New Job!

I have been meaning to update about my new job, but its been such a crazy ride that I haven't yet had time to blog about it. The quick version of the story is that I woke up one day in January and decided that I was sick of working weekends in a germ infested hosptal, and I dearly missed my family time with Dave and Livy. Dave is at RIT 1-2 nites a week and combined with me working 16-18 hours a weekend, it left little family time. So I woke up on a cold January morning and said to God, "I'm done working weekends, what else have you got for me?" I jumped out of bed and proclaimed that I was done working weekends. Within a few hours my friend Deb emailed me that her agency was hiring. Coincidence? Maybe, but the timing was something to note. Whatever happened in the universe that day happened for a reason, and I started my whirlwind new job 4 weeks ago. I call it a whirlwind becuase I have felt like a fish out of water for the 1st time since graduating from college. I am working for a private agency that provides Early Intervention Services. I was hired as a family therapist 15 hours a week, working in the homes of families of children with special needs. My office is at home, and I travel house to house. I work on teams of 4-6 other service providers who are also in the home.
Counseling people in their homes is fascinating for me. People are so comfortable there, and so are their kids, which means that behaviors and issues tend to show themselves pretty quickly. I left one home tonite where I was following mom around the house as she was trying to get her developementally delayed tot to brush his teeth. The battle of the wills was on, and this tot was screaming his poor head off and running up the couches and tables to escape. I was along side mom addressing the behaviors, and making suggestions to empower her in her parenting. She was about to break down but the team was there to encourage her in the intervention. Many times I'll see parents when the kids are napping becuase they just need to vent and discuss the difficult issues going on with their child, but I always make a plan to come back when the kiddo is wide awake and ready for action.
The kids have multiple medical, emotional, and behavioral issues. My eyes start to well up during at least one point in every visit, not becuase I'm sad, but because of the love parents have for their kids, and the lengths that they go to. They don't know my eyes are tearing, but I can feel the moment that my heart is tugging as they're telling me what they live with. I see the other therapists have these moments too, and we often have it when we're talking to each other about something that happened in the home. We're dealing with families who are trully on a pilgrimage, and trying to survive and thrive in their lives, yet living with a mountain of pain right now.
Adjusting to this job has been absolutely crazy. I'm out on visits and trying to learn the lingo of the interventions, treatments, team members, and a whole new part of Social Work. Its a new expierience for me, and one that I will need if I want to have my own practice someday. But the adjustment to this agency hasn't been easy. Because none of the staff go to a central office things can be very confusing for a new person like me. I told my boss the other day that I feel "so green." I'll get through it, and I'm pretty thrown off, but thats life sometimes and as Ethel says, this too shall pass!