Diversity

This week I was able to observe a few more intakes and learn from other interns.  I’ve learned that our intakes are very paperwork heavy, but it’s important to also give clients room to talk about what’s going on while still getting the necessary tasks done.  Through my observation, I have learned that everyone has their own style when it comes to conducting intakes, but they are very welcoming and easy to talk to.  This week I also learned that patience and flexibility are very important when working with anyone.  All of the clients who came for intakes were considerably late, and staff members had to juggle their schedules a bit to make everything happen. On top of that, children’s group was super chaotic, and I learned that being patient is very important.  Although it was frustrating at the time, maybe that was the only opportunity the kids had that day to blow of some steam and enjoy time with their friends.  I don’t know what their lives are like outside of group, and I need to meet them where they’re at.

            Within the last week I felt like I was included in a lot more tasks and meetings than I have in the past.  My supervisor invited me to accompany her on a college visit where she shared with the class about Sarah’s Inn, what we do, and how they could go about getting an internship there in the future.  The intervention staff also if very inclusive and I am invited to all of their meetings and involved in co-facilitating a children’s group now that I am officially 40 hour trained (hallelujah!).  Starting next week I will have my own crisis line shift, and hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will have my own intake slot.  I feel like I am trusted with tasks by all of the supervisors, and this is rewarding! 

            Similar to last week, I find some topics that clients bring up to be difficult.  It is hard to hear how cruel abusers can be, and that A LOT of women and children deal with it.  I have recognized that my role is to meet our clients where they are mentally and emotionally, and to find them resources to keep them as safe as possible even if that includes staying with their abuser.  It’s hard when you want the best for everyone that walks through the front door but you know that you can’t keep them safe when they leave, or that you can’t change the abusers behavior.  I am learning to rely on my supervisor and other staff members to process these thoughts and emotions which does make it a little easier.

            This past week in children’s group was a huge struggle.  The kids in this group are 6-11, and they were super rambunctious this past time we met.  The facilitator and I were so focused on making sure that everyone stayed safe and didn’t get hurt that we really didn’t have the opportunity to do the activities that was planned.  It was frustrating and loud, and the kids just weren’t having it.  After group was over the facilitator and I chatted about how hectic it was, and what we could do in the future to maintain some kind of structure.  So in case this happens again we are slightly more prepared.

         In terms of diversity, there is a good mix of cultures and ethnicities among the staff.  Because a large portion of our clients are Hispanic and Latino most of the staff is bilingual in order to meet this need.  One area that we lack diversity is gender, but based on what I’ve learned through my training and other conversations I’ve had with staff, adult victims might get triggered if they had a male counselor or just might not feel comfortable disclosing intimate details.  There are three men who are staff members and interns, but either do not interact with clients, or they primarily work with children and the Partner Abuse Intervention Program (PAIP).  Diversity is important at my placement because we are serving diverse populations and it would be a mistake to not have staff members that represent those cultures.  It makes us more relatable, trustworthy, and approachable.  
  

Politics in the Workplace

            This past week I was able to continue observing crisis line shifts, support group meetings, as well as observe my first intake.  This was very exciting for me because my supervisor has insisted that I get experiences from all areas here at Sarah’s Inn and I really enjoy the face-to-face interaction.  I learned a lot from the intern that I observed.  I was able to witness how she managed time throughout the session without rushing the client along, as well as validating the clients experiences, providing a safe space to talk, as well as educating her about services we offer and other local resources. 

            I have had a few different experiences when I observed group meetings.  The first week I sat in on a “tween” group, and was able to talk with the kids and help them through the activity the facilitator had prepared.  Last week, I ran childcare and was able to play and read with a toddler.  This week, I had the opportunity to sit in the children’s group and assist with the activity.  This was both rewarding and challenging in a few ways.  I found it rewarding because I was able to connect with the kids and communicate with the kids who weren’t able to speak English.  I was able to build trust with them, and they involved me in their conversations.  This was also challenging because 6-10 year olds are active, hyper, and constantly talk over each other, so it was a little chaotic which was overwhelming.  One situation that I found particularly difficult was a conversation I had with a girl during the group activity.  The activity was for each child to draw a mountain, and have them identify the things that build them up (which they would write inside the mountain), and the things that are hard and difficult to deal with in their lifes (which they would write outside the mountain).  While I was talking with her, she mentioned that her dad made life hard and she visibly shut down.  This was a drastic change in the behavior she had displayed throughout the rest of the group and I panicked for a couple seconds.  In an attempted to bring her back to the group I asked her what her dad does to build her up or make her happy?  She was able to mentally come back to the group and tell me stories about times when her dad was a good thing in her life.  I’m worried that this may have seemed dismissive by rushing through the negative emotions and trying to change it to something positive, and I am planning on bringing this up in supervision next week.

      Because of our location and surrounding communities, we do a lot of work with people who identify as Hispanic and Latino.  Recently, there has been a lot of fear because of the ICE raids in Chicago, which has caused many women and children to not come to group meetings.  Due to this, the advocacy and counseling team has made it a point to bring up in team meetings how we can work with our clients as well as keeping the doors secure.  In meetings, the supervisors discussed and educated us on U-Visa and VAWA, and how we can work with clients who are immigrants on obtaining legal residents here.  They laid out the requirements for each, how long it generally takes to fill out, and how we can assist clients in this process.  I also learned that there are safe spaces that ICE cannot raid, but it has to do with federal funding.  Because we do receive federal funding, ICE can raid our building if they have a valid warrant signed by a judge.  One of the safe places that was mentioned were churches, and there is actually a recent story about a woman in Denver hiding from ICE in a church.  The advocacy and counseling supervisors set up a new procedure for how the front door is answered and what we will do if ICE comes and tries to enter the building.  If this were to happen, legally we do not need to let them in, and we are to immediately get a director or one of the supervisors to handle the situation. 

Networking

            This past week, I continued observing the crisis line as well as participated in the support groups.  Instead of joining the tween group again, I was able to do childcare.  At first, I expected it to be just babysitting, but one of the advocates approached me and described why it was more than just babysitting and how it is our way of providing services to toddlers and infants.  During childcare, you can observe how children play, interact, draw and color, and other things.  These can be used in therapy to help illustrate what’s going on at home and can assist an advocate or counselor in assessing and intervening.  I was also able to continue the research projects that my supervisor had assigned me a couple weeks ago, and both of them are coming along well. 

            Some challenges I faced this week were being flexible and adaptable.  I had expected that I would just stay with the same group for a long period of time, but that was not the case, and now I know what to kind of expect in the future.  Everyone at my placement is flexible and I believe this is a necessary trait to have as a social worker.  I was also challenged when it came time to fill out paperwork for the childcare group because my supervisor didn’t show me how to do it, or where I was supposed to fill it, so I had to go find one of the group leaders to walk me through doing it the right way.  I’m planning on bringing this up in supervision so I’m confident in the future on doing it correctly and on my own. 

            This week, I believe that being trusted to run the childcare group by myself was rewarding.  I was pretty nervous going into it because no one had left me on my own to do something with clients.  It turned out well, and I am more prepared for something like this in the future.  I also found it rewarding that my supervisor is including me in research for the upcoming 40 hour domestic violence training.  I had asked in my first supervision meeting if the material they trained on was evidence-based or practice-based, and she mentioned how it was all based on different experiences that the team had encountered throughout their careers and probably should have more research in it.  This is rewarding because she listened to what I had to say, and set me up to do something to change how the training is run. 

            My topic for the week is networking, and I have seen this is a few areas at Sarah’s Inn.  First, at some of the team meetings I am a part of, different staff will encourage interns to reach out to various organizations to assist their clients with specific needs.  They know the resources in the area, who to contact, and what to expect along the way.  Next, my supervisor has two interns putting together a list of all the resources we can find in the west suburbs so she can create partnerships with them in the future.  This list consists of those we already have a partnership with, as well as the ones we don’t.  Once it is complete, anyone at the agency can locate and access this file to reach out to other organizations.

 

External Politics

            This past week was a bunch more exciting than the last couple of weeks because I had the opportunity to participate in a teens group, as well as observe a crisis line shift!  It was great getting into some tasks that weren’t behind a desk.  Through these two experiences, I learned that to trust and rely on the other interns that have more experience than me, and that I can ask them anything about what’s going on.  I also learned that when you’re counseling someone on the phone that you need to make “listening noises” every so often so they know you are paying attention and still on the line.  This initially seemed strange to me, but I’ve accepted that some noises are necessary and that I should work on it. 

            Some challenges that I faced this week involved the teens group I participated in.  Initially I thought I would just observe, but it turned out they needed another facilitator and I started to panic.  It was overwhelming because I had no idea who the kids were, how the group normally functioned, or what the activities/discussion were like.  I totally psyched myself out though because I was able to chat with the kids, learn about them and help them with some crafts.  The intern who was facilitating the group seemed a bit perplexed throughout the meeting because the kids were a bit rowdy, and they didn’t seem interested in doing the activity she had planned so we all had to improvise and just work with what was going on.  It was a challenge for me to jump into a group that already had some structure, and I think my presence may have caused some of the rowdy behavior.  I really appreciated how the other intern handled this behavior and was able to be assertive with the kids in a respectful way.  I learned a lot from watching how she interacted with the kids, what and how she spoke, and how the kids responded to her. 

            This past week, I had to go through a DCFS mandated reporter training online.  It took a while to complete and at the end I had to print out a certificate, sign it, and scan it back onto the computer to email to my supervisor.  I am very technologically-challenged, and I had no idea where a printer was, or which one to send it to.  Somehow I figured out how to print the certificate, but I’m pretty sure I almost broke the scanner.  It was terrifying, but I figured it out.

            In terms of politics, there is quite a bit going on right now that could affect how Sarah’s Inn functions.  Because of its location, a large majority of the clients we work with are Hispanic or Latino, some of whom aren’t citizens.  Citizenship doesn’t affect whether clients can receive services, it just needs to be addressed so the advocates can work with the client to develop a safety plan.  There are a couple policies that protect victims of domestic violence if they aren’t citizens, and there is some fear that the Trump administration may somehow alter this.  The past couple of weeks, I have been receiving emails from Illinois based domestic violence coalitions that are urging us to contact our legislators because there is a threat that the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA) will be gutted, and a big chunk of funding will be cut for agencies that serve these women. 

            As I said in my last blog, one of the services offered at Sarah’s Inn is legal advocacy, which is where a client can meet an advocate at either the Maywood or a Chicago courthouse and get assistance on petitioning for an Order of Protection (OP).  I have been told that the paperwork is kind of long, the information needs to be clear and specific, and can be difficult to navigate through for many people.  The advocates also assist these clients on preparing for speaking with the judge, and help them understand everything that is going on. 

            Based on different things I’ve been told, there are policies and procedures in place to promote safety.  Local police departments are being trained to identify domestic violence if there is a domestic disturbance they get called to, and many women come to our services because a police officer provided them with that information at a crucial time.  VAWA provides women and children – whether they are citizens or not – protection from being evicted due to unpaid rent which could be due to financial/economic abuse, protection from being deported by offering a temporary visa while women work on becoming legal permanent residents or citizens, as well as protection and programs for women, men, and children who have unique challenges or disabilities.  Victims Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA), is the last thing I’m going to talk about because it restricts employers from firing victims of domestic violence due to needing time off to physically or emotionally heal, appear in court hearings or receive legal assistance, take care of their children, or simply because the abuser destroyed their method of transportation.  This act hold employers accountable to keep victims employed as well as give them time off when necessary.  There are requirements and limits for this act, but ultimately protects anyone affected by interpersonal violence.