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.