New Job

Today was the start of my new job. The first job that isn’t an internship where I will be putting the skills I learned in undergrad and grad school to work. More then that the skills I have learned in life that has caused me to become a better person and go into a field of helping people. I know without a doubt my past has influenced me to follow a path of helping others. The position I got hired for was not even an open position. After an interview with the director he opened a counseling position just for me. I work for a counseling agency that works with youth ages 11-18. They have all different positions from prevention, case manager, counseling, administrative, etc. I was hired as a youth and family counselor.

My boss described to me 16-18 hours a week I will be doing direct service. My main focus will be doing family counseling. The agency is family focused in not just working individually with youth but also involving the family because much of the time it’s impacting what is going on at home, or home life is causing the issues in the youth. I really saw this a problem in my internship last year working in a high school. You do your end as the social worker in the school to help the student but you cannot get the parents to follow through at home causing the student to continue with the same behavior. By involving families I think that is the best approach dealing with all layers of the problems going on in the youths life. The individual counseling is important but dealing with the family as a whole is just as important and may be the main reason a problem continues in a home.

I will be involved in facilitating groups in the evenings from peer groups, to multifamily groups, etc. I am looking at working 2-3 evenings a week because most kids are in school and parents are working. That will be an adjustment for me to get used to.

The final piece to my job is doing some individual counseling and crisis intervention. Whether that is dealing with a situation at a school with a student that is in crisis that I would do an assessment on, or a call from a police department about a run away.

The other piece to my job as a youth and family counselor is being apart of the Journey program. The agency does a lot of wilderness therapy with the youth. Taking them on trips all over Ameria from the Grand Canyon, Alaska, Texas, Florida, Wisconsin, Canada, etc. The kids camp in the wilderness, rock climb, canoeing, swimming, hiking, etc. Some are short trips just weekends, others are week trip over Spring Break and then there are longer trips 20-30 days. Apart of that job is having the pleasure of being around youth that haven’t showered in days including yourself. As I told my boss I was born without a sense of smell that won’t be a problem at all. My boss is looking at wanting me to do 2-3 trips a year. What an adventure! 🙂

I have a bunch of training to do for this new job. A 7 day training and a 30 day training learning all the ins and outs of the different programs, of progress notes, computer info, paper work, program policy/manual, office equipment, emergency info, etc.

I have my own office and am really looking forward to getting that set up. I am so used to being an intern and sharing an office. Don’t have to worry about finding space anymore and am looking forward to making a very inviting office. I am excited to see where this job takes me.

That is all for now.
If your keeping track 20 days until Living For Today is released. Hope you are ready to hit the bookstores and learn how to Live For Today.