The Twelve Days of Christmas - Social Work Edition

Like absolutely everyone else, those of us in social work often find the days leading up to Christmas to be particularly hectic.  It can be a hard time of year for many of our clients, so they may need additional support.  There are many charitable goings-on that we may be involved in, and most of us hope to get a couple days off with our own families.

Here's a little ditty to give you an idea of what the holiday rush looks like for us.  Feel free to sing along!  (I'm not typing out the verses over and over, you all know how it goes!)

Twelve grocery gift cards

Eleven overdue assessments  

Ten client Christmas parties  

Nine home visits 

Eight food hamper deliveries  

Seven flu shot clinics    

Six church hall turkey dinners  

Five volunteers!!!!!    (we love our volunteers)

Four donated toy drives     

Three office potlucks  

Two emergency room visits    

And one last minute crisis call!

  

With Grateful Thanks

So.  I've been a little blase about posting lately.  I think this is because I've hit the doldrums again, struggling to feel motivated in my job and wishing I were (working) somewhere else.  The thing is, I'm here for now so I need to make the best of it.  With Canadian Thanksgiving coming up this weekend I've decided to think of all the things I am grateful for about my work.

• I have a job.  And compared to other social service sector agencies, mine pays decently well
• lots of vacation time - I've been working here 5 years and now get 5 weeks vacation
• Experience - I have the opportunity to work with a great diversity of clients
• the environment here is by and large supportive and positive
• I have the ability to set my own schedule much of the time (within bounds)
• I have a lot of freedom to decide how to work with my clients
• most of the buildings my client's live in have working elevators
• I like my manager and supervisor
• I'm provided with lots of opportunities for training
• the agency has taken up a "recovery" based philosophy

What are you grateful for in your work?

Friday the 13th resolutions*

So I realize I'm a little late to the game, but I've decided it's time to make some resolutions for 2012.  Not for my personal life which is practically perfect in every way (or not, whatever) but for my professional life. 

It actually makes more sense to do this now that on January 1st. 

On January 1st I was in full-blown vacation mode.  Driving along country roads gazing at the snow dusted fields, fresh from enjoying a cozy night with some friends in an old farm house.  Pleased with myself for downing enough water and eating half a loaf of olive bread to soak up the booze so I didn't feel too hung over.  Spending the rest of the day snuggling on the couch....ahem, what was I talking about again?  Oh yeah, resolutions. 

So anyway, things were rosy at New Years giving me no impetus to change.  By now I've been back to work for a week, and admittedly it's made me a bit of a grumpy bear (that's what AM would call me in his most mock-caring voice).  This attitude sucks.  For me, and everyone around me.  I'm sure this doesn't exlude my clients.  I care about them, I really do, and I don't like to feel that this doesn't come through in my work.

So I'm working on resolving this (ha, see what I did there?) or perhaps to put it in some more social-worky terms I'm trying to develop some strengths-based goals for myself.    In some cases I'm just renewing old goals.  Here's what I've got so far:

1. Practice positive thinking, not just for clients but for myself
2. Better self-care: always
3. Learn to say NO to things that will only drag me down (I really suck at this currently)
4. Keep up the job search, the right one WILL come along
5. Find creative ways to get involved at this job that will promote a better experience
6. Be thankful for what I have - be happy

They're not exactly SMART goals yet (10 points if you know what that is) but like I said, I'm working on it.

So what about you, any professional or personal resolutions this year?  

*I know there is some kind of joke about bad luck in here, it's just not coming to me.  TGIF

Bah Humbug to you too

Okay, seriously upper-management?  Sending out the THIRD email to remind rub it in advise us that we will NOT be let go early this Friday since it's not acutally Christmas Eve is a bummer.  Following this message up with an animated, red and green HAPPY HOLIDAYS message does not make it better.

Sincerely, Nectarine.

Update: Big Christmas-spirit points to my direct manager however who kindly reminds us that many of us have lieu time we can use, or if we just happen to have last minute appointments booked outside the office on Friday afternoon...    ;)

Winter

Happy winter Solstice everyone.  May your life be filled with warmth and light!

It's raining and dark in my part of the world so I can't wait to get home, snuggle up on the couch and plug in the Christmas tree lights while dreaming about my holiday time...only 2 more days of work until I'm off for 2 weeks!

The Mind Wanders Already on Monday

Alternate title: Monday Morning Musings

Or: I consider my every little thought so intricately facinating, that I just can't help but share.  I know you wanna hear 'em.

1. I wish it was a wee bit colder outside so we'd have snow instead of rain.

2. I wish that little blinky light telling me I have messages to check would just go away.

3. It's only 3 weeks until Christmas holiday, woo-hoo!

4. My Monday 'to-do' list is depressing me.

Happy Hallowe'en!

As a mental health worker, I've gotta love a day that encourages EVERYONE to bring out their weird and different side!  Plus, I've always had a soft spot for anything dark and scary.  Stay safe everyone, and keep it spooky!

Nectarine's Day Off

It's friday before a long weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving).

All 3 of my supervisors are off today.

Our whole network at the office is down.

I am going to try reeeaally hard to maintain a "client focus" today, but I must admit it is extremely tempting to play hookey. :)

Counting My (Summer) Blessings

The amazing weather from my extended long weekend has continued so far this week. This kind of beautiful Canadian summer makes almost me wish I had taken a Child & Youth option and gone to work in a school (that’s a big almost – I have great respect for people who work with kids, cause just the thought makes me shake in my boots) so I could have the summers off.

It’s been a little hard to focus back here at work. I’ve wasted much breath trying to convince several clients to go for a walk outside on our meetings. It works with a few, but the rest are suspect when I try a little too hard to sell them on the merits of all that extra vitamin D and exercise.

The one thing that keeps me buckling down is the countdown to my next vacation period. Even though my work doesn’t pay me enough to afford any type of exotic trip this vacation, I feel grateful to have this stimulating and challenging job, and to work in a place that appreciates the efforts it takes enough to offer us substantial vacation time.

I’m really looking forward to implementing my personal self-care plan in 16.5 days.

Vacation Countdown

20 notes
3 phone calls
2 client visits
2 assessments
1 consult
And 7.5 hours are all that stand between me and a glorious 5 day weekend!

Return

Hello blogosphere, did you miss me? Uh, what's that you say? You didn't eeven realize I was gone? Well after one weeks holiday from work and thus from this little blog as well, I certainly missed you.

One week apart was enough (it'll have to do anyway), so now things are back to normal. (what's normal? -that's a question for another day)

I've returned to 111 unread emails, only 4 new voicemails, and 1 new client assigned to my workload. Not bad, I guess.

And yes, I totally look this neat and sparkly when sitting at my desk on a Monday morning.

***UPDATE*** Apparently one week is also long enough to forget how to connect to a printer and syncroize your blackberry. *grumble*grumble*

And Another Thing...

Do you wish your clients a "Happy Valentine's Day?"  I don't celebrate personally, and it seems like a rather, ah, personal greeting for a professional relationship.  I've never settled on an answer for this one.

Happy Belated New Years!

Well, New Year’s day has come and gone and so far 2011 has been a blur! I realized that I hadn’t christened the year with a post yet, and thought I’d better reassure you all that I survived the holidays.

A quiet couple of days in the office at the end of December let me catch up on a lot of backlogged notes and assessments, so I was able to start this year with a clean slate. Let’s see how long I can keep up, hmm?

There are some changes that I know will be happening this year, and some that I am hoping for. Let’s start with some things I can count on:
In 2011…

 I will be transitioning away from doing Intakes, and back to full time case management. We’ve already started gradually increasing my case load which has been at about half for the past year.
 Our new office will open (likely Feb or March) and although I am staying put at the old location, this will certainly bring a lot of change!
 I will have a new niece or nephew…we’re expecting to meet them any day now!
 Two close friends are also expecting, so there will be babies abounding.
 AM and I will figure out our next plans for the house and keep fixin’er up.
 My best friend and I will mark 20 years since we first played on the teeter-totters together. We plan to celebrate by getting matching tattoos!

Things I’m hoping for in 2011…

 Getting our financial ducks in a row. I need to book a meeting with our advisor!
 I WILL learn to crochet! As soon as I get some of my current embroidery projects out of the way.
 The job search shall continue. *sigh*
 I want to find a volunteer opportunity that we can do as a family – AM, the kiddo and I.

When I’m making these resolutions, I try to think of them the way I work with my clients to develop goals – they need a plan, and timelines. I’m getting there.

Here’s to a grand 2011!

(Almost) Back

So I’m back in the real world (and the blog world) after a (mostly) lovely Christmas vacation. AM is still off, so the kiddo is home with him today, meaning that my first morning back run-around was significantly simpler than usual. Between that, and the lighter holiday season traffic, I was at work pretty early. So early in fact, that, ah, there was no one here…and the door was locked. There was a Very Helpful Sign on the door that said “Dear tenants, the building will be closed on December 27 and 28, 2010 for statutory holidays.”

Uh, yeah. See Christmas and Boxing both fell on a weekend this year, so there apparently had been some variation in how companies worked this out – my agency gave us Friday and Monday as stats, and the building company apparently decided that Monday and TUESDAY would be better. I returned to my car, and parked with a view of the door to see if anyone else showed up. They did, and apparently had some super-secret, special way of getting in the building (how was I to know that our swipe cards would work for the outer door too?) and I followed them in. So everything worked out, but for arriving so early, I won’t also get to leave as early as I thought I would at end of day, since I didn’t start working until later. *grumble grumble*

Can’t wait till Friday, when we’re off for New Years. And at least I’ll know what to do NEXT week when the building will be closed on MONDAY.

December Rush

December is here, the busiest time of year for many. Those of us working in social services are certainly not exempt (it’s not as bad now as when I was working for the Salvation Army, but that’s a story for another day) so what a time for by Blackberry calendar to stop synching properly!


I’ve already been double booked once due to this technological fail, and as a result had to beg on hands and knees to get a taxi approved for my client so she can go to the food bank before Christmas.

Only 15 days until vacation…

I'm Back!

Let me rephrase that: I’m back.

While I’m not totally loathe to return to work after a delightful two weeks off (thanks for asking) I don’t totally dread it.

It turns out I missed some serious office place drama, which I’m kinda glad of. I’m not comfortable going into details at this point.

Coming back, I’m doing a lot of thinking about going forward. In the next few months, my current contract will end and I go back to my old position. I can’t say the thought really pleases me.

I’ve had a vague goal in mind of landing a new gig before that happens. However, that’s easier said than done, a reality that’s rearing its ugly head the closer I come to that deadline.

So I’m trying to handle this in the most social worky-way I know how: reframing! How can I make this job likeable? How can I make it work for me???

Only time will tell whether I’m helping myself, or prolonging the pain.

And of course, my fingers are still crossed that fate will smile on me and the perfect job will just fall into my lap from somewhere.

A girl can dream, can’t she?

Uhg! is now a word.

The office is quiet today – a welcome change. A lot of people are on holiday for March Break I guess. Me, I’m feeling the loss of that hour (THANK YOU daylight savings!) this weekend, combined with the effects of having some wine and going to bed late last night. Uhg!

All I can say is I’m glad I’m not doing any community visits today, just seeing clients in the office. It’s so much easier. I wish that could be the majority of my job. While I can’t deny the advantages of having the ability to visit clients at their home or in the community, it’s really draining on me lately.

On high alert for March burnout.