Week of May 2, 2011

From Cinda:

Monday, a wonderful day at the Gender Center.  Met with clients, did data entry, tried to locate all the LGBT bookstores in the Denver Metro area, lots of little things, but I was enjoying all of it.

Tuesday, in to see two clients today!

Wednesday, this is becoming my DAP note day. But caught up again, and still need to get that blasted toner.  When you're a student you can handle one issue at a time, like needing toner, but add in a paper due for class, and then the time I need to get the toner disappears!  Grumble...

Week of April 25, 2011

From Cinda:

Monday was a pretty usual day at the Gender Center with clients and some time to spend with the volunteers.  All in all, a very enjoyable day.  Coursework is picking up as we enter the second half of the quarter, which adds its own stress to the picture, but it's nice to know that the end of the first year is quickly approaching.

Tuesday I came in to do an intake, and then met with another client before heading off to class.

Wednesday it was DAP note day!  Now I just need to pick up toner again so I can print!  The tribulations of being a student.

Thursday I wasn't able to go in as there was stuff going on at school.  I missed it!

Week of April 18, 2011

From Cinda: 

Monday, I came in and did the usual start up routine—unforward the phone, check for voice messages, logged in on the volunteer spreadsheet, signed in and filled out my card…  Then it's time to eat before I start seeing clients.  Trying to find a way to eat lunch when I'm taking the bus from campus to the Gender Center is a trick.  It can't really be done, so I have to garb something here as fast as I can.

Wednesday it was DAP notes time!  I'm getting better at taking notes when I'm with a client, which means I have more to do when I write up the DAP notes.  Doing the notes is teaching me a lot.

Thursday it's back to the GIC.  I had a wonderful time talking to Stephanie and our terrific volunteers.  We're starting to get a few inquires about volunteering so I hope that will pick up once we get to the end of the school quarter, semester, year…

Saturday I looked over the DAP notes and added a few things that reading them sparked.  Also went looking for LGBT bookstores to see if we can post flyers there for volunteers.

Week of April 11, 2011

From Cinda:

Monday, I started the morning with a chat with Karen and Anne, then a missed appointment at 12:30.  I was able to get the blog updated and looked over stuff for my meeting with Joan on Thursday.  We also had a brief moment of panic when we couldn't fine our data, but that was quickly resolved.

Tuesday I was in to see a client for an hour, then off to class!

Wednesday was DAP note day!  These get easier to do with time.

Thursday I was only back at the Gender Center to meet with Karen and my field liaison, the last meeting for this year, which is kind of scary.  It's almost over, and I know I am going to miss it.  The folks here are really wonderful and I will miss the staff, volunteers and clients.  Luckily I will be able to spend some of my summer here!

Week of April 4, 2011

From Cinda:

Monday, I met with Karen to do some supervision, then saw my first clinical client to do some case management.  That was followed by an intake.  So, lots of clinical work for the start of this week!  We also had a drop in, and a wonderful volunteer, and very little time for me to try and e-mail everyone about their volunteer hours this week.  I think we might need to have the volunteer(s) on Monday do the contact to the other volunteers about their hours… I was back in the evening for the open group.

Tuesday, I did my DAP notes for the two clients yesterday, scanned in the March data, and updated the blog.

Wednesday, I read over my DAP notes and added a little more.  I also finished the flyer to send out to schools and churches and e-mailed it off to everyone on the list that I had an e-mail for.  Now I need to find a way to fax it to the departments, and mail it to some of the churches…

Thursdays, back at the GIC for a clinical meeting at 10:30.  Our PsyD student had clinical appointments, so I manned the front desk with a volunteer until 3:30, when I had another intake, too.  Wow!  It's exciting to see the clinical services taking off!

Week of March 28, 2011

From Cinda:

Monday I met with a professor before coming to the Gender Center.  The RTD is great here in Denver, but sometimes it's a pain, like today.  It took way too long to get here!  I sent out to the volunteers signed up for this week.  Worked on the volunteer recruitment, and did some data entry.

Wednesday I tried to find e-mails for locations where I could only find a fax number or address easily.  And I had very little luck.  It seems very odd to me that departments in colleges and universities do not have a contact e-mail listed on their contact web page!  And churches, why in the world don't they have an e-mail listed?

Thursday, back to the GIC.  I was able to sit in on an in-take and that was really helpful.  I will be seeing my first client on Monday.  I also did some data entry, spent some time talking with Karen and doing more volunteer recruitment.

Week of March 21, 2011

From Cinda:

Monday was back to classes for me, and back to the GIC.  Karen and I did supervision and I updated the blog.  We developed a plan for me to start doing some intakes, and then work with a client or two.  We're also going to try and beef up the volunteer program, which means I will be doing some recruitment work at schools, churches, and in the community.

Tuesday Kate, Karen, Anne and I attended a lecture at GSSW on a new intervention to help prevent homelessness.  CTI (Critical Time Intervention) is a 9-month long highly intensive intervention by a CTI caseworker with a homeless client.  I'm not sure there is good application for issues of homelessness in the transgender community, but what I thought was interesting was the fact that the model sort of looks like the clinical case management that we're doing at the Gender Center.  I think the idea behind the model might be useful as we think about the services we provide.

Wednesday I put together an e-mail and then sent it out to several departments at DU, inviting students who were interested to volunteer at the Gender Center between April and August.  We'll see if we get any bites.  Next it will be time to send that e-mail out to folks at Metro, CU Denver, and other schools.  I also pulled together a list of welcoming churches and I need to craft a separate message for them.  I also need to get a list of potential places to contact figured out!

I'm now coming in on Thursdays rather than Tuesdays, since one of my spring quarter classes is on Tuesday afternoons.  It's a little odd to be here on a Thursday, but I was able to sit in on an intake to see how that is handled.  This is my observation run before I do it myself.  I also caught up on some of the data entry.  And started hunting up the e-mail addresses for the college departments we want to hit for volunteers.

Week of March 14, 2011

From Cinda:

This was what DU calls Spring Break for me.  It's really just a week off between the Winter and Spring quarters, to give us a chance to decompress before coming back and continuing with two of our courses (Clinical and Community).

I took the time to get over being sick, and to get an Independent Study paper written, so it really wasn't much of a break, but it was nice to be able to sleep in guilt free for a week!   

Monday I came in to facilitate the evening open group, but no one stopped in.  And then Friday I came in for a tech meeting, but hadn't seen the e-mail to let me know that it had been moved from noon to 10 a.m.  But, I got in an hour, at least!

Week of March 7, 2011

From Cinda:

Monday I was in doing the the usual stuff, working on volunteers and inputting some data.  Mostly just manning the front desk.

Tuesday I was home sick.  Not good right before the end of the quarter, but I think the stress just finally catches up with you at some point!

Week of February 28, 2011

From Cinda:

Monday I was in all alone…  This place can be too quiet!  I cleared my e-mail, coordinated some with my community group-mates, since we're working on unequal access to shelter beds among transgender homeless.  I also input the demographics cards, and the visitor sign-in sheets from February so I can scan in the February pages on Wednesday.  I also added the data for the phone logs.  Then, Geno arrived!  Cool, it's just too quiet here alone!  I learned how to forward and un-forward the phone as well – I'm so proud!

Tuesday, back to the GIC!  More data entry today, as well as several phone calls, which was nice.  I created blurbs to hopefully recruit more volunteers, and clients for clinical hours.  Did some supervision and made some plans for the spring quarter, which is only a month away. 

Wednesday I scanned in the visitor sign-in sheets for February, and all of the phone logs through the end of February.

Week of February 21, 2011

From Cinda:

Monday, in to the GIC, hanging with one of the volunteers while Karen worked in the back on the Gold Rush.  We had visitors drop in and had some nice chats.  We're also trying to get a new version of the clinical workshops printed, but the computer and the printer aren't talking to each other!  I also added demographics cards to the spreadsheet.  After Karen and volunteer left it was quiet, so I did some work for school while I waited to see who might drop in.

Tuesday, I was back at the GIC doing more little projects.  It was nice to be able to get a bunch of these small things done, and it broughht our data entry up to date.

Friday and Saturday I was at the Gold Rush, in the clinical track, which was amazing.  We heard from several experts in the field, asked questions, and had a really enjoyable time learning a lot of stuff.  This was really an amazing event and I can't wait to do it again next year!

Week of February 14, 2011

From Cinda:

Monday it's back to the usual routine.  There are now lots of small things that need to get done, so I plunged in to see how many we could accomplish today!  Straightened up the front desk drawers, started on the opening/closing procedures for the volunteers, caught up the blog and added Anne's entries, added Anne and I to the GIC webpage under interns, sent e-mail to the volunteers to sign up for March, worked on info on appointments, and talked with Karen about classes, student night and Gold Rush.  Tried to add a link to a blog on the web resources and discovered that I don't know how to do that.  So I e-mailed it to Beth and asked for instruction on how to accomplish that.  Back Monday night for open hours, but another facilitator was here.

Tuesday, back to the GIC.  I e-mailed myself the new demographics card and tried to see if I can fix it using Acrobat Pro, which I couldn't, but it was easy to do in Word, with a little tweaking.  But now we have demographic cards we can ask folks to fill out so we can collect anonymous data for grants!  Anne dropped in with her dog (Layla, who is too cute!) and we talked about me picking up some of the clinical stuff over the summer, which would be great.  She added her description to the "current interns," too.  I'd like to get some more clinical practice before next year.  Geno and I held down the fort after Karen had to leave.

Wednesday, I scanned in the visitor sign-in sheets so we'll have a record.

Week of February 7, 2011

From Cinda:

                 Monday I'm off to the state capitol for a "day at the legislature" for our social policy class.  I'm hoping to hear when the civil union's bill will be introduced.

                Tuesday, in for a team meeting and supervision.  It looks like I will be doing some clinical work after all!

                Wednesday was a productive board meeting.

                Thursday was our second Student Night and we had seven students from DU come.  They are all doing their community project on the transgender community.  Kate and Geno were here to talk and answer questions.  It was a fun evening!

Week of January 31, 2011

From Cinda:

                Monday we were closed due to the weather.  I sent Karen the pamphlet to look over, sent e-mails to the volunteers, and contacted students concerning student night.  I also spent some time looking into transgender homelessness.

                Tuesday we were closed again due to the weather.  More research into the issue of homelessness and the transgender community.

                Sunday, exchanging e-mails with Karen, and e-mailing the DU students on Student Night.

Week of January 24, 2011

From Cinda:

                Monday I was home sick, but Tuesday it was back to the Gender Center.  Karen and I talked about the volunteer training, then she met with one of the presenters for the Gold Rush clinical track.  I printed fliers to take to DU on Thursday, and talked with a open hours drop in.  Miranda came by and fixed some computer problems we were having - thank you!  And I worked on my IFEP update and talked about that with Karen.  Kate also dropped in and she and I talked about the grant.

                Wednesday I sent out the Gold Rush clinical track fliers via e-mail, printed out some parts of the grant handbook, and read that over.

                Thursday I was in for my meeting with my field liaison, then off to DU to drop off fliers at the departments that didn't get back to me about the e-mailed flier.  Then it was back in the evening for a team meeting and then volunteer training.

Week of January 17, 2011

From Cinda:

                  Monday was just Karen and I.  Nice supervision time, then I sent out an e-mail to everyone how's expressed an interest in volunteering (seven folks!) and will send follow-up e-mails a couple of times before the "big day" – January 27^th.  This also went to the Board, so we hope most of them will also attend.  We also did a little cleaning up of the Gender Center, and some cleaning up on the web site (broken link, outdated material) and I'm looking for a nice tri-fold template for a new pamphlet we're putting together.  We talked about the Gold Rush.  The Gill Grant is off, too!

                Tuesday Karen and I went over what needs to be covered at the volunteer training.  I took notes and will do a final polish on that this weekend.  I'm working on the pamphlet for our services, too.  Now that is off to Karen to look over.  Miranda came in as well!

                Thursday, we met at Restaurant King for the team meeting.  Looks like I will be trying to get the Denver Foundation Grant done by February 1^st.

Week of January 10, 2011

From Anne:

This week Karen and I spent some time talking about the upcoming Gold Rush and the Clinical Track. It seems that it is all coming together nicely!  Although there had not been as many people registered for the Clinical track as we would like, we are both hopeful that with a big, final push for enrollment, we can help convince clinical professionals how important it is to be culturally competent when working with this population. Kate came by the Gender Center and we all tossed around some ideas on how to approach the Gold Rush this year. It is difficult to insight a desire to learn about a new population when the public has become complacent in their knowledge. Keeping our hopes up and our fingers crossed! 

From Cinda:

Monday, given the snow we just had, and the bad roads, we closed the Gender Center's open hours today.  I used the time to work from home, adding Karen's suggestions to the grant.  It is now ready to go to Kate tomorrow!  I also added our volunteer training information to the web site and typed up my notes on what needs to be covered.  I need to send those to Karen tomorrow as well.  And, lastly, I started pulling together the information for a tri-fold pamphlet that we can give those who come in asking about our clinical services.

Tuesday it was back to the Gender Center.  Karen is home today, but Anne is going to drop by after an appointment so I won't be spending the day alone.  I sent off the grant to Kate, caught up on the blog, and posted that material, then polished the notes for the volunteer training and sent that off to Karen.  Lastly, I listed out my hours so I could see what kind of surplus I had when I started the winter quarter.  Miranda came by with the printer, but it is being pesky.  Looks like it'll need a try to the printer doctor…

Wednesday, I did some general organizing for the winter quarter.  Came up with a list of several mini projects to do for the Gender Center, updated calendar and the like.

Thursday was our team meeting.  Miranda was running a little late so I didn't get a chance to chat with her, but Karen and I had a good talk.  Anne was home sick – feel better!

Week of January 3, 2011

From Anne:

Had a great time doing intakes this week!  We had a client who sought us out for some guidance with beginning the process of transition.  It was inspiring to see someone taking this brave step. She was amazingly honest and open with me during the appointment and I’m really looking forward to working with her! We’ve decided at this point, to begin meeting weekly, then taper off eventually as she begins to feel more comfortable in her transition. It was truly great to be a part of this .

From Cinda:

2011, can you believe it?  Back to the Gender Center after a long weekend.  It always feels like I've been away longer than three days.  I've really come to enjoy being here.  More work on the grant this Monday.  By the end of the week I will have it finished and off to Karen for her final edits.  I'm glad it's almost done, but still a little nervous, and probably will be until I hear what Kate has to say.  A couple of drop in folks came by, which is always a delight.  I facilitated the Monday night group and had a great conversation with the one person who came by.

Tuesday, last glance on the grant before I finish it off!  We also had another drop in today.  One of our new folks will be coming back to us for case management.  I enjoyed talking to her and found out that we have books available here for sale!  I need to remember to ask for a receipt book for when this happens again!

Wednesday I attended a pre-grant workshop at the Denver Foundation.  It was very informative.  They have a February 1^st deadline, which I don't think we can make, but they also have a June 1^st deadline, which I do think we can make.  When I got home from the workshop I polished off the grant I have been working on and sent it off to Karen for her edits!  It gave me a feeling of accomplishment, but I think I'm more nervous than ever!

Thursday I was back at the Gender Center for a team meeting with Miranda.  It's so nice to have her back!  It was a good meeting, and Anne was able to drive me over to campus so I could meet with my professor for my Independent Study and then my seminar.

Friday I was in class from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.  What was I thinking?  It's a long day, but I think these classes are going to be a lot more applicable to what I'm doing at the Gender Center than the ones I took in the Fall quarter.

Week of December 27, 2010

From Anne:
Gender Identity Center closed for the holidays! 

From Cinda:

Back to the Gender Center on Monday!  Karen and I had planned to go over the grant, but things were a little busy so that had to be postponed until Tuesday.  Once again we'll be closed on Friday and Saturday for New Year's so this is another short week for us.

Tuesday Karen and I looked over the grant.  Karen had some suggestions that I'll have to work in.  It's shaping up!  This is my first time writing a grant, and I'm a little nervous about it, but I know that it will be looked over by Karen and Kate before it is sent off so that boosts my confidence!

Back on Thursday for some more grant tweaking.  Looks like once the winter quarter starts I'll be coming back on Thursday mornings for our team meetings, which works fine for me since all three of my classes are on Friday and all I have on Thursday is seminar.  I hope everybody as a great New Year's!

Week of December 20, 2010

From Anne:

I did a lot of Gold Rush work this week. I’ve been calling social services agencies in the area as well as schools to try and illicit interest in the clinical track for the Gold Rush.  Most of the colleges in the area are on break for the holidays so I’m focusing more on social services agencies. I’ve been getting mixed reactions; some agencies have been very interested and requester more information while other have been dismissive, saying that they have trainings that they feel are sufficient to inform their workers. It’s been slightly frustrating in that I feel that they don’t understand that the Transgender population experiences very unique struggles and oppression and needs very unique and individualized consideration. Hopefully I can communicate this to the agencies and we well get a good turn out!

From Cinda:

I was only at the Gender Center on Monday this week.  We'll be closed on Friday and Saturday for Christmas, too.  I don't know if I mentioned it before, but we decorated for Christmas and it was fun to watch the Gender Center be transformed.  Anne put up the tree and hung some garland, and Karen brought in a second smaller tree that needed to be hung with ornaments.  I'm looking forward to a little vacation this week, but will be staying in Denver and working on the grant.

Week of December 13, 2010

From Anne:

Another busy week! Several drops ins and members came by to catch up and share their holiday plans. This can be a difficult time of year for several of our clients who feel unsupported by people in their lives, so it’s particularly important that we are here as a source of support.

Courtney , the transgender advocate at The Center came by to meet with Kate about plans for The Center and Gender Identity Center for the new year. Courtney is going to be more involved with the Gender Identity Center in the coming year and has even been elected as the newest board member. Her knowledge and heart for this work has been so evident at the Center and we are thrilled to have her  on the board!

From Cinda:

Monday Karen, Anne and I were here and we had a full house!  Our volunteer was here and a lot of folks dropped in.  I realized some stuff we need to look up, but we're having internet issues and I'm off-line until Quest comes and fixes the problem tomorrow.  Monday night I came back for group and there was three of us.

Tuesday, Karen and I were here, although Karen had to leave early.  A volunteer was here, too.  She dropped off some dishes, soup and nibbles – whoohoo!  Still off-line… grumble, and waiting for Quest, who keep pushing the appointment time later and later… big grumble.

Thursday, Karen and Anne and I were here, stuffing envelopes for a mailing.  I'm used to doing this for a volunteer organization back when I was living in Atlanta so we developed a rhythm pretty quickly!  It was also nice to be able to talk and ask questions about clinical practice.  A couple of drop in stopped by as well, so it was a productive day.

Friday was much like Thursday.  We haven't really developed a "typical" day around here, but I really appreciate the time and space to ask questions about being a social worker in general and a transgender ally in particular.  Being gender variant, but not transsexual, this has been a tremendous learning experience for me.  I've decided that I really appreciate the range of diversity when it comes to gender identity and sexual orientation.