In September, 2002, I started a Masters of Social Work (MSW) program at Simmons College.  This marked my entry into my fourth career, fueled by the ideal that social work would be a way for me to contribute to other people’s lives.

During my previous career as a manager in various software engineering organizations, I had been kindly characterized by employees as being “like a social worker”.  Perhaps, instead of being like one, I would be one.

The Simmons program required that I perform two internships.  My first was at CAB Health and Recovery outpatient programs in Salem and their methadone clinic in Danvers, MA.  The second was at the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) Department of Outpatient Psychiatry in Somerville, MA.

These two internships, in addition to providing me the opportunity to work and learn with individuals and groups, also gave me an introduction to institutions of mental health and addiction treatment.

Both CAB and CHA seemed like good places to work, with staff who were appreciated by both their clients and their mangers.  Upon graduation, I went to work for organizations which, while providing some valuable services to clients, also had some poor management with questionable practices, which negatively impacted clients and clinicians.

Given my previous management and labor experience, I was surprised, saddened, and angered by what I found.   Sometimes, I  spoke up, even when it was not welcomed by my managers.  But for the most part, I kept silent when I saw how certain questions were not welcomed.

My first post-graduate job was with what was then Health and Education Services (HES) Emergency Services group.  I went into emergency rooms and residences to evaluate the needs of people in crisis. The organization was well run, I got good training and supervision, and I and my peers felt appreciated and supported by our manager.

I continued doing emergency services part time after I got a full time job in 2004 with North Charles Center for the Addictions (NCIA) in Somerville.  It was clear that NCIA’s Methadone Maintenance program helped many people in many ways.  I liked my clients there and was told by several of them that they appreciated my efforts. But I also found management to be rigid and sometimes hostile, to both clinicians and to clients. I concluded, and management agreed, that I was a poor fit with management.

From NCIA, in 2005, I went to Children’s Friend and Family Services (CFFS) in Salem, MA, a non-profit social service agency that claims to “improve lives” and “provide hope”. In 2007,  after almost two years, I was fired “without cause”.