I Am Exhausted

Today was the day of the South Plains Branch of NASW annual ethics workshop.  We used, once again, the beautiful venue of the International Cultural Center at Texas Tech http://www.depts.ttu.edu/international/.  Our topics this year were about the LGBTQ community, and ethical and practice implications working with LGBTQ youth.  Both speakers, Ann Aiken, MEd, MDiv-eq, LPC and Adam McCormick, MSW, PhD, were excellent.

I have been on the workshop committee off and on for more than 20 years. I enjoy helping to put the workshop together:  my job is sending out announcements, developing sign in sheets, and helping with sign in.

For the most part, the workshop went off well.  Our refreshments in the morning did not include coffee, but Bonnie Anne Rudd, the chairperson, resolved that issue.  We started a little late in the morning, but all was well.

Our numbers were small.  We used to have 40-70 attend our annual meeting. Several things have happened to diminish that number:  We had a year of not very good presentations in a location that was noisy and not conducive to hearing the presenters.  The economy has effected employer's willingness to pay for attending workshops, and although our workshop was not very expensive, there are much less expensive online CEU opportunities. But our numbers were respectable.

And, today, our topic was a little risqué for this part of the world.  Last August, we had the morning speaker, Ms. Aiken, address our monthly CEU meeting about the topic, and she was well received, with many social workers saying they wanted to learn more.  But, we also had people who were so repelled by the topic, that they disengaged themselves from the group! That is really sad. Social workers are supposed to be open to working with any client, at least to do no harm, and send them to a more appropriate professional, if need be.  My thought is that the social workers present today were the ones who did not need to be there, and, as the speakers acknowledged, they were "speaking to the choir."  Although our social work ethics require us to be culturally competent, there are many professionals in this part of this world who are not culturally competent, based on a conservative "Christian" orientation. 

Usually, these workshops exhilarate me, recharge me.  Not so today. I was just glad the day was over with.  While I really appreciated both presentations, I was just tired at the end of the day.

I did stop at the Lifestyle Center before going home to do a PT routine.  My hip was hurting, although I spent most of my day sitting, which generally helps my pain, and although I did not have to walk far or spend a lot of time on my feet today.

So, I came home, and fed the cats, and used the workshop paperwork to update the email information we have for the communication network.

But, I am tired.  Not recharged. 

The one good thing I can say is that I worked on the baby blanket for my youngest grandniece. She is some 13 months old, and I hate that I did not finish the blanket before she was born, but it is what it is. 

But, I am not sure why I am so exhausted.  Maybe I am just getting old.