And the quest for change continues...

So, we had a site visit (as it is lovingly referred to) yesterday. In reality, this site visit was an audit for one of our grants, actually the grant that my position is funded by. Well, as far as I could tell, the audit seemed to go well. The audit lady seemed very interested and even a bit impressed with the program, so I think that was a good thing. She did have a lot of questions, which I think is great. During the meeting, I started daydreaming, which is not uncommon for me. I started thinking about the many things that I have not liked about my job thus far and I began imagining ways to change those things. So, here is what I have come up with.

Here is the layout. I am part of the Prevention Services team which consists of 6 prevention educators, 1 support services staff, 1 administrative assistant, 1 supervisor and 2 social workers. Basically during all our meetings since I have started at this job, the focus has been on the educators and their numbers. The social workers just kind of sit there and well...daydream. :) The other counselor and I split our time between the 7 clubs, I have 3 clubs and she has 4. We each carry a regular caseload of about 5-8 clients, which in my mind is extremely low. Now, the way a child can begin participating in counseling services is that they have to be referred by a staff member at one of the clubs. We get the referral and get the parents to sign a consent form, then we can begin counseling. Now, in my opinion there are many more kids at these clubs that could benefit from counseling services, I just think they are not being referred. I think this is true for several reasons. First off, I have noticed that most of the staff at the clubs don't even know there is a counseling component or if they know that, they are really not sure what we do or how to get a kid into counseling. Secondly, there has been a lot of turnover in these social worker positions and I think that has jaded staff members about the positive effects that counseling can have. I have definitely felt like an outsider at the clubs and even within my own staff. I think there is much education that needs to be done, so on to the plan.

here is what I am thinking. I am thinking that the other social worker and I need to get together and develop some informative flyers that can teach others exactly what our program is about. We need to lay out exactly how a kid can be referred to counseling and then what happens when they being counseling, how often we see them, what are the types of issues a child can be referred for, how often we will update staff on the progress of the kids and much more. We also need business cards (that I will develop on the computer) to make us more accessible. After this information has been developed, we plan to go to each club during their regular staff meetings and take a few minutes to introduce ourselves and explain the program and pass out all the information. I think this will help clear up any confusion about what the counseling is all about. I think it will also help the staff see our faces and learn exactly what we do. I also think it would be a good idea to go to each club and meet with the 10 year olds and up so that we can let them know what we do and if they have a problem they, can come talk to us or talk to a staff member so they can be referred to begin counseling. I think the bottom line is that we need to make the counseling department its own distinct program that all the staff members at each club know about. I think that the counseling service at the clubs is so important, but is definitely being under utilized. So, hopefully this initiative will allow for more kids to take advantage of the counseling services. It feels so great to have a purpose again. I am not the type of person that is cool just sitting around and doing nothing, so wish me luck.

Oh, by the way, Joe and I have had no further interactions. Yeah for that!!