u/Adiantum-Veneris

I'm on a hunt for a new desk, and had been for a while. The requirements were pretty basic: at least 160cm wide and about 40-50cm deep, easy to move between apartments with minimal installation, and with either wood or plywood top. Any wood is fine. HDF with veneer is also fine. Should be easy, right?

Except, for some reason, I can't find anything. Everything is either laminated particle board (or cardboard), or way too big and/or fussy. Ikea doesn't have desktops that are wood. Closest option is bamboo (Or buy a much bigger and heavier kitchen counter which needs much more robust and bulky supports).

The stupid question: is there any reason not to just buy a random sheet of plywood or pine wood and attach it to Ikea metal legs or something like that? Because if it's that easy, wouldn't it be offered?

I'm on a hunt for a new desk, and had been for a while. The requirements were pretty basic: at least 160cm wide and about 40-50cm deep, easy to move between apartments with minimal installation, and with either wood or plywood top. Any wood is fine. HDF with veneer is also fine. Should be easy, right?

Except, for some reason, I can't find anything. Everything is either laminated particle board (or cardboard), or way too big and/or fussy. Ikea doesn't have desktops that are wood. Closest option is bamboo (Or buy a much bigger and heavier kitchen counter which needs much more robust and bulky supports).

The stupid question: is there any reason not to just buy a random sheet of plywood or pine wood and attach it to Ikea metal legs or something like that? Because if it's that easy, wouldn't it be offered?

I'm a MSW student. My program has both individual supervision in each student's placement, and group supervision along with other students in different placements (some clinical, some aren't) on campus.

In our last supervision session, one student shared an incident that happened a few months back, where her senior client made some statements that were vaguely suicidal, before storming out and informing the clinic she's not continuing therapy. And then proceeded to not show up for any medical follow-ups (blood tests, endocrinologist, physiotherapy, wound care...) either.

Pretty much everyone in the group, including the supervisor, seemed very focused on how difficult this must be for the student to have a client threaten her like this, and how the client is trying to assert what little control she has over her life by doing this, and how this is a reenactment of the client's relationship with her estranged daughter...

Which left me utterly confused. I don't disagree with any of what they said, but I am still puzzled by why this was the focus? You have an elderly client, who lives alone and has no support system, in poor physical condition and a history of psychiatric issues, who made a thinly veiled threat of suicide, cancelled her therapy sessions, and did not make contact with anyone in the clinic for three months. Why do we focus on how sad the student is and why is nobody doing a welfare check on her? Why is she sad about being rejected and not worried for the client's safety?

To be fair, I am well aware that experiencing and paying attention to my own emotions is not my strong suit (due to my own mental health issues). It's something I've been trying to work on for years, and incidents like this happen fairly regularly, where everyone around me is crying and I'm just listing action items. But this one made me feel like I'm too broken to understand something crucial. It doesn't make sense to me and it probably should.

Can someone please explain to me what am I missing?

I'm doing second year of MSW, with focus on macro.

I just got an update from my university regarding my placement for next year... And the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I get.

It's in a municipal social service, serving a particularly difficult area, infamous for out-of-control gang violence, often in broad daylight. But that's not the issue. At least not on its own right.

The main issues are:

1. From what I gathered, it's not REALLY a macro role... It's just defined as macro because they have no funding for case managers.
2. 80% of the residents don't speak any language I can effectively communicate in.
3. I live nearby. As in, not in the same neighborhood, but barely two streets away (also very poor area, just so we're clear - I'm not some kind of a sheltered rich white person). Which, in combination with the gang violence issue and being most likely made to do case management, makes me rather uneasy.

My instincts say I should insist on having the program fond a different placement, because this is a bad idea on so many levels. But at the same time, I'm second-guessing myself and wondering if I am being too precious and fussy about it.

EDIT: I'm probably trying to justify my paranoia, but I previously worked in human rights. Which means I am no stranger to being doxxed, stalked, threatened and so on. I'm doing MSW specifically BECAUSE my old work environment became too hostile to be viable...

We have two sessions left, and I want to give them a drawing of their party as a parting gift. The challenge is that all of the characters have a fairly vague description and not much of a visual reference.

Nay - A short, nerdy, androgynous elven wizard. Nay started off thinking of himself as a weak, cowardly person who is terrible with people and has a very limited range of skills, but over the course of the game, discovered he was an excellent diplomat, capable of standing his ground and standing up to power, whose personality and insight are just as valuable as his magic.

Zeitgeist - An iron golem ranger. An ancient construct made for a long forgotten war, who befriended a group of spiders that serve as his helpers. Zeitgeist began his journey feeling like as a passive observer, out of his time and out of his place - but throughout his journey, became the group's voice of reason, as well as a pillar of the local community, who is deeply invested in the world around him.

Dmitri - A tall, broad and intimidating human fighter, blonde and blue-eyed, dressed in chainmail and carrying a large axe. Dmitri spent all his life being told he's violent, dangerous, no-good - beliefs he carried and fully embraced and perpetuated. Through his time with the party, he discovered he could channel his strength to help and protect others, and that his darker sides are not monsters to suppress, but a part of himself that he can make peace with.

Grain - A scruffy male human rogue. Grain carried heavy guilt over past actions, which, since he could not change, he believed already shaped his present and future, and saw himself as permanently tainted and incapable of change. Over time, though, he learnt that although he couldn't change his past, it is possible to move on from it - holding himself accountable and trying to do better, and seeing himself as deserving friendship, trust, and even forgiveness.