So, you hear about this all the time. That social work is a profession in which you take the work home with you. Yeah. I heard it. But now I feel it.

I'm kind of familiar with this because I was never an attorney who could leave my cases at the office. I was forever mulling things over in the shower, while driving around, etc. I find I am doing the same thing now with the cases from my field placement. At odd moments I will think of something I should do. I retrace my interviews, even the ones not process-recorded, thinking of ways I could have handled particular moments differently, how I could have responded differently. On the weekends, I find myself wondering if my clients are behaving themselves at the facility --- if they are doing what they are supposed to be doing or if I am going to show up on Tuesday to find they got themselves into trouble.

I know I am putting in more than the requisite hours. Apart from the time spent actually at my placement, I find myself researching issues and drafting reports at home. More than once now I have stopped by the facility on a day that I am not required to be there in order to take care of this or that. I have to admit I thrive on this sort of thing. I like to work. And I enjoy having work that is absorbing.

I don't know if all this means that I am on the "right" path or if I'm simply a candidate for early burnout. I certainly hope the former, but we shall see.

Posted by Kathi at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of the things that really confused me when I first started at this School last September was the whole distinction between the Clinical and MACO classes. It wasn't until second semester that I really started to get a grip on the difference through the legislative advocacy course in which I enrolled. I now see that I may not have struggled so much with this distinction if I had been a full-time student and immediately begun my field work. I am starting to understand through my field placement why some students in my classes have been very strongly allied with clinical work, while others feel just as strongly about MACO work.

Last week my Field Supervisor sent myself, my co-student from this program and a Case Manager from our Unit down to a U.S. Senate hearing. Our "host" was the Warden of the facility where I am placed. The subject of the Hearing was the policy issue of increased prison construction in recent years. The underlying issue was whether continuing to build more prisons is the most effective way to deal with many of the inmates housed within them.

I had never attended a U.S. Senate Hearing before so this part was a little bit of a thrill -- we even got to sit in the front row! Additionally, though, this high level discussion really illustrated the policy side of MACO. There was a clear contrast between attending this Hearing and then returning to the facility to meet with the individual inmates who are now on my "caseload." While I am not doing therapy with these inmates, the clinical skills we are learning in Practice class definitely guide these interactions. I'm still a little fuzzy on "community organizing" but perhaps that, too, will come in time.

That's about it from here....

Posted by Kathi at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)