I am a Social Services Director working in a long term care facility for the elderly. I am a part of the interdisciplinary team where I give input on a resident's mood and behavior. Based on their mood and behavior, I give indicate how effective their psychotropic medications are with their well being. Along with that, I schedule quarterly meetings with our patients' families and schedule ancillary services for our in-house dentist, optometrist, and audiologist.

EDUCATION | I attended my local community college for three years and then transferred to the University of California, Davis, where I graduated with a Bachelors in Psychology and a Minor in Human Development.

HOW TO GET STARTED | Be prepared for the fluctuations in the amount of workload that you would have to do. There will be weeks where you will be so stressed out and there will be others weeks where it will be less stressful. Be understanding of a resident's health because everyone is different; some may have dementia, congestive heart failure, depression, or Alzheimer. Another key thing about being understanding is having patience. For example, people with dementia have memory problems and can often repeat themselves many times because they don't remember the things they say and may ask the same question they had asked five minutes prior. Having patience isn't only important with the residents, but also with the family members of the residents, your coworkers, and yourself.

MUST HAVE TRAITS | Patience, outgoing, friendly, caring and compassionate for others, adaptability, great organizational skills

how I got started | I started with being a Biology major because my parents wanted me to do something like pharmacy or optometry. I enjoyed taking Biology when I was in high school, but Biology and Chemistry at the college level were so much different where I didn't enjoy it. I just didn't get it; I spent the majority of my time studying the material just to do well in the class, but it just wasn't working for me and I was struggling. I did it for a year and a half and ended up being miserable because I was so stressed out and hated it. Around the same time, I was taking an Introduction to Psychology class for the General Education requirement and found it really interesting. From there, it made me realize that I actually really liked the topics being discussed and was able to retain the information more easily. That was when I decided to switch. My biggest fear was changing majors and questioning myself if things would work out if just tried even harder at it, but I don't regret making the decision to switch majors because for Biology, I really and truly gave it my all; it just wasn't for me. During my undergraduate career, I took the time to get into extracurricular activities such as joining a community service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, where the focus for that was leadership, friendship, and service. My experiences with the fraternity furthered my interest with working with people, which helped me be where I am today.

why this job?| Social work was one thing that I considered in doing, but I didn't want to do the stereotypical social work where I would have to visit the homes of troubled families or be the one to take away kids from their families if they were not in good environments. I just didn't have any interest in that. I knew that I wanted to do something where I interacted with other people instead of sitting at a desk. I really didn't know what I wanted to do. How I came to have this job was more of an opportunity that just kind of fell into my lap and I took a chance with it. I had no idea what this job was or what it would entail, but I figured I would dip my feet into it and see what it was all about. I had a friend who was the Social Services Director and she was leaving to go work for another hospital. I figured that I would apply just to get some interviewing experiences, not really thinking that I would get the job. Before I knew it, I was scheduling for a second interview and they offered the job to me.

why I love this job!| I love the fact that I can help people who need help; it gives me a sense of accomplishment. It sucks seeing people pass away though, but it is just a part of life. With experiencing death before my eyes, I feel like it has helped me come to terms with the human life cycle. Other than that, my coworkers are great. The place I work at is a family-run business and everyone is very supportive. That is what keeps me coming back each day to work. I could totally find a job closer to home, but I still commute every day to Millbrae from San Jose.

my typical day| There isn't a typical work day for me since there is always something happening at the facility. An example of a Monday would include me getting to work by 7:45AM. My main weekly duties is to do 8-13 assessments/reports a week for their mood and behavior. I usually get through one report by the time our daily department head meeting starting at 9:30AM. The meeting usually lasts about 30-45 minutes and I am to do the reports for the remainder of the day. It may seem like my day isn't much, but you also have to consider other random tasks and situations being added in, such as someone needing me to call the optometrist, some papers I have to fill out for Medi-Cal, a family member of a resident has a complaint about something, a new resident comes in, or even someone changing rooms. There are even rare occurrences where residents physically fight with each other or there was a claim where the resident says that he or she was abused by a staff member; these occurrences rarely happen, but when they do happen, it takes a long time to investigate. The rest of the week, I would have 15 minute meetings with the families of the residents and finish the tasks that I haven't completed.

what they are | I would have to say that balancing my work schedule is a challenge. The workload here is never even since it is different from week to week. There will be some months where I am super stressed out and there will be weeks where I am bored. This all depends if a new resident comes in or if we have a situation where a resident's health is ailing. The hospital where I work at is a 122 bed facility and we have to do quarterly reviews on our residents based on when they were admitted into our facility. For example, during the winter, we tend to have people pass away because of the cold weather and pneumonia and new residents come in. When March, April, or May comes around, we get pretty busy because we would have to do the quarterly reviews on the residents that were just admitted during the winter. Every three months or so, it gets busy again because a new quarter starts. Another challenge I would say is not to get too attached to a resident. In order to be effective in knowing a resident and understanding how their moods and behaviors are, I would have to get know them. Everyone has their favorite residents, but it's sad to see them go. I can still remember the first person who passed away while I was working; I remember it as if it just happened yesterday. When you are approached with death, it's just sad, but I feel that it is better to see them go than know that they're struggling to stay alive. It makes me feel better to know that they are at peace with themselves.

all about growth | There aren't any growth opportunities for me at this facility, since this is a family-run business. If I wanted to move up, I would have to move to a bigger hospital. I can also go back to school to get my Masters in Social Work, but I would need at least two years of work experience in order to get into the Masters program. Getting my Masters in Social Work would give me more experience and make me more appealing to other companies along with a higher pay. After that, I can go on and become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and do consultant work.

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