[Update: I’m back!] A month off for military training – wish me luck and see you soon!

My fellow social workers,

I’m back.

My month away was worth it. I attended a leadership course at Fort Meade, Maryland, and then got called up to help with the flood response in Texas.

The leadership course intended to prepare me to supervise soldiers who work in the role I’ve held in the National Guard for the last almost 6 years. And think I learned a lot.

I gained some insight into some strengths I’ve developed as a leader, and some areas for me to work on. There was a nice balance of triumph and challenge and confusion. There were some counter-intuitive realizations, like the idea that some people simply don’t respond well to collaborative leadership styles. The confusing part is it seems sometimes the people who are most insistent in giving lip service to collaborative leadership don’t respond well to it at all.

I’m not going to pretend that I’ll figure it out. But I’m confident that as I mull over some of my experiences, I’ll be figuring something out. And that will have to suffice. 🙂

So I’m back. You’re back. Now let’s hospice social work. My first article back deals with how to ensure the resource advocacy projects result we find ourselves involved in reach the most successful conclusions possible. Click here to check it out.

Best regards,

Michael – Sept. 11, 2017

My fellow hospice social workers,

Today I arrived at Fort Meade where I’m attending a 4-week course for my other career. Sometimes part-time, and occasionally full-time, I work as a writer and photographer for the Texas Army National Guard, and this month, I’m attending a training so I can learn about supervising other military journalists as they tell soldiers’ stories.

I love writing this blog almost as much as I love doing hospice social work, so you’ll see me back in full force in September. In the meantime, feel free to check out some of my recent additions to my portfolio here.

All the best,

Michael