For two decades, I worked in the service industry. More specifically, I worked in retail for about ten years, and in restaurants for the same, often moving into management positions and remaining ensconced there with big dreams but small aspiration to actually put in the work to achieve them. Some of that stagnation had to do with being a pretty risk-averse person when it comes to stability. Even when something no longer served me, I was keen to stick to the situation I knew, rather than to make a shift to something unfamiliar. In some jobs, that served me better than others, especially when I think of my time at Borders, or at one local restaurant where I still have ties. In these jobs I was given more space to grow as a manager, as an employee, and as a person, than I had in some other spaces.
I’ve also had several years of therapy to round out that growth and allow me to see myself and my circumstances in a much different light. A little over four years ago, I took an opportunity to re-evaluate where I was going in life, and what I wanted to do, and around that time I had a number of conversations that pointed me in a new direction. I’ve talked about some of this before, so I’ll avoid belaboring the point.
I was lucky enough to make connections during my freshman year that led to a job opportunity for me. As of this writing, with my Bachelor of Social Work graduation tomorrow, I have been with my current practice for nearly two and a half years, as an office assistant, then office manager, and now the director of operations for the company. In August, I will continue into the Master of Social Work program, and upon graduation, I will most likely be in a hybrid operations and clinical role, something I could not be more excited for. I have also begun a long list of training and certifications I hope to complete during or after my MSW, including WPATH’s Global Education Initiative, Gottman Method relationship counseling, and AASECT (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists) certification. I want to specialize in working with groups like the trans community, non monogamous relationship groups and individuals, Latin American immigrants, and others, and though I am loath to pigeonhole myself with any one group, I am sure that some of the training I take, and my being openly pagan, will do a little of that for me.
What I ultimately want to be is the professional I needed, while working with groups who find it harder than others to access mental health services. In addition, I want to continue leveraging twenty years of industry experience, honed by skills I have learned in my degree, to help other small businesses grow and thrive going forward.
I’ve always enjoyed helping people, and I love digging into the way a business works and (hopefully) finding new and better ways to operate going forward. Now, I get to do both in a way that feels closer to who I want to be as a person, not just as something I do for a paycheck, and that is incredibly fulfilling.
Daniel K. Sheff 