I teared in a session today

Today, for the first time, I teared in a session. Not because I was abused by my student, neither was I feeling very sad. It was just something quite.. hmm.. human. We all have regrets, we’ve all made mistakes. We made mistakes when we were younger; we will continue to make mistakes no matter how… [Read more…]

3 years already

I am three years old today. Just thought I would share 3 thoughts about this journey so far. Therapy is not about listening or solving problems. It’s about travelling with someone else and helping to make human suffering that little bit more bearable. Maybe social workers need to learn more to look inside a client,… [Read more…]

These 2 years and 7 months

The fulfillment of a dream I remember when I first was going to start work as a social worker. I remember sharing with Ah Dee that I had dreamt for so long to be a full-fledged social worker; that things felt a bit unsure now that I was actually going to start work. I wondered… [Read more…]

Terminated

2 months at work never passed so quickly. There has been so much to do, much to juggle; given the work to clear and the recent developments in my personal life. There were some easier terminations (some even relieving), but there were others which were really difficult. I don’t think anybody doubts that we do… [Read more…]

One man’s need is another man’s poison

Seeing Oprah and her recent Sydney trip made me re-think some of the philosophies behind the work that we do as social workers and social thinkers. In her trademark fashion as a proponent of human potential and opportunities, Oprah (also the most powerful and richest black woman in the world) went about in giving parts… [Read more…]

Top 5 iPhone apps for Social Workers

We’ve all been through it before. Social workers who believe in the value of home visits to really see for ourselves what happens in the primary environment our clients live in. Seeing it right before our very eyes often brings new insight and new valuable bits of information to help us better formulate our assessment… [Read more…]

Catsinecradle and The Sanctuary Bar

So this is the last week that Indochine at Wisma will be here. I heard that they will be shutting down in not too long, and Catsinecradle will be shifting to perform at Indochine at The Forbidden City near Raffles Place and Boat Quay. I may not be their greatest fan, but today as I… [Read more…]

The Christian Social Worker – Sorting out the apparent clashes.

At somewhat cursory occasions like weddings, it’s inevitable that people ask about your work as it is the safest topic to ask about. Especially when one works in as intriguing a field as social work (which people have a lot more questions about than.. say.. accounting),  I found myself having to answer several similar questions… [Read more…]

5

Proud to be a social worker

I remember when Dr. Sim used to teach my module in school; and I was always very impressed when he talked about multi-disciplinary teams and how he was able to discuss at the same level of theoretical understanding as the doctors, the clinical psychologists and the other professionals. Somehow, though I don’t know where it… [Read more…]