don't give up on me yet!

Hello faithful readers of this blog. this is a message to say. Don't give up on me yet! One of these days there will be more awesome social work blogging! I'm enjoying my new job a lot, but it's not as exciting as working at the shelter, that's for sure, and I find I don't have as many things to write about. Besides that, I sometimes feel like I spend all day at the computer, and the last thing I want to do when I get home is more typing. But, it will come. I love to write, I'm just not in a writing season it seems.

Things are going well. The cats are very slowly getting used to each other. And by that I mean Sophie Cat is slowly getting used to having Oliver Lockhart around. She still hisses if he gets to close, and all he wants to do is be friends! Thankfully Oliver still is put in a different room at night, and Sophie and I get some peace. Having a young cat is "exciting", he gets into EVERYTHING! But I love him!

I went and donated blood today. If you're eligible to donate blood I highly recommend doing. It's an hour out of your day every eight weeks (or more of course) and you can save up to three lives. It means so much to someone, and it doesn't hurt you at all. Well, the initial needle poke hurts a bit, but other then that. Of course, not everyone is eligible because there are a million and one things that disqualify you, but apparently only 3% of those eligible donate. Summer is a time when they need more blood and have less donors, so seriously, consider donating. If you ever wondered how you could give more to charity with no money, well remember, donating blood is free! (So that's today's plug for that)

Meet Oliver Lockhart

So I went to the Pet Store where I bought Sophie Cat the other day. I hadn't been there since I brought her home...

someone new came home with me...

This is Oliver Lockhart (Oliver from Oliver and Company, Lockhart from Gildoroy Lockhart from Harry Potter 2).

He is a year and a half old. The Pet Store rescued him from the Humane Society which was going to euthanize him because it was cheaper to kill him than to neuter him. Oliver is basically the complete opposite of Sophie Cat. You can do anything to him and he'll just purr away. Sophie on the other hand has been hissing and growling at him from the other side of the baby gate. This is going to take some time.

Oh, and for good measure, here's a picture of Sophie Cat trying to stuff herself into her cat condo.

Poor Sophie. SO not impressed with the new addition to our family. I'm really hoping she gets used to him. Otherwise bestest bud will take him, but I really want to keep him too. I really think Sophie needs a friend, she just needs to get over her anger/fear.

A typical day (week) at the office

This is my office... or well, my desk. The picture is taken standing in between my two chairs. My sister asked me today what a typical day at my job was like. I had a hard time answering because all my days are different, I can definitely talk about a typical week though! So here it goes.

My day always starts by checking the news online. Our secretary always manages to get the paper copy of the newspaper first, so I read the internet version. I do this while absorbing my coffee and getting caffienne into my blood stream. Ideally I do this before I'm forced to talk to people. I also go over my calendar and my client chart to see if there's anything that needs doing right away. I might highlight things that need to be accomplished that day.

Next, I'll probably go and visit my coworkers for a little bit, especially my "buddy" the other counsellor. We generally check in about what our days are like and if there's anything the other person should know about.

After that I generally go back to my office and work on paper work for a while. Maybe I'm typing up an intake summary, a discharge summary, an employment placement plan etc... maybe I'm reading a new client chart doing preparation for an intake, or writing out progress notes.

I generally don't schedule any intakes or counselling sessions until 10AM. This is better for all involved. I'm far more empathetic and perceptive after this time. So after 10AM I may have an intake or a counselling session. If I don't, I work on things like curriculum development and spend time doing general research or reading books for book reviews I post here. I figure, it's all related.

Then comes lunch. Lunch is a good thing. I generally eat with my coworkers. They're pretty awesome for the most part. We often go for a walk during lunch time.

Then I hurry back because I might have a classroom check in before class time. Basically, I have 2-3 students in the class who are "mine" for the duration. I check in with them each week, see how things are going, help them if they're having problems, work with them on any assignments they're struggling with etc...

Then comes class. If I'm teaching class, then I spent the next three hours facilitating a group. This past month I taught a class on Career Exploration, one on Criticism/Self Criticism and one about Personal Growth. There are classes about resumes and all that stuff too, but I don't do them. We have job people that do that.

If I'm not teaching class then I spend the afternoon much like I spent my morning. Counselling session, setting up appointments, reading and updating files, paper work, preparing documents etc...

Once a week we have a staff meeting, once a month we have a class review meeting, we have supervision probably once a month as well.

And that's generally what I do!

The Sophie Cat's day as a Social Work Cat

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job? Well, it turns out that Sophie Cat doesn't mind it either. I brought her to work today, this is a picture of the last time she came to work, but I didn't think to take any today. My workplace is super great about pets. My boss has brought her puppy a couple times, and as long as no one on the floor minds, we're free to do whatever. I mean, within reason.

I only brought Soph's because they're were cleaning the ducts in my apartment and I did not think she would like to be home for strange men trapsing through here. She HATED the day they tested the smoke detectors. I swear she didn't come out from under the couch all day!

Anyway, Sophie got along quite well. She came out of her carrier right when we got there and settled in on a blanket under the desk. I left her off the leash this time and she was very well behaved. At first she stayed in the office, but as she got braver, she came with me to the file room and we went to visit a couple other staff. I took her to meet the students in the employment class, because I talk about her pretty much every time I teach, but that was just too many people for her. And being a cat, she hid under the chair of the one person in the class who doesn't like cats.

I'm thinking about bringing her more often. Some of the clients just lit up. It's times like this I wish I had a dog, dogs are such good therapy animals, or well, some dogs/owners are. One of my friends online and her dog just became a therapy team. Anyway though, Sophie Cat would be horrible at it, as she's still very shy, and she is NOT a lap cat. But, I just think she adds something to my office. On the other hand, SO many people are allergic to cats, that it would just be a bad idea all around.

The cutest moment of the day, was when at almost exactly 4PM she hoped in her carrier and looked at me like "okay, time to go!" I had to break it to her that I don't get off until 4:30 and she still had some time to kill!