Working from home

In which one Social Worker has T-minus one week left before nearly a month of annual leave to Canada and still has ten open cases including several reports to complete. Resolution? Approval granted to work from home.

1. No phone calls.
2. Relaxed breakfast (Scottish Porridge, Honeyed Greek Yogurt, English Strawberries) and tea!
3. Breaks on the balcony in the sun (25•C today in London)
4. One completed Section 7 report for the Court and several updated case notes.
5. I should do this more often.

Perks

One of the upsides of social work in the uk is the amount of training we receive. Wednesday I went to the Community Care Live day in islington and had a good time scooping up the perks of the day, like this bag of ‘sweeties’ from a recruitment agency.

Alison and I misses one of the big sessions where Eileen Munro – a big name in social policy- spoke about changes she’s suggested in the famous ‘Munro Report.’ we did get to do a bit of art instead…

Graffiti! We got to paint on the statement wall. Ahhhh art therapy. How I love thee!

What it feels like to have no plan aka surface dwelling

A few years back I had it all sorted out and then suddenly my ‘great plan’ changed. It wasn’t my choice, but it was the card that I was dealt and I took it in stride (after a few long months of self-pity). I decided that it was time to stop planning. It was time to let things happen as they may and stop trying to control things, mainly my life path.

I went to Ireland.
I had no purpose and hated it.
I came home, not sure what to do and took a ‘temporary’ job in my hometown.
I fell in love with the job.
The wanderlust took over.
I fell out of love with the job.
I decided it was time to leave my hometown.
I chose to relocate to London (England, not Ontario which was a very different option).

I had a plan.

A year into my move to the UK, I am now settled into my flat. I have a network of good friends and a system worked out to stay in touch with my loved ones back home. I have a stable career using my social work degree.

I’m content, but something feels like it’s missing.

It’s the plan. After arriving in London all semblance of my life plan has been completed. I literally have no next-step. I have no clear idea of what is to come next or even what I want.

This is becoming a serious dive away from surface dwelling.

I need some answers or clarity or something… Because right now I’m just floating along and there’s something about that that doesn’t feel right.

End.

Toil time!!

One of the perks of working in social services is toil time. At my work am able to bank overtime ad use it later. This morning I left my flat early in order to arrive at a training course in time. I was let into the building but had to wait for the tutor, and by 9:30 he hadn’t shown up; neither had most of the attendees. Turns out he was at another workshop in North London, and ours was cancelled. Disappointing, but I managed to swing some Toil Time and ended up with a (nearly) full day on my hands.

Time off work is great, but on a Thursday all of my friends are busy with work, and I just didn’t feel like spending the day inside (despite the chilly temperature today). I could have gone shopping, but I’m still on a relatively tight budget and with several visitors this month, need to conserve. I was on the train with one of the other delegates from the failed training session, and as we pulled in to Maze Hill, I decided on a whim to hop off. Turns out that Maze Hill is just on the other side of Greenwich Park, so I went for a stroll.

The twisted trees in Greenwich Park.
Queen Elizabeth’s Oak, standing on its own in Greenwich Park.

Hipstamatic kept shaking in my pocket, so every photo I took used a different setting. This is a view up towards the Royal Observatory.

I was absolutely floored by these glorious blooms. It’s above freezing right now, but it’s still chilly – my hands were frozen. These flowers are going strong, though!

And then a bit further down the path, I heard a rustling in the bushes. It could have been an animal, but I swear I heard some change jingling in a pocket. Then all these pigeons surrounded me (literally) and this one hopped up onto the fence and started behaving erratically, as you can see. So I left.

This is the gate I left through. Then I walked around the front of the other museums…

The National Maritime Museum and…

… a view of the park from The Queen’s House. Then I found some food.

Spaghetti with Mussels.

After lunch, I went to a ceramic cafe, but more on that later!

Stress and release.

No one ever said it’s easy being a social worker. What with tight timescales and deadlines, lack of available resources for families, bad hair days, and a learning curve as big as ( insert large landmark here), I often find myself looking forward to the end of the day when I can do things like veg in front of the tv while tangling myself in yarn and sipping some Horlicks.

Life as a Social Worker

I’m in my third week of work now, and although I’m still very fresh, I think I am going to like it. It’s a high demand position – I already have six cases, which means that I will always have something to do. Each scenario I’ve run into thus-far has been different. I do like a challenge, and my team seems very supportive whenever I have a question or need some assistance. I’ve been working late to try to stay on top of things – because I’m new to this it is taking me extra time to complete assignments because I want to make sure I’m covering all required areas. I know that once I become more familiar with the process I will feel less overwhelmed, though.

One downfall – because I started on Jan 10, and payday is the 22, I missed the first pay period. We are paid monthly as council staff, so I won’t receive my first pay until Feb 22. For anyone who is planning on coming here, I recommend saving up a lot of money. At least 4000$ Cnd, just in case. I’m still dipping into my savings at this point. I would also recommend applying for jobs prior to arriving here, because they interview stage takes a while, as does the processing of police clearances, etc. Agency staff get paid more, but permanent staff get a lot of perks, so you’ll have to weigh out the benefits of each to decide. Agency staff require a minimum of 2 years child protection or adult services experience (read: assessment experience). I’m happy that I am permanent.

I’m so shattered – morning comes so early nowadays. But it means I treasure weekends, again.

I love Fridays!

First Day

I’m a working girl again.
It’s late, and I’m tired, but I want to give a quick briefing of my first day:
0723h – wake up (late – i forget to check that my alarm was set for 7am Monday), make lunch, cook breakfast, get ready for work
0840h – leave for tube station
0850h – decide to wait for second scheduled tube as first is packed like a can of sardines. elect to cram myself in to second tube out of fear of being late.
0900h – sardines quietly file out of Jubilee line tube at Canary Wharf leaving an empty car for me to enjoy reading the METRO
0909h – change at Canning Town for the DLR
0918h – arrive at my destination station and discover that the nearest exit puts me three minutes closer to work
0925h – walk into my new place of employment and begin the day

So some of the details: I will be working 9:00 – 5:30 Monday to Thursday, and 9:00 – 4:30 on Fridays; I have 6 leave days to use prior to March 31, and in the new fiscal year will have 28 days to use as well as bank holidays; I have one rota day off every five weeks – not sure yet why this is; I will not have my own desk because we ‘hot desk’; my team seems very welcoming and supportive; there are two other new people that started today, and two more next week.

Now to figure out the pension plan… to opt in or not to opt in; that is the question! I was planning on making RSP-type investments while here – does anyone have any pension advice? Specifically, what happens if I opt out after a year?

A Wee Work Update

The ring of my mobile served as an adequate alarm this morning, with the news that I have an established start date for work.
As of January 10, 2011 I will once again be gainfully employed. I so look forward to returning to work – not simply to be earning an income again (although that will be brilliant), but because nearly six months off work does bizarre things to my mind. Need a purpose again!

VINTAGE leather tstrap MARYJANE on Etsy

NQSW Program

Imagine that – a post about social work. They’ve been few and far between on this blog, considering that social work is the reason I decided to move to England. But on Thursday last week I was invited to attend a meeting of Newly Qualified Social Workers recently hired by my employer, and I learned a bit more about the national NQSW program.

For those of you interested in what the NQSW program is all about, here’s a bit of information from the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s website:
CWDC’s Newly Qualified Social Worker (NQSW) programme enables employers to offer a consistent, high quality, 12 month support package to those in their first year of employment as a social worker with families and children.

The programme is now entering its third year and we are continuing to work with employers to deliver a programme of support for NQSWs that offers:

* a comprehensive induction schedule through their first year of employment;
* high quality supervision and training;
* easy-to-use guidance materials; and
* a professional development plan designed to increase confidence and maximise capability.

I meet the participation requirements because, although I have not graduated in the past year, my position with the council will be my first in England and I am internationally trained. Thus I qualify. More support in a new position makes me feel very content.