Big Changes...Again
Have you ever had one of those days when you lay down to sleep at night and find that your world is completely flipped upside down from the one you woke up to that same morning? That has been the story of my life the past few days. I'm sure there will be many questions to come so I will try answer them all here. :-)
Back in July, I found out about a program in Riverton called Bridges Habilitation. They offered three services to the community - Case Management, Wrap Around (helping families with kids that are mentally ill), and Positive Paths (a skills program therapy where developmentally disabled adults come during the day to learn skills to better their lives). I got hired on part time at the end of July and then full-time September 1st to be a case manager. I honestly had no idea such a job existed and was so excited to get to help those that our society often deem as the 'least of these.' It would take several weeks for my case worker certification to get approved so I helped with the Positive Paths program in the meantime. I would pick clients up in the morning and take them to therapy, interact with them throughout there day, sometimes sit in on therapy sessions, and then take them home at the end of the day. I. Loved. It. So very, very much! There is something about the joy and innocence of their hearts that often made me laugh and sometimes made me cry. I was enjoying every minute of it.
As I began to ease into case management duties, I realized it didn't offer as much interaction with the clients as I was wanting. Basically it boiled down to one home visit a month and a bunch of paperwork. Now don't get me wrong, our world needs case workers like these. I shared an office with a wonderful woman who has such an amazing heart for the homeless and brain injured in our community. Riverton is so blessed to have someone with her heart and her passion. I realized, though, that case management wasn't my passion. I wanted more one-on-one interaction with the clients, more every day time with them - like what the Positive Paths program offered. So I approached my boss and shared my heart and we decided I would continue with case management while continuing to help with Positive Paths as well. I was so happy and thankful that even if case management wasn't my forte, working with the Positive Paths client would help off\set that.
Then came the news this week that the Positive Paths program was being discontinued. I was literally in shock and was devastated that I would no longer get to see and work with these people each day. Not only had I grown to love the clients, but our little staff was awesome and I looked forward to working with them each day. I was ready to quit my job the evening I got the email but I told myself to be a grown up and give the case management job a go for a few months.
The next morning, reality began to sink in and I realized that if I was going to make the decision to leave the case management position, I needed to do it sooner rather than later. There were to be a lot of transition meetings this month in order to transfer clients to me starting December 1st. I would hate to have all those meetings and complete all the paperwork to have those clients transferred to me, only to decide I didn't want do the job anymore.
I gave my two weeks notice that afternoon. This was on Thursday and one night later, on Friday evening, I am so in awe of how my God works. I have a full-time babysitting job for a sweet little baby in our church. There is the possibility of watching a 3 year old boy too, and I will be watching my Ryan Joe on some of the days he doesn't have school. My boss at Bridges is also allowing me to stay on very part-time, with just three clients that I already know and love. I also still have my job at the church as Children's Church Director and pet-sitting jobs come up all the time. Financially, I will be just fine and I will be back to doing what my heart loves - hanging out with kids. (Did you hear me?? A baby!! A 6 month old baby!!)
Bridges is a wonderful organization, run by people with huge hearts that absolutely love other people. I will miss those I have gotten to work with so much and I am so very thankful for the opportunity I was given the past few months. My eyes were opened to how much I love working with developmentally disabled adults and if the opportunity comes up in the future to work with them, I would definitely consider it. But for now, I believe God is shutting that door and opening another one. He is faithful!
"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" ~ Closing Time by Semisonic
Back in July, I found out about a program in Riverton called Bridges Habilitation. They offered three services to the community - Case Management, Wrap Around (helping families with kids that are mentally ill), and Positive Paths (a skills program therapy where developmentally disabled adults come during the day to learn skills to better their lives). I got hired on part time at the end of July and then full-time September 1st to be a case manager. I honestly had no idea such a job existed and was so excited to get to help those that our society often deem as the 'least of these.' It would take several weeks for my case worker certification to get approved so I helped with the Positive Paths program in the meantime. I would pick clients up in the morning and take them to therapy, interact with them throughout there day, sometimes sit in on therapy sessions, and then take them home at the end of the day. I. Loved. It. So very, very much! There is something about the joy and innocence of their hearts that often made me laugh and sometimes made me cry. I was enjoying every minute of it.
As I began to ease into case management duties, I realized it didn't offer as much interaction with the clients as I was wanting. Basically it boiled down to one home visit a month and a bunch of paperwork. Now don't get me wrong, our world needs case workers like these. I shared an office with a wonderful woman who has such an amazing heart for the homeless and brain injured in our community. Riverton is so blessed to have someone with her heart and her passion. I realized, though, that case management wasn't my passion. I wanted more one-on-one interaction with the clients, more every day time with them - like what the Positive Paths program offered. So I approached my boss and shared my heart and we decided I would continue with case management while continuing to help with Positive Paths as well. I was so happy and thankful that even if case management wasn't my forte, working with the Positive Paths client would help off\set that.
Then came the news this week that the Positive Paths program was being discontinued. I was literally in shock and was devastated that I would no longer get to see and work with these people each day. Not only had I grown to love the clients, but our little staff was awesome and I looked forward to working with them each day. I was ready to quit my job the evening I got the email but I told myself to be a grown up and give the case management job a go for a few months.
The next morning, reality began to sink in and I realized that if I was going to make the decision to leave the case management position, I needed to do it sooner rather than later. There were to be a lot of transition meetings this month in order to transfer clients to me starting December 1st. I would hate to have all those meetings and complete all the paperwork to have those clients transferred to me, only to decide I didn't want do the job anymore.
I gave my two weeks notice that afternoon. This was on Thursday and one night later, on Friday evening, I am so in awe of how my God works. I have a full-time babysitting job for a sweet little baby in our church. There is the possibility of watching a 3 year old boy too, and I will be watching my Ryan Joe on some of the days he doesn't have school. My boss at Bridges is also allowing me to stay on very part-time, with just three clients that I already know and love. I also still have my job at the church as Children's Church Director and pet-sitting jobs come up all the time. Financially, I will be just fine and I will be back to doing what my heart loves - hanging out with kids. (Did you hear me?? A baby!! A 6 month old baby!!)
Bridges is a wonderful organization, run by people with huge hearts that absolutely love other people. I will miss those I have gotten to work with so much and I am so very thankful for the opportunity I was given the past few months. My eyes were opened to how much I love working with developmentally disabled adults and if the opportunity comes up in the future to work with them, I would definitely consider it. But for now, I believe God is shutting that door and opening another one. He is faithful!
"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" ~ Closing Time by Semisonic
Congratulations. We serve an awesome God my forever friend
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