Thursday, April 21, 2011

A day in the life of a new BSW:

6am -Alarm goes off. Too tired but my appointments of the day run through my sleepy mind. And so up I am to get ready. Put on some field clothes aka jean, shirt, and loafers and out the door.

8am - Ten minutes from office and my cell goes off twice. The first is my first appointment of the day letting me know she might not be home for our visit. The second call is that appointment's county worker to let me know that we should schedule a joint meeting.

9am - Finding a space at the office to work today is easy since it's a holiday weekend coming up so a lot of people took it off. Phone rings again. My first appointment says never mind- she'll be home if I still want to come by.

10am - Arrive at first appointment's home. Ringing buzzer for what feels like forever. Reach for my cell phone to make one last contact attempt before leaving and client opens door. The house smells of all my favorite smells: urine, stale smoke, and bacon. The baby is drooling and cooing while sitting in an unbutton, dirty onesie. I make room on the laundry covered sofa to sit.

12pm - Already late to my next appointment so I make a quick call to her explaining I'll be a little late. She says it's okay because she just got up and has got to clean before I come. Grab a burger to eat at a drive through and park in a local supermarket to eat with one hand while trying to type my previous appointment's visit notes before the phone rings and my ketchup has smeared on my right elbow. Awesome.

1pm - Arrive at my next appointment. More people are in the house than I'm expecting. I stand and try not to grimace through the visit.

3pm - As I'm walking out the visit, my phone vibrates. It's my supervisor calling to let me know that I do have to testify in court for one of our cases...in 3 days. Greeeeat. Oh and it's my first time too. Even better.

4pm - My toddler calls and breathes excitedly on the phone as I'm making my way to my last visit of the day. My day's goal of documenting each visit after each visit has failed as I'm running late again to my last appointment of the day. My mind tries to stay with the client but cannot help but think about the upcoming court thing and cannot help but wonder if my whole education and social work license is enough to prep me for this.

5pm - It's dark now and home is calling. All is (kinda) forgotten as I see my toddler's chubby hands reach for me as I walk into my home.

Another day done.

2 comments:

  1. If you're interested in social work, please check out the Profiles in Social Work podcast. Each episode features a social worker sharing how they make a difference in the world.

    http://www.facebook.com/profilesinsocialwork

    ReplyDelete
  2. I must say that I admire the "realness" of your posts so far. Most persons,especially experienced social workers,would have it seem as though they have everything down pat. They are afraid,unlike you, to show that they too feel vulnerable and unprepared at times. Keep at it!!! Type courageously and be true to your feelings!!!

    ReplyDelete