First Assignments

You'll get a lot of assignments while you're here. Let me say this up front, because it saved me some grief: this isn't a race, and nobody hands out prizes for finishing the most, or finishing the fastest. Some of your assignments won't be done by the time you leave, and that's alright — that's how it's meant to work. As always, the binder and your staff are the authority here; I'm just walking you through what the first stretch tends to look like.

There's a section in your treatment plan for writing down each assignment as it's given to you. You may not have your treatment plan yet when the assignments start coming, so for now, just be ready to jot each one down somewhere — a notebook, whatever you've got — until you can transfer it over.

Your first assignment: the paperwork

Complete and turn in any paperwork you were handed when you arrived. Fill it out completely, and get it back to staff. Simple as that — but “completely” is the part people rush. Take the few extra minutes so you're not redoing it.

Your second assignment: get into the binder

Browse through the different sections of the binder so you know what's in it and where to find things, and read the Community Guidelines section all the way through. That one you read completely — don't skim it.

The highpoints of the community guidelines are covered here on this companion site, so you can use those as a running start. But the highlights are just that — highlights. They don't replace reading the section in the binder for yourself.

Your third assignment: the self-assessments

There's a section of self-assessments in the binder. Take your time with these; they aren't something to power through.

Work them in passes. Start with the assessments that definitely apply to you. Then go back through and do the ones that may apply to you. Whatever's left over, do those last — and don't write them off just because they don't seem to fit. You might be surprised by some of them.