I was hoping by now I could post about my new clients. Problem is, I don’t have any.
First, I got my liability insurance. I’m covered as a part time contractor and the insurance is pretty cheap. My NASW membership was more than twice the insurance cost.

I waited for a while to see if I could get self pay clients but the agency I volunteer at didn’t have any for me. I found out during the school year, interns take a lot of their self pay and sliding scale clients.

So I asked if I could apply to work with insured clients. I filled out all of the paperwork (it’s really long), got an NPI number, turned in copies of my license and learned how to do all of their insurance paperwork and I have been waiting for over a month. I know from a previous job that insurance companies take a long time to approve new clinicians. I know from volunteering that the agency takes a long time to get things done. So right now I am actually losing money by volunteering since I am paying for insurance and a NASW membership.

There is always the possibility of going to another agency to be a contractor or fee for service provider but I like the agency I volunteer at. I can come in on the days I choose and see only adults. The other agencies I have come across want a Saturday and a clinician that will see children and families.

At my job, I’ve started supervising interns and coordinating the internship program instead of just assisting. I like working with interns. It amazes me when I say something and they write it down. I have a good relationship with my students and they seem to accept that I am learning as I go. They tell me “for the next round of interns” when they find mistakes in our supervision or orientation process.
I try to be very hands on to learn how to make everything better for the students. This is a huge time suck. I’ve spent hours meeting with a student that I was not supervising. I am at the point that my job could be split off into two positions, one dealing only with interns and universities. Too bad that I am in non-profit land and that will never happen. So I will have to do a better job of preparing other supervisors “for the next round.”

The boy and I have been dieting and working out for a few weeks. We’ve both already lost weight and I’m feeling stronger but that isn’t really making the transition much easier. It’s great to step on the scale and see weight loss or to notice new muscle striations in my arms. It sucks to feel hungry or tired or crave candy.

We work out 5-6 times a week, for me a combination of cardio/weights at Bally’s and classes at Flirty Girl Fitness. Flirty Girl classes are surprisingly hard. I haven’t taken any of the pole/stripper-robics type classes. I have taken classes that involve circuit training, lots of sit ups with medicine balls and step ups onto chairs. (That last one practically killed me.)

On the diet side, I’m aiming for about 1200 calories a day.  At first, that sounded too low so I was eating more around 1500 and not losing. I can go down to about 800 a day but then I’m cranky, hungry and so bored with salad.  I used FitDay to figure out what I could eat in my calorie range. I don’t keep track of my food daily but it was helpful when I was starting to figure out just how much I can eat.

I think the biggest changes have been sweets and liquor. I eat a lot of fruit so I still get sugar but no candy at the movies, funnel cake at the street fair, cupcakes just because it’s someone birthday at work. And I haven’t had a drink since we started. I’m usually a juice and liquor mixed drink person, so my drinks aren’t as fatty as beer but aren’t as low cal as diet coke and liquor. I don’t drink carbonated things so I have to find something I can have other than liquor on the rocks. I’m not that hardcore.

So some foods that have kept me from going crazy with soo many boring salads and wraps:

Chicken salad with tofu herb dressing
I made the dressing seperately and use it like a salad dressing. I’m new to tofu so I don’t know how to cook with it but this recipe just requires food processing or blending. The dressing is creamy like a ranch dressing.

Banana “ice cream”
Peel and freeze a banana. Blend or food process it. Refreeze if its gooey. Add nuts or berries as toppings if you like.

Egg whites
Egg white scrambles for breakfast! Throw in whatever veggies you like.

Sugar free jello
Makes you feel like you’re eating something

Not that those foods completely keep me from going crazy and wanting to eat Zingers but they help :)

So I’m on my way to being a contractual therapist. I joined the NASW and applied for liability insurance through NASW. I had to clarify a few details with the insurance company about my FT job and my contractual position. It appears that if you work in a clinical position and as a contractual therapist, you are not eligible for part time insurance, even if you do not need insurance for your clinical position. I don’t work in a clinical position, so I am elgible for part time insurance which ended up being pretty cheap.

I keep checking out empty office space around my apartment. I can’t help but to think ahead to having the holistic wellness center I’ve wanted since getting my MSW. I know there are lots of steps in between like starting as a contractual therapist, getting expereince as an intern/LCSW supervisor and learning more about running a small business.

I received my license in the mail so I’m all official now!

When studying for the exam, I noticed a lack of centralized study guides, reviews of un-official study materials and answers to general exam questions. I added to the mess with my last post but it would be really nice if state NASW sites would create a better exam prep page/site. Right now on the NASW-IL site, there is a general page about exam requirements and NASW sponsored test prep sessions. Same info that has been up since I started grad school.

Now that I am licensed, I’m looking liability(malpractice) insurance so I can go from being a volunteer therapist to a part time contractual therapist at the agency I’ve been finishing my clinical hours at. No surprise, I’m encountering the same lack of information. Luckily, my clinical supervisor has a private practice and I can ask him my questions.
From what I’ve read so far, I have to be a member of the NASW to get liability insurance. NASW membership – $190. Insurance – varies depending on FT/PT and how many years you’ve been in practice. Don’t think you get a discount for experience, the price goes up each year.
So now I have to calculate how much I can make with a couple contractual clients vs how much it will cost to get insurance. I’m already seeing clients that don’t pay a fee. I tried to get all of my clients to see me on Saturdays when I started and slowly all of my clients migrated to a weeknight. People’s schedules change so I have to be somewhat flexible but I don’t want to end up making multiple trips to see one client at a time.

So as I find out more about insurance and being a contractual therapist, I will post more. I can try to make this blog at least a little useful :)

I took the exam this morning and yay yay yay after some paperwork, I will be an LCSW!
So while everything is fresh in my head, I thought I would post about studying and the exam.
Studying:
Some test prep sites are questionable. After disagreeing with some answers, I decided to focus on studying facts, things that can be proved by a quick Google search. So I didn’t pay attention to any of the “What do you do first” type questions. I knew I needed to study up on things like theories I don’t use and stages of development. I’ve been studying since my last post so about 2 months. My very supportive boyfriend reassuring me and encouraging me to study helped a lot, too. :)

So sites that helped me:
Social Work Podcast
The earlier podcasts cover a theory per podcast. The bibliography is a good resource, too. I noticed a few books cites multiple times and bought older versions of them for a few dollars on Amazon.

LCSW Blog
Social Work Test Prep Blog
These are blogs by people that are also studying or have studied for the exam. Social Work Test Prep is in CA so the exam is different than the exam in IL but the info is still useful.

LCSW Flashcards
User created flashcard sets. Actually good for multiple subjects, not just the LCSW exam.

A friend gave me her study tools. She subscribed to one of the sites that emails a question per day. She collected the questions and answers and used that along with brief descriptions of theories, developmental stages and diagnostic criteria.

I used some of the same tools I used for the LSW exam. I have a practice exam from Social Work Examination Services that I got in grad school. I also reviewed The Complete Guide to Social Work book.

The test:
I went to the Uptown ACT test center in Chicago. If you choose this location, I would recommend public transportation because the meters are for 2 hours and the exam probably takes longer. It rained a lot last night and my meter had condensation in it and I couldn’t read the display. So I took a pic and went inside. Ended up being OK.
Dress in layers! The exam room was pretty cold. This location is really loud (for a test center). I took my LSW exam downtown and it was almost silent. At Uptown, there are little kids from some program down the hall constantly running up and down the hall and screaming. There was a group of people singing and then a woman bellowing, er, singing after that. I heard staff hush the kids multiple times and they had a sign in the hall so it wasn’t their fault. They have big headphones you can wear to block noise and a staff person reminded me about the headphones when the kids started to get noisy. I think you can bring earplugs in, too. I can deal with the noise but if you’re a person that needs silence for test taking, go downtown or some other location.

I saw the word “acknowledge” a billion times. I swear, every “what would you do first” question had an “acknowledge client’s thoughts/feelings” response. And a couple times in the questions the last line said “After acknowledging the client’s feeling, your next step would be…” So I took that to mean that acknowledge was the correct answer.

Most of the content was predictable. I finished in just under 2 hours. I reviewed the first 20 questions because that’s how long I felt it took me to calm down and get in a good test taking state of mind.

So now I figure out the paperwork stuff and I get to make a new sign for my office door at work!

I’m studying for the LCSW exam, hoping to take it by the end of the month. I’ve been hunting for new study aids to see if anything awesome and wonderful has come out since I took the LSW exam 2 years ago. I haven’t found the magic book of passing the exam but I have found a couple new resources.
The Social Work Podcast has been useful so far. Go back to the earlier podcasts, they cover more basic topics. They are concise, interesting and I like the podcaster’s voice.
Social Work Chat Forums A fairly active message board (even though no one has answered my licensure question yet!)about social work topics including licensure.
LCSW Exam Blog I’ve just started reading it. The author covers DSM diagnoses, theories and test taking tips.
I’m searching for a book my clinical supervisor recommended. He said it’s a clinical social work text that gives brief overviews of client topics and the author is Brandler. He mentioned it because he was going to see a new couple and hadn’t seen a couple in a while so he read the chapter on working with couples as a refresher. There is a Brandler that writes social work books, but she writes about group social work. I found a book by Brandell but it doesn’t seem action/treatment focused the way my supervisor was describing.
My brother is an undergrad at a local uni so I’ve been asking him to grab random texts for me.

And if anyone in internetland reads this blog, the basic question that is unanswered on the forum is: Is my clinical supervisor contacted to verify paperwork that I turn in to the Dept of Professional Regulations? It would be supersweet if the actual Dept could answer my question but they don’t answer their phone or emails.

I’m surrounded by clothes that need to be put away, jerseys that need to be put on Ebay and books that need to be read but it’s been a while, I was just feelings guilty about not keeping up my blog.
And I have news!
My agency finally got a grant! Wooooo!
It’s not a research grant, I would be busting out cap lock for that. It’s a program grant but there is an evaluation piece in it that I would be responsible for. I hope this gets me a raise, too.
I probably bitched about this grant months ago. It was all last minute like things usually are at my agency. We rushed around the day before it was due to complete everything. I don’t even think I proofread all of it. My boss drove to the only Fed-Ex location (other than O’Hare) in the area open until 9:30pm.
Right now we are working with a university on a proposal for a research grant. I hope this process teaches us how to work smarter not faster. We have mini due dates before the actual due date of the proposal. We have clearly defined roles as to who writes what section and everyone is aware of their role. We have email and conference call check ins to see how everyone is doing.
Ideally, this process will give my boss the backbone to come back to the agency and demand more of our coworkers next time the agency writes a proposal. We’re a busy agency and use our busy-ness as an excuse as to why we can’t get anything done. It’s long overdue to see these competitive grants as a necessary part of daily tasks and not an addition. We are not going to survive on the funding we have now.
So I guess I should get back to writing my part of the research grant.

I started basic burlesque class at Studio L’Amour last week. Boxing is out, burlesque is in. Hopefully burlesque is a bit more successful. I have high hopes because unlike park district boxing, burlesque class is structured. It feels weird for me to say I want structure but when I am a newbie to something, yes I need an instructor that says “Step 1,2,3 and BOUNCE!” I don’t know how those Montessori kids do it.

As usual, I was just a little bit off for the first class. The instructor said we could wear gym shoes or heels and workout clothes. I figured out this does not mean wear basketball shorts so I wore kind of tight yoga capris. I didn’t figure out that gym shoes would be really bad for the small foot movements sexy walking. Or that a loose fitting tshirt would cover my hips. Hips are the best part of dancing! I kind of suck at being a girl but I will try better next time!

At the end of the month when class is done, the new park district session will start. The boy and I joined the park district fitness center. It’s a pretty small fitness center which leaves no room for me to hide in a corner and sweat over my 20 pound weights without anyone staring at me. The goal is to drop my desired amount of weight by the time I hit 30!

No food pics this time! I did make creme brulee for the first time last week. It turned out tasty and the kitchen torch is fun to use. Also don’t shop at Jewel or Dominick’s for vanilla beans! 1 vanilla bean was $12 at Dominick’s and I went to Cost Plus World market and 2 beans were $3 there.

I came to the conclusion that I just really like tasty food. I like cooking, going to new restaurants, trying new flavors. Maybe if I worked in the food industry, I wouldn’t like food as much. Just like how I don’t have any interest in being a therapist now that I have clients. It’s not really as dramatic as it sounds. I’m just having a hard time with a client and wake up on the days I play therapist, hoping my clients have canceled. I don’t want them to stay sick, I just want them to get well with someone else.

I have a client that is draining me and she has a type of mental illness that doesn’t usually have a great recovery. So she is going to stay like this for a long time, maybe forever. If I had my own private practice, she would be mine to deal with for years. I may have mentioned it before, I was talking to my supervisor about keeping my clients after my supervision hours were finished. I said I would be OK seeing my clients for a few months but it’s not like I wanted to keep them on for a year. He looked surprised and asked why not. As a private practice therapist, he wanted a client that would come regularly for a year. I’ve worked in so many short term treatment settings that I forget that this is what some social workers do. They see the same people long term. They get to know clients so well that when they bring up a random friend’s name, you don’t have to stop and ask what their relationship with that person is like.

I told my supervisor that this client was difficult and he acknowledged that she is and that there is nothing I can do about it. She is difficult in a way that I have to keep pulling her back in. I have to reassure and engage her in therapy. I have to make extra effort to be supportive. If I wouldn’t do these things, she would probably stop showing up. And there is where I’m torn! She is still coming back so obviously I’m doing my job but I’m also starting to dislike my job. All of this makes me question why I’m getting my clinical license to begin with. I know part of this is just anxiety over being a new therapist.

I realize this blog (the interesting parts at least) is kind of turning into a food blog. Eventually it will turn into something like This is why you’re Fat.

This cake actually wasn’t supposed to be very fattening. My friend asked me to make a rainbow cake for a potluck at her house. Most of my creative food stuff is for potlucks. She sent me this recipe from The Omnomicon (love the name and I’m pretty sure the author is a SA goon.) There is no rainbow cake recipe, just a white cake of your choice recipe plus tips on making it rainbowed. This cake just called for soda and cake mix.

It’s all lumpy but I was afraid to use an electric mixer because of the carbonation. It doesn’t matter in the end because you stir it a lot more when you add food coloring.
So I divided out the batter into 6 bowls and used my pretty gel dye. I thought the dye would be brighter with less. I felt like I was using a ton of dye. I was scared to make the red an actual blood red because of the amount of dye I would have to use. Isn’t red dye poisonous to children? Oh well, no kids died at the potluck. That I saw.

Then I poured the batter in to the pan, one color on top of the next. One of my friends commented that the batter looks like fake food in the movie Hook.

And then I baked it according to the box instructions plus a few more minutes like the rainbow cake directions say. Its a very squishy cake because of the soda. I took the cake out when the yellow started to look dark.
I let the cake cool while I tried my new dino muffin tins with the leftover cake batter. I set up my cooling rack and tried to get the cake out with disastrous results. The entire middle of the cake stuck, one of the sides started to slide off the rack and I started to make howling noises. No way to repair with frosting. Oh the agony of a broken cake.
No pictures of the broken cake, it was too hard to look at. The dino cakes didn’t turn out well either. The cake didn’t want to come out of the tins. It was the first time I used the muffin pan so I may not have properly greased it.
So I didn’t want to make a new cake and I didn’t want to waste the already made cake. So I made some pudding, used the whipped cream my boy made the night before for dessert, some leftover berries and made a rainbow parfait.

And it was good! It was tasty and still rainbow and kind of pretty.