A brief pause...and is that a tiny bit of light I see at the end of this tunnel?

Clearly, I haven't written anything in my blog for a while now. I guess I was on a bit of self imposed hiatus. You see, as my last blog entry stated, these days I'm a tad conflicted about my job. I would like to say that it's gotten so much better by now but, truth is, there are aspects of it I hate and probably always will. That said, there has also been some things happening that have started to remind me why I do what I do.

Though the supervisory portion of my job is still undefined I have no idea yet what it is I am expected to do. But I am also case managing a small handful of people which is the first time in a long time I have been directly responsible for those duties. What I'm discovering is just how much I missed that intense client contact. I've really been enjoying working with the people on my case list and, I have to say, it's been a real bright spot in all of this.

The other day I was going through some old papers in my desk and I came across some essays I wrote a long time ago. They were all stories of the personal strengths and triumphs of some of my past clients. I re-read them and started to remember why I love being a social worker. I started to remember how truly determined most people are and how, in spite of being dealt a pretty crappy hand, most people, even those with mental illness, AODA issues, or disabilities, take that hand and make the best of it. And sometimes they even win the game.

I'm going to share some of those stories here in my blog. (With the names changed for reasons of confidentiality!) Maybe if I share them with you (my loyal few! haha!) I'll start believing again that what I do has worth and meaning and I can get back to that feeling each day. If I can get that back then this new job is going to be aces.