i'm doing laundry!

I realized today after looking at my blog that about 80% of the entries have a very negative and depressing overtone. I never intended this to be a place where I would whine about what is happening, mostly job related. However this is supposed to be an accurate reflection of my current state, so you my friends and family can keep updated on my life. I am going to try and stay more on the positive side, because I need a little bit more of the happy energy right now!

This week was alright, on a scale of one to ten I would say a solid 5. Monday we had a meeting at Remann Hall (the Juvenile detention facility) with our liaison between ProTeen and the probation officers (POs). After the meeting we went on a tour of the detention part of Remann Hall, so past the locked gates and got to see where the kids actually stay when they are there. It’s kind of disconcerting to hear the door lock behind you! We saw the “pods” where the kids stay, I think up to 18 in each pod. They have their own room, it’s about 5’x8” with a “cot”, toilet, sink, and mirror. Most of them have no windows, and if they do you can’t see through the glass. There is a common room, where there is a small tv and a shelf of books, and that’s about it. Some plastic furniture and tables for meals completes the common room. Each pod has a laundry room, and the kids take turns doing laundry. There is a small classroom also, for meetings and school, etc..

We were allowed to go in to an empty pod and explore it, and then we walked past a few pods that were full of males in detention. Each pod is separated by gender, and there are 1 or 2 staff in each pod at a time. More guards stand in the hallways. Kids are allowed to walk from their pods to visitation or the room where they wait to be escorted into court without escorts, but they do have leg shackles on. They have to walk with their hands behind their backs and on the right side of the hallway, and that is showing compliance. Kids who can’t handle the rules, or are very unruly are sent to “B-pod”, where they are escorted, shackled and handcuffed, everywhere as well as allowed no time outside their rooms.

It was so interesting, and kind of terrifying, to actually see where some of my clients have spent time, and get to understand the context in which they are coming from. Many of them come back time and time again, because they are served 3 meals a day, have a warm bed to sleep in, have access to school and medical care anytime they need it, which is more than a lot of them get at home. There has only been one successful escape from Remann Hall, and the kid came back for dinner the same night. It is a very empty and sterile environment, but the people who work there seem to really care about the kids.

The rest of the week was blegghh… My program still hasn’t started, and there is no news on when it might. I am getting really frustrated, and feel like I am not doing much that is making a difference. I’m doing lots of administrative tasks for NLF and ProTeen, and am involved in our fundraising Gala and a few other things. Each day I get more frustrated, which makes it hard sometimes to want to go there. I just keep praying for patience. I know I am learning things every day, it is just not at all what I expected when I signed on. I am trying to be positive, but after almost 2 months it is getting hard to stay happy, patient, and positive. (Most of you know that patience is not one of my gifts…)

Here are some pictures from a little trip to my favorite beach on Friday!

Recent Pictures

Here are some pictures from our ProTeen Staff Retreat last week. I am just going to post a few on here, for a more complete album (with awesome descriptive captions), go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024757&l=e0751&id=59400207.

Random Thoughts and Highlights of the Week

I apologize in advance for the scattered-ness of this posting. (Yes, I just made up a word. Yes, I did work at the Writing Center for 3 years… Shut up!)… Here are a few little highlights, thoughts, and observations from the past 5 days or so…

#1- Last week, as I said in a previous post, I turned in my first grad school paper. This week I got my grade, and was pleased to find out that my undergraduate education did indeed pay off. I owe my professors a lot for making me feel so prepared and ready for grad school.

#2- Today I took one of my clients to her (court-ordered) community service, and served with her for 3 hours. I hope that today was a good start to earning her trust so I can help her help herself. Her case is so complicated, and her relationship with her parents is so rough. It’s just hard to know what I should be saying and how I should be going about helping them.

#3- I went out to Soundview on Wednesday with my coworkers (the ProTeen team) and we did the Challenge Course. We did initiatives (teambuilding) in the morning and then high ropes in the afternoon. I haven’t been out at camp for more than 2 years now, and it felt so amazing to go back to a place that I used to call home. I’ll admit, I was a little nervous, but it was so refreshing to be back there. Soundview is such a special place that played a huge role in my life for more than 13 years. It was fun to see my coworkers experience something that I love, and get to see a place that really shaped who I am now.

#4- I got cable and internet set up in my apartment, and this is the first time in my adult life I haven’t needed bunny ears and duct tape to get five channels! Now I can see and hear all of the channels. It’s quite nice!

#5- I got gas for $3.11 a gallon today! It’s sad that I am excited about that amount, but it seems so cheap relative to the prices in the last 6 months.

Well, that’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll put some new apartment pictures up soon…

a busy week and a half...

Well, since its been about a week and a half since I last posted, I figured it was about time! BIG NEWS: I have moved into my new apartment! A big shout out to Mom and Tracy who helped big time, and carried lots of heavy things up the stairs! I absolutely LOVE my new place, and I really would love to show it to you all, so if you are ever in Tacoma please call. I will post new pictures soon, but I am not as slick at posting pictures as Kara, so we'll see...

I also am now full swing into my classes. I turned in my first paper last thursday (yikes!) and I have another one due next week. I am a little nervous to get my first once back, because I just don't know how my writing measures up to what they are expecting.

Work is going alright... my program STILL hasn't started, and i'm starting to get pretty frustrated. I am doing a bunch of stuff for NLF and ProTeen, but I have yet to actually go out to Mt. Tahoma. I guess the school district is taking forever to finalize the contract, so I am very eagerly awating the day when that happens. I just don't really feel like I am doing anything that substantive, which kind of sucks because that's what I signed up for. After more than a month, I am pretty ready to get going... That's why I can sit here at work and write my blog, because I don't really have anything better to do! :-)

I really like all of the people i'm working with, and tomorrow we are going on a little ProTeen retreat. We're going out to SoundView and we're going to do the ropes course. I'm excited, because I haven't been out there in over 2 years, which is so sad because I spent the majority of my life from ages 8 and 20 out there! I can't wait to take my coworkers out to a place that is really special in my life.

That's it for now... off to drink some (more) coffee... :-)

it's official....

... i am a total nerd! Last night was my first class in my 3 year quest to get my MSW. As they said at orientation, "3 years will pass anyway, and you can either be 3 years old with an MSW or without one"

Last night when I sat down in the classroom I felt back "at home". After 17 years of formal continuous education, the last 3 1/2 months have felt kind of odd. Admittedly, I have enjoyed not cramming for tests or writing papers at 2 in the morning or doing reading 5 minutes before a class that I should have done the previous night, but it felt so good to be back in a classroom.

My cohort (everyone who will graduate in 2011) is made up of approximately 40 students, and I am most likely the youngest! Probably 75% of the people are over age 40 and are working in a human services agency, others are not working in the field. Most of them have been out of school for longer then I've been alive, so it is a total different classroom environment than your typical Whitworth undergrad class.

I already have my first paper due next week, which is kind of thrilling and terrifying at the same time. They basically told us at orientation: "if you aren't a good writer you are either going to fail out, drop out, or need to get tons of help." I wasn't too worried because I consider myself a pretty good writer. Then last night our professor said, "if you are a great writer you need to get even better and if you are a mediocre writer you [basically need to either get lots of help or leave]". Now those weren't his exact words but they are pretty close. So now I am a little nervous, because my entire grade for this course is based on 2 papers and a presentation. Most of you know I have this sick love of writing papers and editing them, I just hope my skills are up to par with what they are hoping for.

In other news, my job with NLF is going, (how do I put it tactfully?), UUGH. My program still isn't started, so I've been doing random things like baby-sitting my coworkers kids during the day, being the "coffee girl", working on the big fundraising event we’re doing in November… So I’ve been doing lots of little things, but nothing at all related to the job I was hired for. I am a little frustrated. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been great seeing how NLF works, meeting lots of people, getting comfortable around the office, but I feel like I am doing just cushy stupid stuff that makes no difference. I am anxious to get started with what I was hired to do— help facilitate change!

I do have two cases I am helping case manage, so I have been on some home visits and to court to be there for my clients, but other than that I haven’t really had any client contact. I am trying to be patient, but by nature I am not a patient person, so it’s getting more challenging by the day.

I’m glad it’s Friday! I hope you are reading and enjoying my blog, and I miss all of you Spokane people SO MUCH!

My New Apartment!

After weeks of looking and looking, I found an apartment! It's in the Stadium District of Tacoma, which for those of you who know Tacoma is a fun neighborhood in North Tacoma next to the waterfront. It's a cute older building, and i'm on the 2nd floor (of 3). I'm moving in about a week and a half, right aroud Oct. 1st! As a side note, if you have any furniture you want to give away, let me know! :-)

Here are some pics of the building and the apartment, more to follow once I move in!

The bathroom, it's purple, and there's a clawfoot tub and a cute little antique-y sink!

The side of the building

This is the front door to the building, you can press a button and talk to me in my apartment, then I can buzz you in!

That's all for now! For more apartment pictures and other recent pictures, visit:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024220&l=c639a&id=59400207

My First Client(s)!

This week has been great so far! I have a client! Two, actually! Since my program (Street Behaviors) hasn’t gotten the contract finalized with the school district, I have gone with one of the case managers on some family visits. And in the process I got my first client! Alex (the case manager) is this big black guy, and so I think he felt like I could identify more with teenage caucasian females than he can!

Anyway, she is a 15 year old girl who started hanging around the wrong group of friends, and her and two friends broke in to her parents house and stole some guns and other stuff… Then her two friends used the guns to rob a gas station around the corner. She was in detention and we actually met her parents at court a few weeks ago. She’s now out, and on house arrest (the only exceptions are for school and work and such). Her sentencing hearing is next week, and she’s most likely going to get community service and probation. So we’re going to help set her up with her community service, and then I am going to be spending some time just hanging out with her and trying to be a positive influence.

My second client is a 16 year old girl who has a 2 year old daughter, and is currently in detention for DV charges (domestic violence). Again, we’re going to work on setting her up with resources to help with anger issues, parenting, and also set hopefully get her on track to graduation.

I am so excited to have clients! Finally I feel like I am doing some actual work!

That’s all for now. Look for a post soon about grad school orientation and *hopefully* a new apartment!