Agenda #9 – non payment week

1. _not replying to my email regarding on-call staff December meeting
2. Update on race conversation
3. Continuing Educational Courses -What to take, what not to take?
4. Life skills job opportunity vs. on-call position?
5. Hypochondriac and alcoholism
6. How to help clients cope with the holidays

I find myself  sitting here with my wine and a yellowing stack (read: very old) of clinical supervision agenda notes, wondering how to share them with you. I think of a line from one of my favorite comedians, Martin Lawrence: “Isn’t nothing to do it but to do it”. It is my hope in sharing my old agendas notes that you will obtain another perspective on my road to becoming a clinical social worker and that you learn there are truly no silly questions- especially when you are paying to ask them (I was paying $100 for three hours a month –yikes!). I am sure the format of this page will change. I will occasionally provide links to things you might find useful, at other times I may not touch on every agenda item. I just want to give some insight or humor and a recap on what a young, green social worker was thinking. Here’s my recap on this particular agenda

1.Was important to me as I had a particular problem with a boss who would put things out there and never allow you to respond to her in person, by phone, or by email. I found this passive aggressiveness affected client and staff morale. Even harder, my time with her was limited because it was a per diem position. This taught me patience, to document wisely (always cover your ass- CYA), and how to be flexible. I recall sending her an email saying, “Can we meet in the next two weeks to discuss your concerns? Please provide dates and times that will work best for you.”

3. I learned there are many affordable and free continuing educational courses. Do sign up for various websites to learn about them. I enjoy  Social Work Today’s magazine and NetCe.com. My alma matter offers them once a month for free (this is great learning and networking experience). Hell, I have even been lucky enough to facilitate one or two. The key is to take the required ones and then tackle all the subjects that peak your interest. I also learned a long time ago if you can’t afford the fee, ask if they do scholarships or accept volunteers. I have done some amazing networking through handing out programs and manning a beverage station.

4. This was a hard one for me for years- do I take the full-time job or the “box of chocolates” assorted per-diem work. There are a lot of pros and cons with both options, and I will come back to this in a later post. I will say the real life quandary is as a woman, I had to think about health insurance. Birth control is not cheap.