SOAR to Success in SOCIAL WORK

Retirement Wrinkles

 

We've all heard the overused expression: "When one door closes another door opens!" I know, I've used it regularly myself. With so much change and loss in my life these days, I'd always felt comfort when I heard it. Then recently, I heard someone comment that doors are made to open and close and you can decide. I'm not sure that I agree, but it got me thinking.

Last time I wrote here, I was announcing my retirement and that I had decided NOT to renew my LCSW-BACS. I am resident in France now with a ten year Titre de Sejour and Columbus Street sold on July 15 of 2022. Maintaining my credentials was just one more thing that tied me to the states.

 

With both of my parents passing and COVID travel stresses; I'd decided to make my life as easy and stress free as possible.

 

 

When I "closed the door" to maintaining my credentials and licensure, I'd forgotten that once you "let go" and are a non-credentialed person; you are no longer able to call yourself a "social worker" in the State of Louisiana. I'd asked about a "retired status" at the time and was told that the Board was working on that.

As a former LCSW-BACS who devoted much to the profession, it seems discounting and unfair to have worked so hard for all those years and contributed so much, for there to not be something to recognize us in our retirement years. 

I mention this here for all of you young social workers out there.

This may not seem like an important, looming issue, but I want you to at least be aware of this issue as you get closer to retirement age and have your own decisions to make. 

 

 

I have no regrets about my decision. I have no plans to be practicing in any way. It just seems that there should be some recognition and structure to address this issue for us.

 

 

I am wondering what I should do with this blog? I guess I can talk about social work. I guess I can write about social work. But, I can't say "I am a social worker," in Louisiana.

 

 

Any ideas or suggestions for me?

Life goes on!

 

TRUE RETIREMENT

 

Where would you rather be? Sitting in a field of poppies in your overalls in the sunshine in the south of France, OR offering workshops on social work ethics and supervision in New Orleans?

For the last almost 20 years since I bought the Chatette, I have been fortunate to be able to do both. I learned to plan and coordinate from afar and enjoyed getting my "professional" fix (and a few bucks and CEUs) while I was back in New Orleans.

During those days, I'd spend an extended period of time in New Orleans. That time allowed me at least two visits up I-55 to spend time with my parents in St. Louis.

 

 

Mom departed in February of 2016. Now that Dad departed on January 1, 2020 and the travel has become so arduous with the requirements that need to be met with the COVID-19 virus; I have decided that I will NOT renew my LCSW-BACS credential. Since keeping up my license and CEUs was another reason to return to the states, this action frees me up to not return at all or to return for much shorter periods of time. It also allows me to return when I choose, without the stress and work of planning and offering workshops.

I am privileged and honored to have worked with many amazing students, supervisees and colleagues over the years, in varying roles and capacities. I have had a very rich professional social work life.

 

I wish everyone the best and

thank you for being part of my professional journey!

 

 

Always Learning

 

As I've been promoting the workshops that I will be offering in New Orleans while I'm back in the states during January and February 2018; I am learning once more that I can always be surprised and also learn something new about myself.

I struggled some with how to handle registration since I will be in France until the evening of December 28, 2017. I will be back in New Orleans and on Columbus Street that evening. I knew from the beginning that I couldn't expect interested participants to phone or mail to me in France. I thought about having people scan the form and email it to me here, and then include the hard copy with their check that they'd be sending to Columbus Street. I decided that maybe that was too much to ask and NOT everyone had access to scanning. 

 

 

Then yesterday, I heard from one of my former participants. He'd scanned his completed form and emailed it to me along with his intention to get the check in the mail that day. He is REGISTERED NOW!

He shined his light on me all the way from New Orleans. He made me think that maybe I make things harder on myself than they need to be sometimes. I really need to ask for what I believe to work best, and then if someone can't use that process we'll find another.

I'm excited that so many of my former workshop participants are signing up for these workshops, and that we'll be working together again.

All of our lights are different. I wish you a day of letting your light shine. You never know when it will make a difference or cause an aha in someone else's life.

 

Related articles

SOAR to Success in SOCIAL WORK - Putting All the Pieces Together

SOAR to Success in SOCIAL WORK - A Toolbox to Success in Supervision, Ethics and Cultural Diversity-Becoming a Board Approved Clinical Supervisor in Louisiana

A Toolbox for Clinical Supervisors-Three Hours of Clinical Supervision

SOAR to Success in SOCIAL WORK - On Becoming Ethically Engaged-Three Hours of Ethics

On Becoming Ethically Engaged-Three Hours of Ethics

 

Once you become a credentialed social worker in Louisiana, you must complete three hours of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in Ethics within each designated two year period. On Becoming Ethically Engaged could be just the workshop for you to help you meet this requirement.

I will be offering this workshop on two different mornings, Friday, February 2, 2018 and again on Saturday, February 3, 2018 at my private practice office at 2617 Columbus Street, New Orleans, LA 70119. This workshop is pending approval by the SUNO School of Social Work for 3 hours of CEUs in Ethics.

Many of you may have attended other workshops that I have offered related to Social Work Ethis in the past. Those focused on Social Work Ethics in Changing Times and Journaling Your Way to Ethical Engagement.

 

 

 

This workshop will be much more hands on and offers you an opportunity to bring ethical dilemma scenarios of your own to the workshop to assess. Participation is limited to ten people and is offered in a Master Class format that provides increased confidentiality and group interaction.

Take a peek at the information provided here in the brochure for this workshop. If you'd like to PRE-REGISTER pending payment, write to me at: [email protected]

(Are you a BACS who still needs to meet your Clinical Supervision requirement? If so, I'll be offering Clinical Supervision in the afternoons on the same day. Register for both and you will receive a discount and lunch will be included-noted in red on the page below!)

Hope to see you in February!

 

A Toolbox for Clinical Supervisors-Three Hours of Clinical Supervision

 

Once you become a Board Approved Clinical Supervisor (BACS) in Louisiana, you must complete three hours of Continuing Education Units in Clinical Supervision within each designated two year period. A Toolbox for Clinical Supervisors could be just the workshop to help you meet this requirement.

I will be offering this workshop on two different days, Friday, February 2, 2018 and again on Saturday, February 3, 2018 at my private office at 2617 Columbus Street, New Orleans, LA 70119. This workshop is pending approval by the SUNO School of Social Work for 3 hours of CEUs in Supervision/Clinical.

Workshops are strictly limited to 10 participants each.

Many of you may have attended other workshops that I have offered related to Clinical Supervision in the past. Those focused on measuring success with your supervisees and using journaling as a tool in clinical supervision. This workshop will be much more hands on and offers you a Clinical Supervisor's Workbook that will be used as the cornerstone for the workshop.

This Workbook will be presented for the first time at a training I am offering that meets the 6.5 hour training that is required of all LCSWs who wish to become a BACS. That training will wrap up the week prior to this workshop, which enables me to share the results and this Toolbox with more seasoned BACSs. This is an opportunity to explore the results, toolbox, and feedback together, with the vision of fine-tuning with clinical supervision experts.

Take a peek at the information provided here in the borchure for this workshop. If you'd like to PRE-REGISTER pending payment, write to me at: l[email protected]

(*Do you still need to meet your Ethics Requirement? If so, I'll be offering Ethics in the morning and Clinical Supervision in the afternoon on the same day. Register for both and you will receive a discount and lunch will be included-noted in red on the page below!)

Hope to see you in February!

 

 

Commitment to Workshop Evaluation and Feedback

 

 

I realized this morning, that here I am again...posting two days in a row after such a long dry spell. Not only is there time, but there is so much to write about!

I believe that if you talk the talk, you should walk the walk. 

As you've seen in the past and will continue to see: I stand firm on the importance of measuring success in our profession.

 

How can you SOAR to Success in Social Work,  if you haven't defined success and you have no way to measure it?

I measure  workshop success by:

1) Establishing goals for each workshop;

2) Administering a Pre/Post Test to measure knowledge of content prior to the workshop and at the end of the workshop;

3) Administering a Pre/Post Test to measure skill use currently and projected use post workshop;

4) Administering a Participant Evaluation of the overall workshop, by topical section, presenter and environment; and,

5) Providing feedback on these results to all workshop participants via email.

 

 

Every workshop I offer includes all of the above items, except number three, which is included only when there is a specific skill or behavior I'm interested in looking at. I've used the skill pre/post tests when looking at measuring success with supervisees and when using journaling as a tool in supervision. Needless to say, I have learned a lot myself by doing so.

As you can imagine, the paperwork and accountability can be daunting. I spent all day yesterday completing the evaluation instruments from the workshop: "Social Work Ethics in Changing Times" that wrapped up on the morning of March 31.

Usually, I'm handling 20-25 individual participants, but yesterday's number hit 40. My commitment to this extensive evaluation component, is another reason that I choose to present smaller workshops.

 

On to Measuring Success with Your Supervisees today. I'll be back over the next few days with specific workshop results for each of these two workshops, and also offer some comparisons of the evaluation results between the two venues of presentation.

Since it's National Pet Day, I hope you'll enjoy a few shots of my Administrative Assistant Sammie Cat, who just can't resist getting into the paperwork with me!

SOAR to Success in Social Work: Social Work Opportunities and Resources, with me: Ms. Laury A.Bourgeois, LCSW-BACS, 2617 Columbus Street, New Orleans, LA 70119, USA, (504) 261-2895, [email protected], AND Les Hortes, Route de Cajarc, 46160, Cadrieu FRANCE, from the USA-011.33.5.65.11.01.72 or within France-05.65.11.01.72

Related articles

The Return to SOAR to Success in Social Work

Social Work Boundaries and Social Media

A Measure of Success

Semester Endings

Shining Lights

Again-To Be Loved the Most in the World

Exciting Workshop Horizons 2018-NEW ORLEANS

 

As I was getting ready to leave the states earlier this year, I knew that big changes were on the wind for how I offer workshops. I'm sharing this post below with you once more, to wet your whistle for the information I'll be sharing in the upcoming days about the workshops I will be offering at my private office in New Orleans during the last week of January and the first week of February 2018. I am considering these Master Classes and will limit participation to 10 individuals per workshop. Don't miss tomorrow's post!

 

 

April 10, 2017-As I've written here before, I have been offering social work workshops all over the world for a number of years. Most recently, my focus has been in New Orleans and through other institutions and organizations. 

With my life and times about to change, my location and method of workshop presentation may be about to change again too. There are always pros and cons to "workshopping." I'd thought I'd found my "workshop" niche that worked well for me in the long run and short run. As in life, change comes in these arenas too. 

Although it is possible that I will still offer something through other institutions and organizations in the future;

 

I am now going to be focusing on offering workshops again in France AND offering small master classes out of my private office in New Orleans.

Because of the way I offer training, I've learned that it works best for me with smaller groups (25 or less) and a smaller, more comfortable workshop setting. I've found that these factors lead attendees to: participate more; share more; and, enjoy learning from each other. Workshop evaluations reflect those facts. This is my method of choice. 

Stay tuned as future workshop opportunities are developed for France and New Orleans. I'm excited about taking a fresh look at life and "workshopping" from wherever I am in the world!

Hope you are too!

 

SOAR to Success in Social Work-Ms. Laury A.Bourgeois, LCSW-BACS, 2617 Columbus Street, New Orleans, LA 70119, (504) 261-2895, email at: [email protected]; and Les Hortes, Route de Cajarc, 46160, Cadrieu FRANCE, 011.33.5.65.11.01.72

 

The Return to SOAR to Success in Social Work

Flowers for Helen-Painting by Jorge Lovato

 

It has been almost two years since I've written a post on this blog. I'd first initiated it to post social work- related information, books, wisdom, and information on workshops. It seemed that it was becoming more personal and less professional, so I decided to step away from writing here every day. In fact, that turned in to not writing at all.

After wrapping up two workshops yesterday at the Tulane School of Social work, I decided that it's time to resurrect this blog. I will stop by here when I have information to share that is professional in nature, which means that it won't be an every day thing. It may not be an every week or month thing. It's going to be only when there is something professional and appropriate to share. I will still include photos that speak to some shade of the post. We need as much color and beauty in our lives as we can get.

So, on April 1, 2017. I'm back and I'm excited about sharing more with you here that is professional in nature.

 

SOAR to Success in Social Work-Social Work Opportunities and Resources-Ms. Laury A. Bourgeois, LCSW-BACS, 2617 Columbus Street, New Orleans, LA 70119, USA, [email protected] AND Les Hortes, Route de Cajarc, 46160, Cadrieu, FRANCE, from the USA-011.33.5.65.11.01.72 or within France-05.65.11.01.72

 

Social Work Boundaries and Social Media

 

Last semester, I received a DRAFT copy of "Model Regulatory Standards for Technology and Social Work Practice released in draft form for comment by the International Technology Task Force, 2013-2014, that was chaired by Frederic G. Reamer. After reading it thoroughly, I shared it and discussed it in a group supervisory session because of the important issues that it addresses for social workers in these rapidly changing times where the internet, Skype, email, and social networking are used on a regular basis.

The Task Force encourages all of us to explore our use of technology. I had pause to reflect on my blogging. My personal blog is one thing, but I have also established this blog with the title: SOAR to Success in Social Work. I'd had every intention of focusing on social work-related topics. I'm  realizing that since I returned to the states and made the commitment to myself to post daily; that some of the "personal" has blended in more than necessary. 

This new awareness has led me to decide that I will be no longer be writing daily posts to this site. I am not stopping, but will be slowing it down to only use it to share very specific social work-related information: books, articles, and training/workshop opportunities. Hope to see you again soon, just not every day!

 

A Sunny Saturday

 

Wishing you a sunny Saturday

and a weekend full of

love, color and relaxation!

Enjoy!