misfitmonkey

Man oh man, has life been busy. Those of you friended up on the LiveJournal will see that this is the 4th wordy post today. I have two days off mid-week from work, and it feels like I finally have time to sit and enjoy some reading, some writing, and some reflection on the past several weeks.

Work has been stressful recently, not so much in the always-present aspect of dealing with patients and other people’s emotional and psychosocial wellbeing all day, but the whole picture. I think I’m doing a really good job of just riding with wave with that, and I know it will pass.

Family life is good, although I wish I had more time and energy to give to family time (my little brothers and nephew especially). I think this is related to work and Nanowrimo starting up and the next exciting news item. ;) I was really disappointed to miss a lot of family time this past weekend due to a trial work experiment that involved me working the weekend. It was horrible timing. I spent a lot of quality time with my sister and 11-month old nephew today though, so that was a blessing. :)

Jim and I are looking for (and may have found) a house. Holy CRAP, is that ever exciting! We think we’ve found the right house, and we’re making an offer today at the realtor’s office… our first ever time making an offer on a house. We have a decent down payment, both of our local parental units have taken a look at the house in question and all approve of making an offer. If anyone wants to really get wacked in the face with “damn, I’m a grown up whether I like it or not,” go buy a house. It’ll throw you into grown up mode real quick-like. ;)

Spiritually, I’m in a good place, but I’m pretty sure my family thinks I’ve joined a cult or something (my sister confirms that this is likely the case). I’ve found a really comfortable home in the area of energy healing, meditation, and neopaganism that feels really authentic for me, but really foreign to most of the people around me, which has been interesting to explore. On a really positive note, I’ve found a great group of people locally at Merging Hearts who are very much on the same wavelength, so while I’m sort of out on a spiritual island among family and many friends, I’m much more supported now in other ways. I’m going to my first ever observance of Samhain this Saturday! :)

Dogs are on my brain lately, since we’re looking for a house. I originally wanted a mastiff, and then was worried about my little allergy-ridden brother Ben not being able to visit, so then I spent some time looking into hypoallergenic dogs and found out that Tibetan mastiffs ARE hypoallergenic! :) Pretty much completely in “I want a dog… dog dog dog!” mode now.

Where are you at in life right now? Exciting transitions? Happily resting in a comfortable place in life? Struggling through a rough patch? I feel so out of the loop as I’m moving through my own transitions, so leave links to your exciting news and updates in the comments. :)

In the past week, I have been completely amazed at the number of people at work who don’t know what I do professionally. A therapist came up to the inpatient psychiatric unit I work on to see a patient recently, and it prompted mass confusion.

First, everyone referred to this person as “Dr. Such-and-Such” when she has a Masters in Social Work and is an LISW (Licensed Independent Social Worker,” not a Doctor of anything. When a discussion arose about whether or not she was Dr. Such-and-Such or just Such-and-Such, I explained to my co-workers that she and I have the same degree and training, and that while she is a licensed therapist, she doesn’t have a doctoral degree and she is a licensed clinical social worker.

This prompted a lot of Q&A:

“So, if you went back to school, you could do what she does?” (No, I already HAVE the schooling and license to do what she does. If I went to work in an outpatient clinical setting, I would be doing what she does.)

“So, she’s a social worker, not a therapist?” (*ahem* She is both, and so am I.)

“So, wait… you could be a therapist too?” (I am a therapist… what do you think I do when I take a patient into a room and we’re in there for an hour?)

“But, I didn’t think social workers did that kind of thing. Don’t you just do discharge planning?” (I do discharge planning as part of my overall role in this particular setting, but I also do individual therapy, family therapy, and occasional group therapy. What do you think I do in those ‘family meetings’ I conduct on a regular basis?)

It’s amazing that people who work with me on a daily basis don’t know what I do because of the common misconception about what social workers do. Everyone on the planet thinks that social workers take people’s children, put old people in nursing homes, and help homeless people find food and shelter.

Sure, some of us do those things, but the field of social work is a very broad umbrella that encompasses several specialized fields. Here is the basic definition of social work, as described by the Indiana University School of Social Work:

Social Work may be defined as the applied science of helping people achieve an effective level of psychosocial functioning (Barker, 1991, p.221). The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the largest professional association of social workers in North America (1973, pp 4-5), described social work as:

“…the professional activity of helping individual, groups, or communities to enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and to create societal conditions favorable to this goal. Social work practice consists of the professional application of social work values, principles, and techniques to one or more of the following ends: helping people obtain tangible services; providing counseling and psychotherapy with individuals, families, and groups; helping communities or groups provide or improve social and health services; and participating in relevant legislative processes. The practice of social work requires knowledge of human development and behavior; of social, economic, and cultural institutions; and of the interaction of these factors.”

Social workers are expected to get their degree, pass a test for licensure, and then work within a field of competency (a chosen specialty that they’ve had additional training in, through hours/years of practicum and licensure supervision). Some of us are able to work in more than one of these area, depending on our training and experience.

Those chosen fields include (but are not limited to):

Mental health, disaster relief, military social work, rural social work, adoption & foster care, child welfare, family preservation services, homeless assistance, eating disorders, genetics, hospital social work, crisis intervention, school violence, hospice/palliative care, developmental disabilities, advocacy, consulting & planning, employee assistance, veteran services, child abuse & neglect, domestic violence, political development, parent education, school social work, family planning, HIV/AIDS, gerontology, addictions, criminal justice, housing assistance, public welfare, and employment services. (from Social Work Profession, NASW)

Those of us who are social workers in mental health (clinical social work, whether it’s private practice, inpatient, or community mental health) are licensed mental health professionals, or as most would describe it, therapists. We engaged clients/patients in individual therapy, group therapy, and family therapy, and unless we’ve been trained and are competent in additional areas of competency, we can’t come to your home and take your children, and we can’t get you food stamps or low-income housing.

With my experience, training, and practicum hours, I am competent to work in the fields of mental health and developmental disability, (with specialized knowledge in dealing with inpatient psychiatry, inpatient geropsychiatry, addictions, crisis intervention, and self injury). I have no idea how to help a person with an adoption or with school issues, and have only basic knowledge about pubic welfare assistance and low-income housing, and a child welfare social worker or a medical social worker would not necessarily be competent to engage a client/patient in psychotherapy. Level of education plays a factor as well, since a Bachelors-level social worker has different limitations that a Masters-level social worker doesn’t have.

Despite being labeled with the broad term “social worker,” I am specifically a clinical social worker, a therapist, and sometimes it’s honestly just easier for me to say that I’m a therapist than explain that I don’t take people’s babies away. The only reason you would ever have for keeping your kids away from me would be due to the fact that I don’t know the first thing about kids (as a newlywed non-parent) and they usually just freak me out. ;)

I work as a social worker for a clinic in Akron, doing quality service reviews for MR/DD group homes.  I also intern at a local hospital, in the in-patient gero- and general-psych units.  I also supplement my income with my excess financial aid, because I am poor as all hell and planning a wedding.

I successfully implemented Google Mail with my domain, which, for a non-l33t like myself, was incredibly complicated and I didn't ask anyone for help AT ALL. I did it myself and tweaked my domain setup and now I can check monkey at brandice dot net through Gmail!!

https://google.com/a

Also, I put in a shift at internship AND I got a QSR done for work, all while still incredibly tired from staying until 5:00 a.m. yesterday morning.

ALSO, I did the Peanut Butter Jelly Time dance live on my lifestream and am rocking my Indians hat because we are GOING to the World Series, beetches!

http://www.justin.tv/brandice/41143/Peanut_Butter_Jelly_Time_Dance (Please vote!)



ALSO ALSO, from the other night, we made some pixelated pie:

God, August 1st was long... took Kate to airport, drove around for work and was not NOT happy about it, rant about tailgaters, Viddler iPhone giveaway, DSL took a crap, and random music as always.

Driving to work to Modern English and OK Go, had a meeting to go to that got cancelled, did a group home inspection, missed Twitter because I left my cell phone at home, ended up at Panera unexpectedly, and finished off the day with WoW guild night, downing Caverns of Time : Durnholde (TWICE!). W00t, good day. :)

1. I am showering soon. It's important that I do so, for the scent of the universe. Too much WoW before shower makes Monkey a late afternoon stinker. *scrub dub*

2. My desk came in at work, so by next Wednesday I will have a place to permanently sit, w00t! Perfect time too, since the woman who's desk I was borrowing this week is coming back next week. *cheers*

3. Got my first paycheck in the mail today and money is good to have. *relief* As the summer winds down, I keep getting poorer and poorer. Working steady hours starting next week will be good for my bank. *counts dough*

4. Are there people who seriously think you can say "I love you" too often or that it somehow lessens the sincerity? Jim and I say it probably two dozen times a day, because we mean it, and if anything ever happened to one of us, I want that to be what we remember saying, because it's the most important thing. That's been bugging me for a while now, that people would complain or belittle a relationship where "I love you" is a common phrase. Keep your three-word-phobia to yourselves, haters, and maybe think about why you can only say it during specific or "special" moments, as if every moment isn't important. *snubs haters*

5. I'm feisty today. (Hence #4.)

I have to work today, yippee.

I really want to get a review done for Harry Potter and work on my TBP books that I have to have reviewed and turned in by 8/15, so that's the plan for tomorrow.

Busted through Mana Tombs with the guild last night... was surprisingly easy compared to last time. I'm about 1/5 of the way to lvl 70. *anxious*

MeToday from yesterday will be coming when I have time to edit it all. Pbbblth.

Yeah... this sucks.  Prepare for my lack of presence on the interwebz, because this computer is ancient and the screen hurts my eyeballs.  Plus my videos take 8 years to load into Windows Movie Maker, then 8 years to edit, and then 9 years to upload to Viddler.  Also, I don't have Semagic or my music or my pictures or Trillian (I'll get that though today) or a webcam or a working cd/dvd drive or ANYTHING.

/whining

Okay, I need to get a shower and head out to do a QSR (Quality Service Review, the group home inspections) and then maybe meet Amanda at Panera for catching up. :)

ALSO: hklbry - I have books for you to take on your trip, so stop by Panera around 5:30!  I have two books!  

So I'm now in posession of 5 Pownce invites because I finally got a beta code and am in posession of POWER, bwaha. You want an invite? Prove YOUR LOVE in some awesome way and you may get one of my remaining 5 invites. The one that's already gone went (of course) to Jen.

I am incredibly nervous about starting a new job after so many weeks off, which is stupid, because I'm only working a day and a half for the whole month of July. I packed a lunch for tomorrow and I HAVE to go to bed now. I have to.

Goodnight. *forces sleep*

Well, I emailed last night and then called today to officially accept the grant position and my future supervisor said that as soon as she told the Executive Director of the agency that I was accepting, she was made aware of some extra hours that they were looking to fill that I was also being offered, doing group home inspections for an addition 40 hours per month, which would add another day to the two days (still manageable), and would provide extra monies to make taking this position manageable financially.

So, it looks like I'll be starting the beginning of July! :) Just a few more weeks of unemployment and I'll legitimately making the dough again! K, that's all byebye.

I've mentioned before that Jim's grandparents were giving us a car, because his grandmother can't drive anymore, and they've stepped things up in terms of getting it repaired in light of my lack of transportation. I guess Grandpa is taking the car in today to have a tune up and the necessary repairs done. What's wrong with the car is minor, but expensive, because they apparently have to take out a large portion of the engine to GET to it. Jim's grandpa will get it fixed and then we'll be putting the car in one of our names and gradually paying off the cost of the repair (nothing for the car itself).

So, I've lost my trusty but old little 1993 Dodge Dakota, but I'm gaining one of these - a 2000 Lincoln LS sedan :


Hopefully in the next week, I'll become independently mobile again! It's been kind of lonely to have no job and no way to get around for the past couple weeks.

Speaking of having no job, I'm 90% sure that in the next 24 hours, I'm going to accept the one year grant position I was offered at the clinic I was at for internship this past year, working with at-risk 3-5 year olds 16 hours a week. It's going to pay about $610 a month take home, which is a HUGE pay cut, but I did some serious looking at bills, and my half of our total bill pay out is roughly $575, so I'll be able to pay all the bills with my income, and then if I get the same financial aid award that I did last year, I'll have $3,000 per semester for gas and food, which will be TOTALLY do-able with no more 40 minute drives to work and 60 hour weeks during school.

I would have two days (Mon/Wed) which would involve internship and then school (both in Akron), and then two days with the grant position, leaving me with three days off, less driving, shorter days (except my typical two-day-a-week all day school fest), and less stress. PLUS, the grant position ends a month after I graduate, leaving me open for new employment without any awkwardness, and it will look fantastic on a resume.

I think I'm ready to accept the position. I'm nervous, but I can always get some extra work on those three free days if I need to, and Jim is being really supportive about taking the financial risk, because he wants me to be less stressed during my last year of school. I think it's the best step for me right now. :)

While there is an underlying anxiety associated with being unemployed, I have to admit that the past week of breathing room in my life has been something I couldn't be more grateful for. I was immediately approved for unemployment benefits because of the layoff, so I won't be completely without income, and I have some prospective job opportunities that are slowly being developed (or discarded, depending on outcome).

Aside from a strange inability to keep track of what day it is, my life has momentarily settled into something akin to a spring cleaning phase. I'm spending an hour here and there sorting through clothes for a Goodwill clean-out of my wardrobe, I'm slowly building a collection of lists and plans to clean out our second bedroom (need boxes, shelving, industrial trashbags, etc.), I went through all of my school materials and sorted/organized/pitched what isn't needed, I've gathered all of my Timshel Essences materials and reading into a set of boxes that will go in the second bedroom eventually, and I hope to get a huge bag together of books that can be donated to Book Crossing somehow or pawned off on the Goodwill or someone willing to disperse them for me.

Things I need right now:
- better and bigger bookshelves
- better and bigger file cabinet
- document boxes (those white ones with lids)
- a new (and bigger) jewelry box
- some type of makeup/toiletry/hair product caddy(s)
- tiny spice rack of sorts (for essence bottles)

If anyone nearby has any of the above things, let me know! I'm trying not to spend money of anything that isn't food/gas/bill related until I'm more certain of my employment situation. I find that everytime I try to make headway or start things with second bedroom or getting rid of unnecessary things, I slam into the "I don't have anything to put that in" wall of denial, so I need to work on that. I'm also finding that I do actually have things to keep me busy while I'm floundering in an unemployed state... It's given me more time to actually look into writing reviews and articles for payment (although not as my main income, simply extra), and getting my writing out there. copperbeech has been helpful in this area and seeing how well hklbry is managing these days has been encouraging too.

Things I have to do:
- Finish write ups and product additions at Timshel Essences (rest of gems, moon water, blends)
- Finish two essence assessments and two numerology readings/updates
- Make new set of gem essences as soon I get a consistently sunny day
- Complete a marketable article on gem essences/elixirs
- Contact local alternative healing places for networking (local veterenarians possibly as well)
- Write book review(s) for The Beltane Papers (waiting on books, very excited about this)
- Plan Script Frenzy plot and characters (and the kickoff) and read more on how to write a script
- Develop/write descriptions and reading details for my number readings that I can re-use for main readings

I need to bookmark this entry so that I can keep track of those lists... I am highly disorganized these days and highly scattered.

So, I'm way ahead on my work already today, so I'm running out of things to distract me from my possibly failing a class this semester.

I found this show on IMDB and Wikipedia and had fun reliving the "Out of This World" memories from my 80's childhood.  marzipan9 is the only person I've met so far in life that remembers that show (girl whose dad is an alien she talks to in a crystal and she can stop time with her fingers and stuff).  I wish they would air re-runs!

We got a different printer up on my office that I share with two other people that will scan a document and then email you a pdf file of the scan.  Friggin' SWEET, omg.  Why didn't we have one before?  Who wants a pdf of my face???

Also, since I was having a really stressful evening last night, Jim came home with a big grin and said he'd brought me a present.  I figured it was something teeny to cheer me, like a food I like or something, but it was Elebits!  We only played for a while because he came home really late with it (took him a while to find), but I think there's some Elebit zapping in my immediate future. :)  Yay.

I'm pretty stressed out about the Policy II thing, but I'm trying really hard to remain calm and collected.  I'm going to do what I can to get at least a passing grade in the class and try to remember that after my meeting with the department director, it's out of my hands.  It's not the end of the world, and it won't postpone my graduation if I can take the class again next spring with my other classes.  I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't life ending and no matter what happens, I'm still going to finish grad school and be fine. *deep breaths* 

Seriously, now who wants a pdf of my face??

My boss just told me that I could become a millionaire if I could think up some contraption that would "tell the fast food people when to put more fizz bubbles in their pop."

She says I would be set for life.  I am not kidding.

Ohhhhh, god.  I am sick and didn't fall asleep last night until about 3:45 a.m., and then about two hours ago I took Robitussin DM and some cold/sinus pill BOTH, and I now feel so completely drugged out of my mind that I've fallen asleep at my desk THREE TIMES and almost cracked my face on the monitor.

Despite all this medicine, I am still coughing up little chunks of lung regularly.  I love my doctor for phoning in an antibiotic that I can pick up on the way home.  I really love her.

Please god let me stay away for one more hour...  *prays futilely*

... and I'm going home.

This has been the worst half day of work of the entire year, and it's my last working OF the year, so what a way to finish 'er off.  I'm getting the fuck out of here NOW.

...I spilled pear sauce all over myself.

I just have to wait 24 more minutes and it's the WEEKEND.

Screw you, Friday work day!

Posted originally at Monkey Mind