I am proud to be a social worker. It is a difficult, demanding job that requires many different skills and abilities. It is, as originally developed, a job dedicated to assisting others during tough times at the beginning of the 20th century.
It has evolved into many different facets, including therapy and mental health, care for the elderly, care for children and famillies, the work force, the downtrodden, the homeless, the person who is having difficulty right now making ends meet. We work in schools and prisions, shelters for the homeless and victims of dometstic violence. We help people struggling with alcohol, drugs and other afflctions. Hospitals and nursing homes. Housing. Healthcare and medication. Food.
It is an amazing profession. I care and nurture, teach, network, advocate, support, provide therapy, attend life milestones. I help celebrate success and mourn loss. I sometimes advise, and often counsel. I am empathic, but I come home to my own family intact. I create strong boundaries, but I cry with a child who has lost her mother.
I have worked in a school with special needs children, a mental health hospital, in a community service agaency helping adults with mental illness to obtain housing, food and mental health care; a mental health clinic for children and families, and a program working with preschool children whose families are homeless.
I have learned amazing things about each person I meet. My profession is a privledge. It is a responsibilty. And it is one I am proud to identify myself with. I am a social worker!!!
The picture above is from anotepad that I keep at work. A dear friend gave it to me one Christmas, and I just love it.
If you made it through all that, kudos to you!
I am lucky to work in a small elementary school, in a small suburban community. I'll talk more about that tomorrow.
It makes me a bit sad that most people don't know what social workers do. they have visions of children and elderly being removed from their homes, over worked social service caseworkers, etc. Mostly, we are portrayed as overworked, callaused and stingy. I don't get it.
Anyway, just a little public service information that social workers are in many, many places helping many, many, many people.
I'm sorry I fell off the face of the planet...computer woes and crazy time of the year. Anyway- this was taken this weekend when my adorable cousin was visiting. The angle is awkward, but I love her funny expression and her beautiful face. She was taking in a request by little dd...
Okay, so this is a story.
My Dh is terrific. He is my buddy, my lover, my friend. We laugh together and love our daughters together. we get annoyed with each other and tease each other. We don't always get it right. But undeniably, we love each other and trust each other and will spend the rest of our days holding hands and laughing.
My oldest is the typical run from the camera kinda kid. But we had a guest- the class teddy bear- and so she actually posed. Well, sat and looked at the camera. That counts, right? I ran noise-reduction (the filter on PS) as at an ISO of 800 it had a significant amount of noise. Not sure what's going on there, will have to work on that some more. 
I love these two together. S was playing her "I'm shy, no one but Daddy will do" thing at a family party yesterday. 
Grandmas rule, as we all know. Our grandmas attended grandparents day for K at her school. It made her day to have her grandmas there with her. Thank you so very, very much!
You are such a good sport, Nonna! It made our day that you came so far for such a brief visit. You show us over and over how important we are in your life.
I love working in a school. I like working with young children; school is where the children are! I have all the related perks of school, it's true. But I also work in a place where children already are, the families are connected and the staff are all united in the shared love of working with children. It's a great place to be. Plus, the school I am in is small- giving me two more benefits. One, I can name almost every child as they walk in the hall; second, the numbers are small enough that I only work three days a week. Although I'd love to work full time, my little one is only two. So, it has been a blessing to have these extra two days to be with her.
