So I figured I should write something before I lose all my followers, if I haven't already. Things were pretty drab here for a bit so I didn't want to bore you with frivolous details. I am now in Outreach 100% of my time which means I get to do assessments and recruiting. We recently went to a needle exchange, so that was really interesting. I've heard about them but had never seen one in person. This one is city run and it's a van, kind of like a small camper, that parks at certain locations around Baltimore. People walk inside the van with their used needles and how ever many they turn in is how many they receive. They also have an opportunity to be tested for HIV. I have mixed feelings about needle exchanges, but at least people have an opportunity to use clean needles instead of sharing with others which spread disease.
As people would leave with their new needles, we would stop them and ask if they would be interested in joining a paid job-training study where they would also receive methadone treatment. If they said yes, then we would ask them a few questions to see if they qualify for the study then ask them to come in to the office for an appointment. Unfortunately, none of the people we met actually came in for their appointments. So we will be going out soon to try again.
Other than that the only new thing here is that my supervisor is moving out of state. He is the only person here who is currently a board certified behavior analyst, so he will continue to be my supervisor via phone until the director gets his licence renewed. Thankfully my supervisor is staying on as a consultant so he doesn't mind continuing my supervision, otherwise we could have been moving back home. Which as much as I would love to do, just isn't the best option.
We feel like we're finally getting settled in here. It took some adjusting and it still does not feel like home, but we are enjoying it here. It's fun being so close to DC and were able to see the cherry blossoms, which are totally worth the effort. They were gorgeous! There was one section that was near the Potomac River and it looked like a dream, it was just so pretty. We are also enjoying the church we found. They seem very happy to have a full tech team attending their church. The sound guy and pastor want to meet with Michael to discuss some things. They understand we are on sabbatical while we're here, but we will help them work out a few kinks.
I think that's it for now, I'll try and do better about keeping up with this :)
