Over a month in...

One of my concerns about this year revolves around being out of school for the first time in almost two decades. Initially, I suspected that I might miss it so much that I wouldn't really enjoy working in the real world and would then have confirmation that I should high-tail it back to Academia (where I really belonged) as soon as I possibly could. All this was accompanied by the typical uncertainty of whether or not I would even be suited to the type of non-profit work I was about to embark upon.

As of this first month or so on the job, this line of reasoning has been proven false.

I am actually loving my job at Sarah's Inn. Contrary to my pre-Dwell fears, I am not only quite productive at my job but I definitely feel like I'm learning all sorts of new and important things constantly. It is a difficult job with its challenges and occasional frustrations, I always have a lot of responsibility and tasks to juggle at once, but I am really enjoying the work and the experience. My co-workers and supervisors are fascinating, fun, hard-working people -- it is a much better working environment than I could have imagined. Sarah's Inn will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary later this month and right now they're in an exciting place of growth, especially in the Teen Program where I work.

I've said this already to some of my co-workers and supervisors, but I'm afraid I might be getting spoiled (in a good way) by my experience at Sarah's Inn, particularly because of their set-up as a mission-driven organization. Not mission-driven in terms of religious mission, although there are many religious individuals who work at Sarah's Inn, but mission-driven in terms of a mutual commitment on the part of all the employees to strive at all times (in their own ways, capacities, and styles) towards the end-goal, greater purpose, guiding ideal, or mission. This placement is a great fit for me because of this philosophy -- it's very similar to how I try to live my own life, as a process by which I am continually striving towards my own guiding ideals and understanding of greater purpose.

[The mission of Sarah's Inn is to stand with women and their families to ensure freedom from domestic violence in every community.]

There is a wide variety of tasks, projects, and roles I fulfill in my work as a Violence Prevention Advocate for the Teen Program. A sampling of tasks: On a scheduled rotation, I'm in schools teaching either our four-day 7th or 8th grade curricula in local middle schools or in the office refining curriculum, writing rationale documents justifying our curricula, editing and re-stocking supplies, keeping up with the Teen Program facebook page, creating training documents to sustain my position (which is new) beyond this year, and swapping off with Chris for being on-duty with the teen Text Line (a version of the crisis line we're starting specifically for teens). New things are added as they come up. Needless to say, I am rarely wanting for things to complete.

Soon I'll be officially running the middle school curricula while Chris is in the high school doing our 9-week program called Step Back. As of this week, I've taught three class periods and answered 2 text line "calls," so even though I still feel very much like I'm in training, I'm also really "doing my job" already. Due to the nature of my job, it sometimes feels more like trial by fire than training, but it helps that Sarah's Inn is such a supportive environment, which plays out more like all of the risk taking of an ordeal without the emotionally isolating consequences. Starting this week, we have two weeks in the office to get set up for the rest of the year.

Unfortunately, all of this excitement also means that I am back to at least one cup of coffee a day. So much for my well-intentioned caffeine detox work over the summer...