Crazy times
I still love my job, but it ain't no joke!
My day starts the moment I walk through the door, and keeps going as I'm trying to leave. Phone calls to parents/guardians/outside therapists take up a lot of my time. We have kids from every end of the state, so a lot of them can't come in to meet with me so I end up doing a lot of the sessions/family therapy over the phone. Which is kinda fun, kinda not. We have to speak to the parents, etc to get their point of view of what's going on, whether they want the kid to come back to the home, and what their level of involvement is. Those families that are close enough, do come in for actual face to face info gathering/therapy sessions. That's the part I like the best. I have to coordinate scheduling and referring to outside counseling and psyciatric agencies so the kids go home and have a therapist and psychiatrist to keep up with. I've had to make some DSS reports and work with some DSS workers already involved with the family. I do group every day with the adolescent boys, which I actually like! Every once in a while I get a bad group of em, but for the most part, I think I've been lucky. Then we have treatment team meetings a couple times a week with the doctors, clinical staff meetings with the other therapists, and every once in a while some trainings. Somedays I really don't know what I've done to fill 8 hours, but seriously, I don't sit around bored out of my mind, every minute is taken up with something. I love it!!
Of course, there are always things that suck.. like the new news that we have to start covering 7 days per week schedules. As of right now, I've gotten off pretty easy, today was the first weekend day I had to work. It still pissed me off.. but I survived. There are 4 of us right now to cover it, when a new person starts in a week or so, we'll split it up so each person gets a whole weekend a month.. and then we can take those 2 days back somewhere during the week. So, once a month I'll have to work a weekend, but then I'll either get a 4 day weekend the following one, or a random day off with a 3 day weekend. It's not that horrible, but this weekend just sucked cuz it was Thanksgiving and I had to work Friday AND Sunday. Ugh. But, since I did that, I have dibs on Christmas, so I'm off Thurs & Fri and not working that weekend.
Now it's funny that I tell you all this, because in a few weeks it's all likely to change. Last Tuesday I was going about my business, talking to a parent on the phone and my supervisor (Susan) and her supervisor (Tim) came into my office and told me to come see them when I was done. Odd. So, about 10-15 mins later, I go knock on her door and they're in there chatting and ask me to come in and sit down. That's when I kinda freaked a little on the inside. Tim starts out telling me that someone on the girls residential unit (It's called Perfection) gave notice and they need to hire for that position, and that in talking about it, my name was immediately brought up. They both go on and on about my professionalism, my ability to handle the craziness of my current job, how much potential they see in me and then tell me they'd like me to consider taking the job! :-O It's not a promotion, it's a "lateral move", but it entails more responsibility and more "in chargeness" of direct care staff and the unit "therapy issues". I'd be the only one there, and people would come to be with issues about the girls.
So, the "unit" as they call them (like cottages at TCH) is the adolescent females who have blown through all sorts of other placements, like at The Children's Home, other group homes, etc. They're the "worst of the worst", and have real issues. A lot of trauma (abuse especially). It's even more the real deal beacuse they're there for 9 months to a year.. and I get to work intensely with them in group, family and individual therapy. We don't do individual on the acute unit.. there just isn't enough time since they're there for a week to 10 days to just get stable. So this will really test my skills and make me grow as a for real therapist. Ever since they offered this to me, things on the acute unit have gotten on my nerves! This job would have no full weekends, maybe a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday every couple weeks to check in with the weekend staff and make sure things are running smoothly.
It really shocked the hell out of me, and I really wasn't sure I should take it.. it's kind of scary at the same time it's exciting. But, everyone agreed with me that it might be time to do something that involves me speaking up more and taking charge. I think that part will be good. And, it'll really challenge me to learn more therapeutic styles and skills, and they're going to send me to lots of trainings to get me equipped to handle these severe issues. I'm just more excited about not having to work weekends! And, holidays aren't such a big deal either, cuz these girls are there for so long, a few days won't make that big of a deal. I'll meet with Tim and the residential director on Thursday to hammer out details and come up with a plan. But, they have so much faith in me that I guess they're not even interviewing anyone else! That sure makes me feel good.
So, that and just my over all experience with Old Vineyard thus far makes me so glad I took this job, and was given such a great opportunity. They're so supportive and helpful as a company.
Oh, and I take my licensure exam January 9th, I think it is. 2nd Friday in January. Time to start cramming!!
My day starts the moment I walk through the door, and keeps going as I'm trying to leave. Phone calls to parents/guardians/outside therapists take up a lot of my time. We have kids from every end of the state, so a lot of them can't come in to meet with me so I end up doing a lot of the sessions/family therapy over the phone. Which is kinda fun, kinda not. We have to speak to the parents, etc to get their point of view of what's going on, whether they want the kid to come back to the home, and what their level of involvement is. Those families that are close enough, do come in for actual face to face info gathering/therapy sessions. That's the part I like the best. I have to coordinate scheduling and referring to outside counseling and psyciatric agencies so the kids go home and have a therapist and psychiatrist to keep up with. I've had to make some DSS reports and work with some DSS workers already involved with the family. I do group every day with the adolescent boys, which I actually like! Every once in a while I get a bad group of em, but for the most part, I think I've been lucky. Then we have treatment team meetings a couple times a week with the doctors, clinical staff meetings with the other therapists, and every once in a while some trainings. Somedays I really don't know what I've done to fill 8 hours, but seriously, I don't sit around bored out of my mind, every minute is taken up with something. I love it!!
Of course, there are always things that suck.. like the new news that we have to start covering 7 days per week schedules. As of right now, I've gotten off pretty easy, today was the first weekend day I had to work. It still pissed me off.. but I survived. There are 4 of us right now to cover it, when a new person starts in a week or so, we'll split it up so each person gets a whole weekend a month.. and then we can take those 2 days back somewhere during the week. So, once a month I'll have to work a weekend, but then I'll either get a 4 day weekend the following one, or a random day off with a 3 day weekend. It's not that horrible, but this weekend just sucked cuz it was Thanksgiving and I had to work Friday AND Sunday. Ugh. But, since I did that, I have dibs on Christmas, so I'm off Thurs & Fri and not working that weekend.
Now it's funny that I tell you all this, because in a few weeks it's all likely to change. Last Tuesday I was going about my business, talking to a parent on the phone and my supervisor (Susan) and her supervisor (Tim) came into my office and told me to come see them when I was done. Odd. So, about 10-15 mins later, I go knock on her door and they're in there chatting and ask me to come in and sit down. That's when I kinda freaked a little on the inside. Tim starts out telling me that someone on the girls residential unit (It's called Perfection) gave notice and they need to hire for that position, and that in talking about it, my name was immediately brought up. They both go on and on about my professionalism, my ability to handle the craziness of my current job, how much potential they see in me and then tell me they'd like me to consider taking the job! :-O It's not a promotion, it's a "lateral move", but it entails more responsibility and more "in chargeness" of direct care staff and the unit "therapy issues". I'd be the only one there, and people would come to be with issues about the girls.
So, the "unit" as they call them (like cottages at TCH) is the adolescent females who have blown through all sorts of other placements, like at The Children's Home, other group homes, etc. They're the "worst of the worst", and have real issues. A lot of trauma (abuse especially). It's even more the real deal beacuse they're there for 9 months to a year.. and I get to work intensely with them in group, family and individual therapy. We don't do individual on the acute unit.. there just isn't enough time since they're there for a week to 10 days to just get stable. So this will really test my skills and make me grow as a for real therapist. Ever since they offered this to me, things on the acute unit have gotten on my nerves! This job would have no full weekends, maybe a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday every couple weeks to check in with the weekend staff and make sure things are running smoothly.
It really shocked the hell out of me, and I really wasn't sure I should take it.. it's kind of scary at the same time it's exciting. But, everyone agreed with me that it might be time to do something that involves me speaking up more and taking charge. I think that part will be good. And, it'll really challenge me to learn more therapeutic styles and skills, and they're going to send me to lots of trainings to get me equipped to handle these severe issues. I'm just more excited about not having to work weekends! And, holidays aren't such a big deal either, cuz these girls are there for so long, a few days won't make that big of a deal. I'll meet with Tim and the residential director on Thursday to hammer out details and come up with a plan. But, they have so much faith in me that I guess they're not even interviewing anyone else! That sure makes me feel good.
So, that and just my over all experience with Old Vineyard thus far makes me so glad I took this job, and was given such a great opportunity. They're so supportive and helpful as a company.
Oh, and I take my licensure exam January 9th, I think it is. 2nd Friday in January. Time to start cramming!!
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