I was able to go up to Topeka and attend the annual Governor's Conference for work. I was one of the two lucky people from my office to go (due to the state not having money to send everyone. Sad day for everyone else!). Not only did I get to enjoy some awesome workshops focusing on the prevention of child abuse and neglect but I got to have a week away from the office (though, after this week I am somewhat regretting it...I've been trying to dig my way out of a mound of paperwork, emails, phone calls, and interviews). Thankfully I've made it to the weekend and I am enjoying a relaxing Sabbath evening with my husband.
I must say, the conference helped to energize me to stay passionate about social work, find new ways to do my job, and also keep me aware of what I really want to be doing with my social work degrees. But in some ways it was depressing to realize I was not really doing what I'm completely passionate about in the social work field and that I don't have a lot of opportunities in this part of KS to do those things. Don't get me wrong, I am passionate about keeping kids safe, advocating, and doing everything that is part of my job. But I miss doing therapy, having time to be creative and involved in multiple areas of my community, seeing progress in my clients' lives, working not only from a micro prospective but also a macro prospective. The work I do sometimes seems pointless (as mentioned in this post) and as much advocating and educating my co-workers and I do, there are really no signs of change in the community or with law enforcement, county attorneys, schools, etc. Children are still unsafe in their homes/with their parents, parents are still not able to find resources in the community that will help their situations, and the professionals are still overworked or too lazy to do anything about it. If only I had more time to be able to do and be involved in half the amount of things I did during grad school. I miss doing research, community development projects, working on implementing non-profit plans,being involved with coalitions, various clubs and organizations focused on helping others, and planning international trips. Now, I get home late from work each night, barely have the energy to make dinner/clean, and then I crash onto the couch or bed to fight off a headache that has hung around for the last five hours. If it wasn't for James and Verena to give me some sort of push to do more than sit and stare off into space, sometimes I wonder how I would make it.
Anyways, enough of that. My post was supposed to be about the Governor's Conference, so not quite sure how I ended up ranting about all of that...my point was, along with the depression of knowing I was not able to completely do everything in social work that I want to do, it still got me excited again about the whole field of social work (Wow, could that sentence be any longer???).
One of the workshops I was able to attend focused on self care (that was a blast sitting in a workshop for 8 hours making cards, playing games :), getting creative on how to eliminate stress out of work <---yea right!). I even got to be on Topeka's evening news! During the workshop each table had to come up with a theme, intro of everyone, and tie it into social work and what we do. My group did some sweet acronym for DEER Social Workers and I happened to be the "deer" in our intro skit. My co-worker told me I should do a flip or something at the end when I introduce myself. Luckily I had some dress pants on so I was able to, though a little difficult due to the pants being somewhat tight. ha! Anyways, the news people came in to record part of our workshop. Another group was doing their introduction in front of the camera and asked if I wanted to be a part of their group so I could do the backflip at the end. How could I turn down the offer?? Here is the LINK to the news clip. Sorry, for some reason the site wouldn't let me upload the actual video. During the Self-care workshop we did some laughing yoga (yes this actually exists!!). I had never heard of laughing yoga before, and honestly it is somewhat awkward at first, but it is so awesome! I loved the emphasis on not only yoga but laughing. Two things that I know work to eliminate stress and make things so much better. If you've never heard of it or want more info, let me know and I will hook you up with some interesting facts, etc.
Another workshop I really enjoyed focused on keeping kids safe online as well as child pornography. It was really cool because we had law enforcement, an FBI agent from the child exploitation taskforce unit, and another lady from an agency that helps to prevent child pornography and works with the FBI on these issues presenting on the issues. It amazed me how much people in the workshop did not know about the dangers of social media and child pornography. Now that is an area we need to do more education on people!! One thing I am thankful for about my job is that I am made aware of laws/legal topics and procedures, and too many other things that a normal person does not know about...it's a little disturbing some of the things I know or talk about on a regular basis that is somewhat traumatizing (and if you don't believe me, just ask! I've got some stories to share). Anyways, if you need me to educate your child on child pornography and give them the talk (that includes sexting), let me know and I'll get on it! :) A funny thing about this workshop was that the FBI agent who was there used to work with another FBI agent who is now a police chief that we work with who is in one of the towns my office covers. She told a hilarious (but disturbing) story about our police chief that my co-worker has assured me she will be sure to use at a future time.
The two workshops on the last day of the conference were amazing! We started the morning off with listening to one of the most amazing motivational speaker ever (and he's half famous!), Derek Clark. Ever heard of the rapping dad? He has a few youtube videos that have been going around. If not, check out this video.
I videoed him on my phone during his presentation but the video was too big to email to myself so this video will have to do!
He's an author, singer/songwriter (has over 100 songs on iTunes) has been on the Oprah show, performed his music for the president, represented "People who Roar" clothing with Brad Pitt, Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, Johnny Depp, etc. He was on the Ricki Lake show, in multiple radio, tv, newspapers. His story is remarkable. He was in foster care for 13 years after his mother dropped him off at a psych hospital at the age of 5. He's passionate about life, shows how everyone has potential to become whatever you want, and promotes never giving up. I would highly recommend looking him up, buying one of his 6 books, or going to one of his events that he speaks at. He's a fantastic singer/songwriter and he's hilarious so don't worry if you have a short attention span!
The last workshop I went to focused on using yoga in a therapeutic setting. It really made me miss doing play therapy. I could think of a hundred ways I would have been able to integrate yoga into a session! I am determined to use yoga in my sessions once I have time to get back into doing therapy. I thought it was really perfect timing to go to this workshop now that I am really starting to get into doing yoga for relaxation. Therapy focuses on the mind, how the brain is thinking and working. Yoga focuses on the body as well as connecting what the brain is going through. Therapeutic yoga. How cool is that, right?
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