Sara's Job

I now have a job! Can you believe it? I have been meaning to write about this for a while now but the last month has been pretty busy since I started working and I haven't had the time I wanted to do this. I know that some of you know that I'm working and all of the details about it, but I'll share all of the who, what, where, when and why for everyone else who I don't get to talk with as often as I would like.
A year ago I was in school and was sort-of thinking about working. Curtis and I were in the Temple on Valentines Day last year and we saw Jim Grigg and his wife in the cafeteria. Jim is a distant relative of mine (I think that my great-grandma and his grandpa were brother and sister) and had been in my parents ward in Kuna at one time or another. He asked me what degree I was going to be graduating with and was very excited when I told him Social Work. Jim is the owner of Kuna Counseling Center and is a individual and family Counselor. He told me that whenever I wanted to start working that I should give him a call and he would have a job for me. So I tucked that info away and didn't think about it for a while.
After having some much needed time off from school I was encouraged (in August) to get a job from my counselor at Vocational Rehabilitation. They helped pay for most of my schooling and in return I was suppose to find a job and keep it for at least three months. By doing this they would be able to call my case a success and be able to get more funds from the government to in turn help someone else with a disability to find employment as well. I didn't want to work at first and was very overwhelmed by this, mostly for health reasons. After looking and talking with Curtis, I finally decided that I should just call up Jim and ask him if he still had a job for me. When I made the phone call I was pretty much hired on the spot w/out to many questions. I went in the next day to talk to Jim about becoming a PsychoSocial Rehabilitation Worker (PSRW). (Basically one-on-one with someone who has a mental illness who needs help learning social skills and how to manage their illness....a lot like working with my sister Brenda) We discovered that since I had my Social Work degree I had to be licensed in order to work as a PSRW. So that started the long process of me taking my licensure exam....about 3 months or so from filling out the paper work to take the exam to getting the paper in the mail that said I was an official Licensed Social Worker (LSW).
I kept in touch with Jim over the last 6 months and in January was finally feeling well enough to start working. I called him on a Friday and at the time he didn't have a position opened for me (mostly because all of the clients that needed a PSRW had one), but he would put me on the top of his list to call when something came up. I thought it would be a month or so before something came up but NO.....the very next Monday (Sam's birthday, Jan 19) he called and said that one of his workers left to go somewhere else and work and that he had a position opened for me with as many hours as I wanted. I went on Jan. 21 to fill out paper work and attend the weekly training meetings of the other PSRW's and have been busy working since then. It all happened really fast for me, but I've been very blessed to get this job when I did. Jim knows all about my health problems (Samantha use to nanny his 5 or 6 kids and worked in the office at one time too) and was completely ok with me setting the amount of hours that I wanted to work. Being a PSRW I basically work when ever I want....my client is allowed 4 hrs a week and we can work together anytime as long as it fits in with my schedule and theirs. Most of the PSRWs have at least 3 or more clients, but Jim is completely fine with me having only 1 client (I may try to pick up another one in a month or so....we'll see). Even though I only get paid for 4 hrs w/my client and for my hour of supervision/training each week, I am working a little more than that. I don't get paid to do all my paperwork or finding resources to use with my client. So right now I'm probably putting in around 8-10 hrs a week with all of that factored in too. Yes, it is very part time, but it is perfect for me! (of course all the time I spend taking care of myself is basically like having a full time job!)
A little about my client: I'm working with a 9 yr old girl who lives in Nampa. She has ADD/ADHD and is all boy (aka very much a tomboy at heart). She is VERY smart and pretty fun to be around. Right now we spend a lot of time playing games like Operation and Mancala and talking a lot. I'm suppose to teach her how to respect adults, understand her ADD/ADHD and learn coping skills during times when she is stressed. On paper it sounds kinda hard, but I'm learning that it really isn't too bad, it's a lot of common sense skills that I'm teaching her that come naturally to most people. Right now my biggest challenge is learning to ask the right questions or learning to understand what questions I have that I need to get answered, but it's slowly coming with time. I really like my job and the adventure that it is bringing into my life.