Help Wanted

I was a banker for 12 years. It was my starter career, and I enjoyed it a lot. I began just being a minimally scheduled teller, but by the time I left I’d had some really cool assignments such as managing a branch and the epic training gig. I got to ride the company plane to exotic ports of call like Modesto and Crescent City. Unfortunately, the plane didn’t go to Covelo so that was just sketchy winter driving with Corey. Corey was really bright. And funny, so he could joke about how he got the tattoo in college of his initials in Chinese, but then later learned that there’s not a Chinese Kanji alphabet. I didn’t feel like Corey and I were well-suited to winter wilderness survival, so I’m glad we made the drive okay.

As great as the bank was, I didn’t see it being my forever career. The social worker in me was already brewing.

I “felt bad” when tasked with trying to get people to get loans that maybe they shouldn’t get. I felt really bad when people would come in after a weekend and wonder what happened to all their money only to learn that their partner had spent it all gambling. Or even worse, they themselves had spent it all and didn’t know.

There’s better people than me who can fill the needed roles of bankers and I’m thankful for them. I just am not “them.”

But it’s not like I’d set out to launch into behavioral health work.

A fun trip down memory road for me is to look at my Shasta College transcripts. They’re lengthy and read so clearly of a person who didn’t take it seriously or know what on earth they wanted to do. Multiple dropped classes, more than one academic probation. It was clear there was no focus. Maybe I was going to be a lawyer, maybe work in business, maybe teach; regardless of where I was going to land, I started to set the hopefully attainable goal of finishing a “2 year program” in less time than it would take to raise children to adulthood.

For a while, it was questionable if I’d hit that mark.

I took a psychology class and focus became clear. “Wait a second…! I can observe behavior and use tools to try to help it modify!? AND get paid?!?!?”

Sign. Me. UP!

Before Shasta was wrapped up, I was trying to get in to grad school. They have some silly rule about needing a bachelor’s before that happens so whatever; but I concurrently enrolled in Shasta and Simpson. I wanted to make up for time I lost not knowing what the fuck I wanted to do.

I’m happy to have had all the employment experiences I have since that time, but I’m most happy to be where I’ve been the last 14 years; County child welfare social work.

Before landing here, I really was a fan girl of the county workers. I remember waiting in the halls of court and seeing them walk up the stairs. Their lanyards swinging with their signifying awesomeness. They were able to work directly with a family on amazing goals and to talk directly to the court about what they felt was in family’s best interest. They didn’t know it, but they had walk up music playing for them in my head. They were cool AF.

I continue learn (every single day) that the job is complex, often fake, and sometimes soul crushing. But when it hits right, there’s nothing better.

We’re in a spot of perpetual hiring right now. It’s hard for the people carrying the extra weight while we have less social workers. Blame it on COVID, millennials, Trump, Biden whatever….the truth of the matter is there’s been a dramatic shift in employment culture. From my agency through to Popeye’s chicken there’s a hiring crisis.

But I take comfort knowing that there’s other bankers, food servers, stay-at-home parents etc who could quite possibly be coming to the conclusion that they too may have a career in behavioral health.

I’m lucky to work every day with people who’ve also felt called to this work. We’re a kindred group with diverse stories that have all led us to the common goal of wanting to serve our community. They’re all at different parts of their journey. Some are ready to stay there until those sweet retirement benefits kick in. Some are just trying it on for size. It’s absolutely not a job for everyone, and that’s okay. (See aforementioned “soul crushing”) But for those of us that it is a fit, it’s hard to imagine doing anything else.

This should be the part where I tie up all my random career thoughts in a nice closing statement, but I’m not an author or a banker. Damn it Jim, I’m social worker. So, I guess I’ll close with I hope this makes workers feel good and that maybe it makes someone else feel like they may want to give this a try.

Thanks for reading!