I'm Comin' Out
Seriously. Cue Diana Ross. It's been a process y'all. For as long as I can remember my professional identity has been "clinical social worker." I had the loans, the hours of supervision, tomes of books, and CEU's to prove it. I reveled in who I was: the first pediatric medical trauma social worker in the ER at a level 1 trauma center. We served 5 states. Our helicopters went all the way up to the Canadian border. And I was good. I was responsive. I stabilized families in crisis in their worst moments they could imagine. At times I swear I felt I was channeling God. I felt spirits leave. I was the one who the doctors and nurses called when they couldn't handle things. It was powerful. It was my everything. But it took a toll. It also drained my soul. There was something very intoxicating and alienating when people would say, "I don't know if I could do what you do." You felt spec...