First Day of School!

So, it's only been three months since my last post on this blog. That's not so bad, is it?

When I started this social work blog, it was my attempt to have a "professional" blog that would be kept separate from my "personal" blog. I wanted a place where I could write about work and school and the things that I am learning in an arena that is separate from the place where I talk about my family and friends and other more personal aspects of my life. It is a good idea in theory.

What I have discovered over the last semester is that when you are working on an MSW, working as a hospice social worker, AND doing a field placement in child/adolescent mental health, there is not a lot of room for "other more personal aspects of my life" to write about. Social work has become my life, personally, academically, and professionally. This has made it difficult to separate the two blogs, and so most of what I've written these last few months has ended up on my personal blog, even though it has related to what I am doing in social work.

My goal for the year is to change that. I like this blog, I like writing, and I have a goal to sit down 2 times a week and write about something that is social work related. My hope is for blog to be a record and a resource to me of the things that I have learned while in the beginning stages of my social work career. Tomorrow is the first day of school, and in 11 months, I will have that elusive masters degree. And I want this blog to be a record of the things I have done and the experiences I have had along the way. This is to say... I am back. And I am determined to succeed.

Wish me luck!

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Posted in: Coursework,field placement,graduate school

Changes in the Air

I finally secured a field placement for the duration of my MSW program. Incidentally, did you know that “MSW” says the same thing when you turn the word upside down? I discovered that in moment of boredom at a church meeting and immediately had to text all of my MSW friends.

Anyway, I will be doing my field placement at a day treatment center in another rural town not far from me. My new boss at the hospice is being nice enough to let me work some crazy hours in my feeble attempt to be superwoman for the next year. So these days my day begins with early morning seminary (a religion class that I teach for high schoolers) at 6:30am and ends when I have completed 4 hours of internship and 7 hours of work. But then I have to make lesson plans and prepare for the next day.

Crazy? Yes. Is the elusive MSW degree worth it? I sure hope so. Will I find time to do my homework? I sure hope so. Can I do hard things? I think so. Will I slack off on writing this blog? Probably. Will I slack off on nearly every other aspect of my life that isn’t directly related to either my eternal salvation and/or my social working aspirations? Probably.

I’ve been wanting a dog lately, but something tells me that now is not the time due to the fact that I am never home. I didn’t see my turtle (Fluffy) all week. Good thing he is fairly low maintenance. I can’t handle a dog right now. Maybe I could get a fish. And another turtle.

So I am adjusting my hours at work to accommodate my field placement, but my caseload and other responsibilities will remain the same. Currently, our hospice program is small enough that it will be manageable, but as it picks up, it will definitely be very difficult. My boss who quit a few weeks ago decided to stay on in a different capacity. She will be our clinical coordinator (we’ve never had one before) and the director will be someone else. That “someone else” is thus far quite nice, reasonable, approachable, and fair. Most people are one or two of those qualities, but very few are all four. I’m excited about that.

Our hospice has been through a lot in the past few years. We’ve been through a lot in the few short months I’ve been a part of it. There have been a lot of trials and changes that we have weathered. We are still grieving the loss of some great people. Hopefully the changes we are making now will be positive.

When I was first deciding to move across the country, one of my friends asked me if I was really ready to be a professional. She said: “if you take a job like that, you will be a professional. Being a professional isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You have to deal with way more politics and other things that you might not want.” I thought she was probably right, but that I was ready for the challenge. Being that this is my first post-college job, this is my first time really dealing with office politics and such. It’s difficult. I’m not always a fan of being a grown-up. But I suppose that’s just the way is.

I’m curious about what office politics are like in other people’s jobs and lives. What other styles of officehood are out there?

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Posted in: field placement,graduate school

Here's where I've been

So, when I started this blog, my hope was to post once or twice a week with my thoughts and experiences as a young social worker working in a rural hospice. The last month has just gotten away from me and I must admit, I haven't found too much that I really want to write about. Life is just hard right now. Our hospice program is understaffed, and I found myself handling volunteer coordination, bereavement efforts, hospice social work patient care, and home health social work patient care. In other words, trying to do about four people's jobs while going to graduate school. So making the time and the clarity of mind to sit down and write a blog post has not been high on my priority list.

Here's what has been on my priority list: I found out that my out-of-state tuition will be higher than what the program advertised. Instead of $6,000 a semester (expensive, but reasonable... it's only for 3.5 semesters and I'm willing to shell out 20 grand for this program), it will be $10,000 a semester (outrageous, and somewhat unreasonable... there's a big difference between going into debt $20,000 for school and going into debt $40,000 for school). Crap. One of the reasons I chose this program, despite the fact that it is an awesome program at a great university, was because of its reasonable out of state tuition rates. So much for that plan.

I have been trying to locate a field placement that will allow me to continue to work at my job. On top of all of that, my job has continued in it's tumultuous pattern. Last week our director and one of our nurses resigned within hours of each other (for unrelated reasons). Now we are short two staff members and they have already told us that they will likely not be hiring to replace them. It's not been the most pleasant work environment these past few weeks.

So I have to come up with an unplanned 20 thousand dollars, and at the same time I will also most likely have to cut back on my hours at work (or find another job altogether...a hospice in a neighboring town contacted me last week for a part time position, so we'll see what happens there) to do my field placement. Oh, and I found a field placement that I would like to do... I just need to figure out the logistic of it. If I were to do this particular placement, I would be working in a day treatment center for children and adolescents. Then this blog would likely become a combination of hospice social work/child and adolescent mental health/MSW program blog. I can handle that. Lots of things to think about.

Oh well. I'd say life is still good. I'm counting my blessings and am grateful for the fact that I have a job. A job, by the way, that I am falling in love with. I never, not even for one second, wanted to do medical social work. When I went into social work, I imagined working for a non-profit organization doing macro-level social work and community development in some urban neighborhood. But can I just say, I love the hospice program? I really do. I love holding patients' hands and talking with them about life after death. I love that this is a field where I can be open about my faith and my belief in God without feeling like I am stepping on toes (I moved here from Utah, and discussing religion in a public way is a no-no there, so it is very refreshing). Ultimately, I love the fact that families are willing to allow me to be a part of their lives during a time in their lives that is so sacred, and when they are so vulnerable.

Oh, and I started teaching an early morning religion class at my church. I meet three teenage boys every morning at 6:30 am to study the scriptures. It's good times. No, really, it is. But it does occupy much of my time and mental energy that I once channelled toward blogging.

All of that said, the new semester of school begins in t-minus three hours. Now that it is costing me almost twice as much as I budgeted for, I am feeling slightly more motivated to succeed. And the new semester will give me even more interesting things to write about. I will put forth every effort to not go for this long without posting ever again.

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Posted in: field placement,graduate school,hospice