Monday: 9:30- 8:30; 11 hours

Tuesday: 9:00-8:30; 11.5 hours

Wednesday: 9:00 AM-5:15; 8.25 hours
Thursday: 0 hours
Friday: 5:00- 6:30; 1.5 hours
Total Weekly Hours: 32.25
Total Hours to Date: 267.65 hours
Journal 7/2-7/7

On Monday, I arrived at work at 9:30. I started answering calls pretty much as soon as I

arrived. The phones are usually busier in the mornings and in the evenings, so I have been trying

to help at those times especially. I also like to do this because those are the times when a favorite

coworker of mine works. She really helps me on the phones and gives me great constructive

criticism when I mess up a little. Many of the skills on the crisis line develop with time and

practice and I am proud of the progress I have made thus far. It is a task that requires you to

gather a specific and detailed information about the case, analyze the options and the situation,

and provide the available resources to the woman. I also have to keep very detailed and

organized records of everything I do, so I have been trying to translate the organization skills I've

learned at my site into my personal life in hopes of improving all around. In between my taking

calls, I worked on record keeping with another coworker. We were updating our volunteer

records and making sure all the records matched the confidentiality agreements.

On Tuesday, I arrived at 9:00 AM. I have been making a conscious effort to show up

earlier and stay later to make up the deficit in my hours thus far. I helped with calls as well as

listened in on Ms. S's calls to see how she handles certain situations. I also met with one of the

residents in the community garden to do some weeding and harvest the okra that she had planted

prior to my arrival at the house It is doing remarkably well. I haven't been as active in the garden

as I would like because I developed tendonitis in my wrist at the beginning of the summer after

moving. That provided a few barriers, but I am better now and I am excited to get started again.
Because of this setback however, I have changed the focus of my project from the community

garden to the Resiliency Building training program I am doing for Ms. Barbara and the staff. I

am going to use my research to put together the presentation and training session as well as

create a guide that they can refer to in the future. I am excited about this new shift and I feel like

I see a clear direction for the presentation, so I am excited for Dr. Kaninjing will get to see the

work that I have done.

On Wednesday, I started by answering phones and filling out the corresponding paperwork for

our database. We just finished switching and we can't put them in the system yet, so there is

going to be a mountain of paperwork and entries to do when the time comes to learn the new

system and enter the information. I helped with office and clerical work throughout the day, as

well as assisting with childcare, until I left at 5:15. I got Ms. Barbara's permission a couple

weeks ago to go out of town the 4th and the 5th. I had an important family event on Saturday and

it is in South Bend, Indiana, a 12-hour drive from Atlanta. I was originally going to drive through

the night with my sister and brother, but we ended up dividing the drive in half over two days

instead at the insistence of my dad.

On Thursday, I spent 7 AM until 2 PM in the car with my siblings to go to Indiana for my

grandmother's 90th birthday party. When we arrived I caught up with my family and enjoyed my

time with my grandmother.

On Friday I conducted a few interviews with former safehouse residents, in the privacy of the

office so no one would hear and with the permission of my supervisor. I wanted to get at least an

hour or two for the internship today since I couldn't be there in person. The leadership

encourages time off to recoup, because the safehouse can be emotionally heavy, but I really had

not planned on missing two days this week. I just don't know how much more time I will have
with my grandmother and the party my dad threw her was so meaningful. My grandmother is

very well for her age and she is very mobile. She still drives herself around town, as long as it is

between 10 and 5. Since she is in such good health, I took the opportunity to look at the factors

in her life that might have affected her health and health outcomes, including ethnic background,

eating habits, social habits, and overall stress.