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After graduation, I served a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints in the New England Mission. From March of 1969 to March of 1971 I labored in Derry New Hampshire, Glacebay, Sydney,and New Glasgow Nova Scotia, Rockland Main, and Lynn Massachusetts. Upon returning to Webster Groves, I worked the summer at Husseman Refrigerator in St. Charles, as a Crater, crating commercial refrigeration units for shipping.
In September of 71, I returned to Provo Utah to attend Brigham Young University. I majored in Zoology. In the spring of 72, I met Diane Sorensen who I married in June of 72. We both continued to attend school at BYU with Diane graduating in 1974 and I finished in 1976. While attending school, we worked at the Utah County Youth home in Provo, a Juvenile Detention facility. We both worked there from 1972 to 1979.
After obtaining my BS in Zoology I applied to various Veterinary Schools. I was unsuccessful in my attempt and began looking for other options. A good friend was working as a Manager for the Church's Fried Chicken franchise in Utah and suggested that I apply. I did so and began to work for them as the Manager of their store in Orem, Utah, just north of Provo. I worked for Church's from 1979 til 1981 when the company went bankrupt and closed.
I did several odd jobs for a time, then decided to go into business for myself. I had become involved in bass fishing while in school and decided to open a Fishing Tackle shop. Champion Tackle was born and we worked from 1981 till 1984 to make a go of it. Problems with the Landlord and a very slow economy in Utah Valley combined to force us to close in 1984.
Out of work again, with a family, our daughter Jenni was born in 1981, I began looking for work again. After a short time in various sales jobs, I became aware of a position with the Utah State Division of Youth Corrections at their Observation and Assessment( O&A) program. O&A is a 60 day residential program that does evaluation and assessment for the Juvenile Court to give the Judges more information on a Juvenile offender to be used in placement other than secure confinement. I worked at O&A from 1984 til 11991 when there was a push to have everyone working for Youth Corrections to have a degree in Social Work, Psychology, of Sociology.
I attempted to return to BYU's BSW program, but since I already had a degree, I was denied. The only option was to get a Masters, so after taking prerequisite classes for a year at both BYU and the University of Utah, I began apply to both BYU and the UofU's MSW programs. After two years of not being accepted to either program, I was consulting with the Graduate Coordinator at BYU who suggested that I may want to look at other programs in the country.
Diane and I looked over all the MSW programs in the country and decided on 10 that we would apply to. I made calls to see if late applications were accepted as it was May of 91 or if we would have to wait till next January. Of the 10, only the University of Oklahoma was accepting late applications. OU was on our list as my older sister Christine ( WG class of 61) lived in Norman where her husband Larry was a Professor in the Business School. We thought it would be good for our daughter Jenni to meet her cousins be around family.
So, with the help of a good friend in the office of the BYU School of Social Work, I put an application together in 3 days and Fed Ex'd it to Norman. One requirement was the GRE and I was lucky that it was being given that weekend. I had to get to the testing center at 6 AM to get in line for possible available seats and was able to obtain one for that sitting. With the application complete and in, we waited to hear. On August 1st I received a phone call from OU letting me know I had been accepted and that I needed to be in Norman on August 21st for Orientation and that classes began on Aug 23rd.
We rented our home in Provo, packed out truck and a Uhaul, and drove to Norman Oklahoma to attend graduate school. I graduated from the School of Social Work with a MSW in May of 93, at which we moved back to Provo. I did not find a job till late summer, when a position in Salt Lake City (SLC) opened at the Children's Behavior Therapy Unit (CBTU) in their Jr. High School Program. CBTU is a K-12 program in the Granite and SLC school Districts that deals with children with conduct and behavior disorders. It is a cooperative program between the Districts and Valley Mental Health, the community mental health center in Salt Lake Valley.
The Jr. High Program was located at Eisenhower Jr. HS. There were 25 kids in the program. Staff included 4 Certified Special Ed teachers, 6 classroom aids, myself, and the program administrator. There was also support from Valley Mental Health in the form of a Psychiatrist that provided medical management for the kids. As the Licensed Therapist, my job was to provide therapeutic services to the kids, their families and sometimes staff. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the kids and staff, but hated having to commute to SLC everyday.
In the Summer of 94 I became aware of a position at Wasatch Mental Health (WMH), the community Mental Health Program in Utah Valley, in their Youth Out Patient Program. I applied for the position and was hired. The position was a cooperative position between WMH and the Utah Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to provide mental health services to kids in the custody of DCFS. I served in this position for 4 years when the State dissolved these cooperative positions. By this time I had obtained my licensesure as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and was moved to Youth Outpatient as a Therapist there.
It was in the Summer of 1998 when my Supervisor called me in and told me that they were moving me to School Based Programs as the Therapist at Alpine Life and Learning Center (ALLC), the alternative High School for the Alpine School District. Alpine is the largest of the 3 School Districts in Utah Valley, covering all the cities from Orem north to the Salt Lake County Line. ALLC was the program to provide school services for High School Students who had been expelled, would not attend regular school, or who had schedules that did not permit them to attend regular school.
ALLC was an amazing program, utilizing an innovative program to provide educational services to their students. The basis of the program were packets that were written by the faculty. Each packet was worth 1/8th of a credit and covered all core education subjects plus electives. There were approximately 300-350 full time students along with up to 1500 part-time students attending. Any student in the Alpine District could attend ALLC and do packets by paying a $25 registration fee and $15 per packet. Many Students in the District would attend to make up credit or get ahead.
My job at ALLC was to provide Mental Health Services to the Students, full or part-time, faculty, and staff. I did individual, group, and family therapy, ran parenting classes for up to 80 young Mothers ( students with children or expecting ) and assist the faculty and staff in dealing with problems in the school. I had a full time Case Manager and usually a MSW Intern and one or two BSW interns during the school year. ALLC was a year round school and we were there year round.
I was at ALLC for 16 years. For the last 8 I was also the Supervisor over School based services in Alpine District with 6 Therapists and 12 Case Managers working in the District.
As things evolve, I was approached by the Clinical Director of WMH about moving. They were putting a full time Crisis team together and wondered if I was interested. I was very interested in the move as I had several people under me that needed to move up and I was blocking them. I had been on the after hours Crisis team for the past 18 years, so was familiar with Crisis services. So I moved to Crisis.
I remained at Crisis Services for the remainder of my tenure at WMH. For the last 3 years, I was Supervisor over Crisis Services as my Supervisor was moved up to cover his boss' position over Crisis and the Intensive Residential Treatment ( IRT).
I retired from WMH in 2015, after 21 years. I have to say that I looked forward to going to work every day, did not dread my job, and loved working with my fellow staff and the clients that I interacted with each day.
In addition to working at WMH, I worked in a Private Practice, Utah Family Institute (UFI), since 1998. I continue to work with a few clients a UFI.
Since retirement, I spend time gardening, fishing, and church work. I was very involved with the Utah BASS Federation, serving as Vice President, Tournament Director, and Conservation Director. I am no longer an active member of a Club, but still work with the Utah Lake Commission on the June Sucker Recovery Program. I no longer fish tournaments regularly, but have been fishing several Team events in Burley Idaho with a good friend. The Snake River is an amazing SMB fishery and the events a some of the funnest that I have fished in the last 30+years.
Diane and I work as Family History consultants in our local LDS Ward, helping members with their Genelogy. The LDS Church built a Family History Center just north of us in Lehi, and we are learning to use the resources there.
We have 3 grandchildren, Lexi and Katie, twin girls that are 13 and Nathan 12. Jenni married a young man, David, who is an Actuary for Bear River Insurance. He initially worked for the Hartford after he graduated from BYU. They lived in Connecticut for 6 years, then moved to Highland Utah, just east of Lehi.
Our Son, Mathew, graduated from BYU last year and went to work for Bates -White, in Washington DC. He has degrees in Economics and Strategies, with minors in Math and Statistics. He is a consultant with Bates - White.
I have only been back to St. Louis a couple of times in the last 50 years, so I am looking forward to attending the reunion.
