An Optimist

I sometimes have to remind myself to practice what I preach. One of the tools I've been assigning clients more recently is Five-Finger Thankfulness. Playfulness and positivity are not just for the kids. So, I look at my turkey-shaped hand and approach today with gratitude:


1. I am thankful for a lunchbreak that allows me to walk outside in the sunshine.

2. I am thankful for a husband who loves me by washing the bottles no matter how much he hates it.

3. I am thankful for a family who is there for the little stuff and the big stuff.

4. I am thankful for my baby's smile when I pick him up from daycare.

5. I am thankful for Elijah's 7pm bedtime so I can focus our time together on him and still eat dinner at a decent hour.


What are you thankful for today?

A Social Worker

I am a social worker.

March was Social Work Month. My intention was to write a fantastic blog about the life of a social worker - briefly but elegantly painting a picture of the social work profession, the work we do and the rich stories of client we serve.

Like I often do with clients, I had to reevaluate my expectations :)

I would like to give you a small glimpse into my professional world. As a mental health social worker, I see clients for therapy. Rather than attempt to describe what that's like, I leave you with a few quotes from one of my favorite books: Letters to a Young Therapist by Mary Pipher:

"Therapy gives clients a safe relationship in which to explore their inner world and to consider taking risks in their external one. It provides them another point of view on their own particular mixed up universe." (xix)

"For the most part, my solutions to human problems have been simple ones - get more rest, do good work, take things a day at a time, and find some people to love. Of course, simple suggestions aren't necessarily easy and they don't always work. When they don't, I generally fall back on my belief in the process of therapy." (xix)

"Good therapy should rearrange the landscapes of the mind. After therapy, people live in the world differently. Behavior may change. A client who always associated anger with violence may learn that anger can be discussed. Often people think and feel differently. The wife accepts that her husband's way of showing love is by running errands. The daughter realizes her father can never be who she wants him to be, but that she can enjoy him anyway." (36)