Keeping It Going....

In my week of insanity, today is my easy day. I have no specific obligations. So, I'm spending it thinking through some things, including a new potential project. As you may recall, I wrote a post earlier this month where I mentioned that one of my projects has gone away and now there needs to be a new one to replace it. Well, last week, I think I decided what it is. And the nicest part (at least as far as my wallet is concerned) is that this will be a job!!! Yes, I'll get paid to do what I want to do, assuming I can make it work. It's going to require some planning though. You see, it means starting up a business of sorts. But I need to find premises, and determine what my overhead will be. Then I have to figure out how to advertise so people know this is happening.

But I'm really liking this idea.

You see, I recently asked a question on the Facebook Page that I run.....Would you be willing to join a support group for families living with autism if the "leader" of the group didn't have professional training? My "training" is as an Autism Mom. I know how to do research. I know how to determine what makes sense and what doesn't. And I make informed decisions even though I may question if those decisions are wise after the fact. But I have no background in social work or clinical psychology. Even though I majored in psychology in college, I focused on developmental psychology and cognitive development. I never took any classes in clinical psychology. Overall, people said that they would prefer someone who dealt with it as a Mom daily rather than someone who just had the education behind them.

So, now I'm pursuing this. It's a good way for me to use this new passion in a way that can help others and still satisfy my interests. The commitment for me would be to run and organize the group (or maybe groups if this venture really grows) and to research ideas for discussion. If people have questions that cannot be answered at the time, I can do the research for them and fill them in the next time we meet. And I can keep my self-appointed title of Parent Advocate.

My husband is also supportive of this project, which doesn't always happen (he feels I have a tendency to over-extend myself [and he's right]). He likes the idea that I can take what I do naturally and turn it into something like this. He has offered his services to help advertise (he's gotten quite good at using publishing software) when the time is right. And this is a project that I can control the specific hours that I will be involved so I can continue to meet my existing obligations.

Now I just need to find time to catch my breath so I can figure out how to make this happen.