My day starts at 6am – with a long drive from Aberdeen to Inverness in order to start my working day.
My first client “J” and I recently applied for a small grant from a charity aimed towards developing interests of unemployed people. Today we are going to a second-hand camera shop to see if it’s reasonable for her to be able to get a camera and a bike with the money, this looks quite positive.
When I pick up my next client “M” she is very distressed and overwhelmed. I manage to calm her down, addressing her issues one at a time. Her health is not great which limits her getting to the doctors as it’s too far away – this is becoming a detrimental cycle, which is particularly concerning as she’s pregnant. We made her a doctor’s appointment for tomorrow which I will attend with her and looked in to the possibility of her moving surgery. By the time I drop her off, her mood has increased significantly.
I then go to Criminal Justice Social Work to pick up my next client “S” after her meeting. Unfortunately she has not turned up for this and neither I nor her social worker can contact her. I fill my time catching up with emails and phone calls until my next appointment.
My last meeting of the day is “D”, this is her last meeting with Shine. Her engagement has been very sporadic so we have not made much progress. Today is mostly about signposting – I have made contact with Women’s Aid for her and encouraged her to get her Community Psychiatric Nurse to refer her to Apex for further support and acupuncture.
Then an overnight in Inverness for me, before it all starts again tomorrow!