Social work

This May marks my third year in social work. But it feels like it has been five years. The amount of work I have done, the number of varied experiences I have been through, simply overflows out of the three-year period.

In a conversation I had with my boss yesterday, she asked: "How long have you been involved in xxx project?" I replied, without batting an eyelid: "Four years." Then, we both burst out laughing. How could it be, when I had joined the organisation only three years ago?

The work tires me sometimes, but I am still going on. Social work used to be such a mystery to me. But today, I know that there are so many variations of it - community outreach, group interventions, clinical therapy, advocacy, research and the list goes on. And, within all these variations, there are so many models you could learn from, so many different frameworks of thinking you could use, so many different target groups you could work with.

I think as for now, I roughly know what I would like to focus on. I will continue to think through it. Because it's time to take stock, and plan what happens next.

And in the midst of this trying-to-think-in-the-busyness, I must say I love my workplace.

For its frequent steamboat/potluck lunches, homestyle (where we just dump food brought from home or bought from NTUC into a huge steamboat and eat for lunch.) For its not-shy over-the-cubicle conversations (where we just shout across the office in our daily conversations.) For the surprises I receive on my wall or desk, even pc desktop, when I am feeling down cos of work (where my colleagues trick me into calling a strange number that has the person at the other end playing a Mayday song to cheer me up).

And really, I think best of all about this workplace, is the genuineness that everyone shows towards one another. I guess, when you team up to help others, you need to help yourself first right?

It's been a great ride so far. I hope to keep going, and riding...