefully to prevent said sickness. Working a job by myself which is supposed to have to people has been wearing...

Published 25 Aug 2009 3:14 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: car, friends, sick, thoughts, work

taking a vacation

WestJet is by far my favourite airline, and in just 45 short days I will be taking a plane, just like the one pictured, to go see one of my very best friends. I can't tell you how excited I am. The catch? I've never met her before. So, how are...

Published 24 Aug 2009 4:14 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: firsts, friends, thoughts

rant around the clock

I'm having an issue at work that I'm kind of getting sick of. My clients seem to have a VERY difficult time keeping their appointments. Now, I don't mind the occasional missed appointment that was forgotten about, and I of course don't...

Published 13 Aug 2009 1:39 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: counseling, mental health, pet peeves, thoughts, whining, work

Social Worker...

Here we have a picture of me giving Oliver Lockhart a bath. He looks sort of like I've been feeling. I finally feel like a social worker, for all the wrong reasons. I feel like a social worker because my case load suddenly doubled because the other...

Published 7 Aug 2009 3:58 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: Oliver, paperwork, social work, spiritual direction, staff relations, thoughts, work, workshop

Housing Part Four: Barriers to Safe Housing

So now that I’ve written about kinds of housing, reason people need housing, and what safe housing looks like, it’s only fitting to consider some of the barriers to safe housing. Why, in an industrialized nation such as Canada doesn’t everyone have safe...

Published 28 May 2009 11:01 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: beurocracy, homelessness, mental health, thoughts

Housing Part Two: Who needs housing?

I’m assuming that the majority of people reading this blog have some form of safe housing. This is simply based on what I know about the demographics of those who comment. However, I’m also going to make the assumption that at some point in our lives...

Published 26 May 2009 10:58 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: homelessness, mental health, thoughts

Housing Part One: Types of Housing

CB’s recent post about housing inspired me to do a short series of my own on housing, from a few different perspectives and looking at different types of housing as well as the different problems facing those who are looking for and attempting to maintain...

Published 25 May 2009 10:55 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: homelessness, thoughts

Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

I had one of those eye opening moments the other day. We had a client present with all the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and virtually no positive ones. Actually, rather then realizing that she had gone off her meds, we assumed she was on too many...

Published 23 May 2009 3:30 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: counseling, learning, mental health, thoughts, work

Poems on the Spot

He sits on the corner near my house. His sign says Poems on the spot It's his way of panhandling From his wheelchair He's a strange man I've tried for a long time To break down those walls Sitting with him At the Salvation Army His duct tape...

Published 18 May 2009 5:21 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: homelessness, thoughts

Borderline Personality Disorder

You know, I’d never really understood the hype about Borderline Personality Disorder; I kind of thought of it as an over diagnosed phenomenon with a huge stigma attached to it. I’m starting to get it. I have a client with a diagnosis of BPD. I have one...

Published 8 May 2009 2:53 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: mental health, staff relations, thoughts, work

deinstitutionalization

Let me start by saying that I realize I'm touching on a controversial subject. I'm going to talk about it anyway. A few nights ago I was at a meeting about disability rights legislation. Yay advocacy and policy development! Anyway, at the end...

Published 7 May 2009 3:38 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: harm reduction, health care, mental health, thoughts, treatment

Fire Yoga

The next person who says to me "well, isn't yoga just like stretching or something" is going to get a smack (at least inside my head). If yoga was "just like stretching or something" I wouldn't have such sore arm muscles right...

Published 29 Apr 2009 3:20 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: life, me, pet peeves, thoughts, yoga

this is not a post about Yoga Therapy

This is not a post about yoga therapy, although I've seen quite a few of those in my rss feed lately. This is a post about why I think yoga can be good therapy, an adjunct to therapy, or simply an alternative to therapy. Now, as a social worker I'm...

Published 27 Apr 2009 3:20 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a Social Worker (with a little help from her Sophie Cat)

Filed under: counseling, thoughts, yoga

update on me

I've been off most of this week in between my two jobs, so naturally, I didn't bother to use any of my free time to write. So, I'll try and make up for that with an update about how things are going. 1. The Sophie cat seems just fine. I have...

Published 4 Apr 2009 8:31 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: life, me, mental health, sick, sophie, thoughts, work

another sad story

In a way, I feel like I'm trying to purge myself of some of the stories, some of the events, some of the experiences I've had at the shelter before I move on. I feel like there's so much that's still unsaid, so many people, so many lives...

Published 25 Mar 2009 2:58 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: harm reduction, prostitution, thoughts, van patrol, work

the night of 18 turnaways

As a write this, the Sophie cat is high on cat nip... I'm such a drug pusher, lol. It's a lot easier to laugh at her antics though, and encourage her to "use" then it is to deal with the human consequences of drug and alochol abuse and...

Published 24 Mar 2009 1:23 PM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: alcohol, harm reduction, homelessness, intoxication, shelter, substance use, thoughts, winter, work

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

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

the end of it all

I didn't post about looking/applying for a new job because I didn't want to have to write about failure. I just find it easier not to tell people about my job prospects so I don't have to answer awkward questions later. Of couse, these means...

Published 20 Mar 2009 10:45 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: happy, life, me, social work, staff relations, the enforcer, 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

why phillip can't talk

Phillip, and his friends, reminded me of a very important lesson, one that we social workers learn right from the beginning. Client's are the experts in their own lives, and don't make assumptions. Phillip has never been "right". The...

Published 10 Mar 2009 7:02 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: learning, thoughts, work

it's almost spring

I can't believe I haven't posted in a week. Things are not going well in dreamerville, and writing just seems like too much, that and I just haven't seemed to find anything I really want to write about, I know I'll feel better if I write...

Published 8 Mar 2009 7:45 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: IPDA, life, me, mental health, sick, sleep, social work, the enforcer, thoughts, whining, winter, work

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

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

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 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

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

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

harm reduction

I'm a firm believer in harm reduction. I really am. I definitely promote safer use, safer sex, safer life, safer whatever, but every now and then I feel like screaming JUST STOP DOING IT ALREADY! On van patrol we hand out condoms to the girls, guys...

Published 31 Jan 2009 9:52 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: harm reduction, prostitution, thoughts, van patrol, work

Frozen to Death

This is my last post about death for a while. I promise. Well, my last post about death until someone else dies I guess... Death is pretty common in my line of work. I don't even know how to write about this one. It wasn't a client I knew particularly...

Published 31 Jan 2009 6:09 AM by Awake and Dreaming - The Ramblings of a (not quite) Brand New Social Worker

Filed under: death, thoughts, winter, work

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