On September 24, I started my job as a Children's Services Counselor at Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health Services in Yankton. I had not intended to counsel kids, but this job seemed to come to me providentially, and as soon as it was offered to me, I knew it would be a mistake to turn it down. Besides the opportunity to help people, it provides decent pay and good benefits and the experience and supervision I need to work toward counseling licensure.
I have already completed my third week, and I like the job very much, especially now that I have started working on my own with my rapidly-growing caseload. I get to set my own schedule, so I have been working longer hours Monday through Thursday and taking Fridays off. I travel three days a week to Scotland, Tripp, Wagner, and Lake Andes, which requires me to spend quite a bit of time on the road. I stay at the Yankton office one day a week for meetings and in-town clients.
The clients are kids (ages 3-17) who have been referred by their parents, teachers, or other concerned adults because they have been exhibiting emotional and/or behavioral problems. We assess them to see if they meet the criteria for "Serious Emotional Disturbance," (which really just means that they have some type of difficulty emotionally or behaviorally and in some other area of life), and if they do and they have Medicaid or meet income guidelines, they receive free services, which include individual, family, and sometimes group counseling. I think it's a cool program, and I'm glad that it involves the family in the healing process in a significant way.
Nate and I would appreciate your prayers in this exciting season. Our desire is to move to Yankton so we can split up the driving, and also because we like the town. Our lease in Vermillion is up Dec. 31, so we would like to move then, but we would need to get another car. We obviously need a place to live, too; we are currently exploring our options. Pray that God will give us wisdom and equip both of us to do our jobs in a way that honors Him.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
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