Do what I do


A brief description of my job placement has been part of my profile on this blog for some time, but here it is as a post in case you have not seen it yet.  My volunteer position is at an organization called Options in Community Living which supports people with developmental disabilities who are living in the community.  My specific task is to help with community building which means helping those with disabilities to interact with the greater Madison community.  I spend time trying to find volunteers who will take someone the organization supports out for coffee, to church, or any number of other things.  This is both a very rewarding and tough position.  If I help someone to form a relationship that will last for years and be a fulfilling part of someone’s life then I have greatly succeeded.  However, it is difficult and often downright annoying trying to find people who are willing to fill this role.  People in general are busy which makes it tough to take time our of their weekly schedule to spend an hour or two with someone.  I have made an effort to spend as much time as I can each week with people that I help to support.  This is in part due to my dislike for time spent sitting in an office, but also because I find this time spent with people to be much more rewarding and far less frustrating then time spent perusing though volunteer and timeshare websites.  Not to take away from the importance of facilitating the formation of life long friends ships:)  It is just tough when there aren’t many responses.   Overall my job placement has many challenges and many rewards at the same time, and can provide a growing experience for anyone who finds them self up to the challenge, or someone who wants to learn more about the social work industry.

Madison as a city is pretty cool.  Being the state capital and also having the main University of Wisconsin campus leads to plenty of fun things to do.  The city doesn’t feel big as it is easy to bike to almost any part of the city within a short amount of time which is nice.  However, the wintertime definitely puts a damper on getting out and doing things due to the cold.  I have found the motivation to continue to bike to work and occasionally the YMCA, but I usually don’t feel like biking around for the fun of it anymore.

Have a great week!

Ben

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