Wow - I look lazy!!

I have not posted in a very long time. I apologize for those of you who were reading it :(

My second semester of grad school is coming to a close. I have no idea what to think about grades, but I'm pretty optimistic. I'm thinking As or Bs, at least! I took some really great classes this semester and am really enjoying being in school again. My Domestic Violence class was my favorite and I learned a lot. I think I've found my second passion and am looking for a way to combine the two.

There is an unfortunate disconnect between child welfare workers and domestic violence treatment providers. The problem is mainly in the professionals' duty to their client and who the identified client really is. For instance, in my line of work we are looking out for the safety of the children and that is our number one priority. So, if a parent is living in a violent environment, we are most likely going to require either the parent who is being abused to get out of the situation or to ask the abuser to leave. Well, this is not always the best solution for the person who is being abused. In DV treatment, the professional is looking at the safest solution for the person being abused. Sometimes, it is not safe for the person to leave immediately. Sometimes, it is something that can be resolved (although that is very rare). Well....my vision is to find a way for these two perspectives to begin to work together. The way I work with my families is that from the beginning, in most cases, it is in the best interest of the child to return to their family if the safety risks are resolved. So, what I'm really looking at is the best interest of the family to improve the entire situation. I haven't quite figured it all out, but there are many people who believe this needs to be worked on. My professor has promised to give my name out to anyone who has an initiative with this goal so I can become involved. Also, one of the ADAs in Travis county knows someone at SafePlace and she is going to give my name to this person as well. I hope to someday be able to work on this....just haven't figured out how yet.

In the romantic aspect, I finally dumped the boyfriend for good. I talked about him back in October and it has been very rocky for the past few months. He was disappearing from time to time and wasn't really very honest about a lot of things. I found out today that he is either married or has a girlfriend who he lives with. I know her name and all that, but I won't share it. I told him it's over and he very briefly tried to say he didn't know what I was talking about. He gave up quickly, thank goodness. Hopefully, he will just move on and maybe even get some help for himself. It really sucks that I wasted time on him, but you know, it's just another lesson learned. Although, I'm not sure what the lesson is. I guess I could say it's a repeat of that "listen to your gut" lesson. I have no idea why I can't learn that one. Oh..and the "listen to your friends" lesson.

I have some really great friends - Erin, Stephanie, Leslie, Beth, Stacie, Bethany, Verena, Rafael - and many more. All of them said all along that either (a) I should listen to my gut, or (b) he is no good and there's something he's hiding. Ugh!!

Work is stressful as usual. Oh, I wish I could talk more about that!! I had a very bad event happen and I thought I was going to either get fired or quit, but it turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought. I think I have lost the faith of some of my coworkers (not the close ones, but some at least) but I'm working on building it back up. I'm just a little paranoid about messing up again and I'm not sure if maybe I need a little change while I'm in school. I don't want to leave the agency, just maybe a position that will lighten my load. After all, next Fall is internship and that is going to be hard!!

Ok, I rambled enough. If I think of something else, I'll blog again. Hopefully, I'll blog again soon anyway. Tuesday is the last day of class and then I have a break until the end of May.

Hope all is well with you all!!!!