Does the world have to revolve around The Sun?

Has anyone seen 'The Sun's' headlines today. It is beyond stupid. Seriously. But the frustrating thing is that people will believe it. For those of you who do not have access to the quality publication that is the Sun, the headlines read, '100 social workers fail to stop tow sisters being raped by their dad for 25 years'.

Now I have read nothing on this story, and I have no interest in doing so. Social work bashing has got out of control. Indeed I think some may argue that there should be no 'controls' on democracy, but this assumes that a population has access to non-biased (or both sides of an argument) information. A sector of our society is being led by the nose to think stupid and ridiculous things.

And there is no way to fight back. I'd be more than willing to stand up on a stage or a debate programme and stand up for my profession, but no-one wants to see this stage (unless it involves me being publicly executed for the 'crimes' that my so called colleagues have committed).

Who killed Baby P?
The social workers and GP, not the actual hands of the people involved. Who failed all the children we see in the press- the social workers, not their useless selfish parents, or the violent vicious people who assaulted them.

How is newspapers headline going to help anyone? All it does is reduce collective responsibility and consciousness and allow the angry world to vent at someone other than themselves.
Who failed baby P? ok,. well some blame can lie with the social worker, but can we admit that the only person who clearly cares about any child is a paid professional- NO! The others who never helped him were his siblings, his aunts uncles, grandma's, family friends, neighbours, the woman at the bus stop, anyone else coming in and out of the house, and more crucially, his mother.

The scare mongering in the headline just goes beyond anything I can even laugh off today. 100 social workers- how that many - is every social worker in that borough being blamed? Social workers are PEOPLE not superslothes or SWAT team detectives, they cant magically know things that no-one is telling them, or there are no clues towards. Even if they had some inkling that this is happening, to be able to do anything about it a social worker must be able to stand up in court and provide enough evidence to a judge to prove that it is occurring. We have no power anymore and a judge will not rely on 'social work instinct' or a serious of clues......
Every borough has a serious problem with recruiting social workers at the moment, in my borough even at £2,000 retention bonus for a commitment of 1 years work is failing to keep anyone interested. I know of 9 social workers leaving currently.

I get so annoyed about this situations- can you tell?- that it makes me take all the more seriously the voice in my head that say leave Britain. However, this would be appeasing my emotional state, but who suffers in the long term from these scare mongering articles, the children. The little girl, sitting in a crappy house, with inadequate supervision, regularly told that she was never wanted, and never will be, and knocked around whenever someone is in a bad mood with her. She'll be raped before you know it, drop out of school, develop depression, and then start producing her own disempowered children- probably deciding not to engage with any social workers along the way as she 'knows what you lot are like'. Tell me Sun, how is this helping?

A True friend

True, I LOVE YOU!! Thanks for today. You empower me and encourage me to live my life in the best way i can. You are wonderful. Today was greater than 8 therapy sessions: i probably therefore owe you £400.

A true friend is the person who knows everything about you, and yet still likes you.

My Counsellor's bullying me!

I've tried to access counselling, which took me a long time. The most part of this was taken up with me trying to decide if i needed counselling and what i would say if someone asked me why i wanted it on a good day, when i was in a good mood and felt like i didn't need it.

However, the frequency of which i go from happy as a frog in a thunderstorm to angry enough to want to flying kick every door that ever lived, pushed me to do it. So i called the 'help' line. The lady was nice enough, and we went through the depression and anxiety questionnaires. She then told me that i qualified for four telephone counselling sessions. Everyone qualifies for these.

Despite telling the lady that i did not think that i wanted to do telephone sessions, she insisted i try it as a first step. So my counsellor called me, when i was walking along the southbank one night going to dinner. We discussed when he could call me for my first session, and i again explained that i did not feel comfortable with this. He again, didn't really seem to listen, and i agreed he could call me next Wednesday. Ah-ha. I am not even assertive enough to tell my counsellor, the man i am hoping can help and empower me, that i did not want to do this. Damn.

So, he then called me again another day to rearrange as he had a different open time slot, on a day i had already told him i cannot do. Illustrating that the only thing we had already talked about, he did not listen to. So that was it and i just said no, this is not meeting my needs. I think he was busy as he just accepted it this time.

To conclude it all, they then sent me a feedback form on the service, a prepaid postcard. Great, confidential counselling feedback on a postcard. hahaha. So all in all the counselling has disempowered me, illustrated how weak i am, and put me off asking for help. EVER AGAIN.

How come i work in a job where emotions are important, relationships are crucial and i do direct face-to-face work with individuals because it is generally recognised by..... the world...... that body language, non-verbal communication, and feeling valued and respected are key aspects in communicating with people.

Luckily, i have lots of great friends, and a faith in a God who has confidence in me, so I'll be fine. I have to be. There's no time in life for breakdowns!

P.S Sent a text to True to apologise for not calling and letting her know that i still care but feel overwhelmed. Despite having a life, AND a baby, she called me immediately. She is so lovely. Seriously, i want to be her. How can someone always be so calm and reliable, yet fun and joyful?

Today i spent over £4,000

Today Xss and I booked our flights. I am sure everyone who knows me must be more than fed up with me talking about going travelling and getting away from my British life. For those that aren't (or even those that are and want to learn when the annoying pain that is LE will bog off and shut up) here are the flights:

Early August (7th!) Fly from London to Rio, Brazil.
Stay in Brazil for 4 months (3 months on the farm)
Late November Fly from Rio to Santiago, Chile
Late November Fly from Santiago to Lima, Peru
Early December Fly from Lima to Cusco, Peru
See Machu Picchu
Mid December Fly from Cusco to Lima, Peru
Find a way to get to Iguitos/the Amazon and see the rainforest
Mid December Fly from Lima to Miami, USA
Late December Fly from Miami to Minnesota
Spend Christmas with my wonderful Russell Family
Late December Fly from Minnesota to LA, USA
Drive to Death Valley and Las Vegas and back
Early January Fly from LA to Tokyo, Japan
Go see Kyoto
Mid January Fly from Tokoyo to Puket, Thailand
Spend one month in Thailand volunteer placement in a Zoo
One month in Cambodian volunteer placement teaching English.
Go overland to Hanoi, Vietnam.
Mid May Fly from Hanoi to Hong Kong
Mid May Fly from Hong Kong to Dehli, India
Overland to Goa
Early June Fly from Goa to LONDON BABY!