The New Job

On November 3, 2008, I officially started a new job and re-entered the world of full-time employment. I had been doing contract counseling and contract webdesign for over a year. In the beginning, the contract work was going pretty well. There would be weeks where I brought in twice as much income as we needed, and there were some weeks where I barely brought in enough to cover our bills. But things were balancing out, for the most part.

The main problem was that we were living from week to week. There were no savings, no set-back accounts for the big, semi-annual bills (like car insurance) and worst of all no medical insurance. Okay, now take all that and mix in the “recession” that our country is in. Contract work started drying out and I was bringing in less and less. So, one day I gave my resume a quick proof and emailed it to a couple of agencies.

That afternoon, I got an email back from the program director of one of the agencies. He wanted to schedule an appointment to talk about a position in their Van Buren office. I never heard from the other agency, so to make a long story short I took the job.

The commute to Van Buren isn’t all that bad, but we are making preparations to put our house on the market and move down there so I don’t have to spend 2 hours driving every day. The recent icy weather that we had prodded us to double our efforts at relocating. So the house now has a new coat of paint, reinforced privacy gates (that really open!), outside has been powerwashed, and dozens of things from drains to doorknobs to windows and lights have been replaced or repaired. We even steam cleaned the carpet and instituted a “house shoes only” rule (which we will probably keep enforcing even when we move). If anyone is interested, here’s a link to it on Google Maps (street view actually shows our neighbor’s house, so if you do a street view, move to the right one click and you’ll see our house – 2 car garage, blue grey siding).

Google Street View - Click to enlarge

I’m really enjoying the job too. I get to work with a wide variety of clients. I do some school-based counseling with kids ages 6-17, I see adults at my office at the clinic and once a week or every other week I go to a nursing home to see some clients out there. I work with clients with everything from adjustment issues to depression to schizophrenia. I’m also learning a great deal about disorders. And I’ve diagnosed myself with Generalized Anxiety Disorder at least three times a week during my first month. There was a lot of transition to work through. The paperwork is different, Medicaid and APS do things differently than DHHS and COA, and there’s a bunch of other changes.

But in the end, what makes this place work for me are the people that are here. It’s a small clinic, it’s also a new clinic, so I’m a part of shaping the way we get things done. And everyone is very positive-minded and willing to help out with paperwork, making phone calls, or the occasional Sonic run.

So, on the off chance that you or someone you know needs to get a hold of me at the office, here’s my contact info:

T.C. Long, MS, LAC
Licensed Mental Health Therapist
DaySpring Behavioral Health Services
1316 East Main Street
Van Buren, AR  72956

Office: 479-471-6892
email: tlong@dayspringbhs.com
www: www.dayspringbhs.com