Giving Thanks

June is not necessarily the time that we look to think of what we are thankful for. I know that the long lists come out in November. However, lately I have been thinking about the past ten months at LPCS and how much I have enjoyed my time here.

I have worked with hundreds of individuals over the course of these months so far and in the next two, I will see many more. Some of these clients I only saw once, but I saw many on a repeated basis. I got to know their stories and be of some assistance, and they have also taught me a lot. The past two months have been particularly good in terms of feeling success of case management. Two clients, who were chronically homeless (over one year of homelessness or 4 times in the last 3 years) found housing. One client came back and I was nervous as to what her reaction would be to the apartment and she held up her key and said “Abby, it’s perfect!” She moved out and was so happy. I have seen this particular woman struggle through a lot. She has diabetes and has had a bit of an up and down battle with that. A lot of employment possibilities dead ended but she finally found work through the Jewish Vocational Services’ Senior Aide program which matches low-income adults over the age of 55 with agencies that could use some extra skills. The adults gain new work skills, have a part time job, and assist agencies that are working for positive changes around the city. This guest sent me an email earlier this week thanking me for my help. It meant the world to me. She did so much of it on her own, I just provided some leads to JVS and the housing, but I am thrilled to have been a positive force during a hard time in her life.

Two other clients have also found employment. Both making more than minimum wage and either getting benefits or eligible for them soon! They will soon save up money and move out. Both have struggled with addictions in the past. One has been sober for 10 years and one for several more. It is so great to see the success of such hard working individuals.

One of the other clients who routinely brightened my day also just got housing. Let’s call him John. I remember John from the first month I came in. He’s an older guy and he’s tall – a big guy, so I was intimidating. He seemed a bit like a bitter, older man and came in one day within my first few weeks declaring he would be out of here by his birthday. Unfortunately, his birthday was  few weeks later from that date, in September. However, he moved out last Friday back into his own apartment. I will definitely miss John. He provided me with some funny “advice” on life which was at times hilarious (going to DC, marrying an old rich guy and divorcing him for his money to pay for my student loans) and other times just plain sweet (telling me that all of these weddings coming up this summer are a reminder that someday I’ll have that beautiful wedding too). Last week he came up to me, put his hand on my should and said, “I’m going to miss you.” I appreciated it so much that we could joke each morning. It makes those early days much better. I think he felt I was sort of like a daughter figure to him and I hope he knows of the great impact he had on me as well. He left me his address and I am thinking of sending him a card sometime because I missed his move out day.

So today was just one of those days that I sat back and thought, I am really going to miss this place. I love my job and am SO thankful I ended up here for my LVC year. It’s not always easy and there aren’t always success stories, but I love it none the less.

Graduate!

This week brought an interesting mix of work for me. It very much felt like a mix of everything I do. It had the ups and downs, the difficulties and the really great moments as well.

We’ll start with the difficult and bad news and work up to the great news.

First, I have a guest on my caseload who has, we think, some sort of mental illness. Definitely a bunch of anxiety, but something much deeper than that as well. I got her to see a nurse for a while, but she refused to see a doctor so she couldn’t become a registered patient at this clinic. Due to continued conflicts around LPCS we told her see a doctor or you need to leave (the decision on this was much more of a complicated process than I am making it sound). She flatly refused so we are on the “if you can handle it, show us” path now. Next conflict and she will likely be dismissed. It is hard, because she is a very motivated woman. She has had a lot happen in her life in the past year or so and is very upset about her present situation. She applies for more jobs than anyone at our shelter. However, she lacks a lot of skills that make her ready for work (communication skills for one). It is difficult to watch, knowing we have some resources that could help her succeed but she refuses to listen to me. Last week she told me I was the only person that didn’t “put her through the meat grinder” when she came her, but now I have “turned on her too”. It’s hard to hear that when you are trying to help!

Second, in the midst of all of this and the upcoming good news, I had a client call me who was not doing so well. She recently moved to Chicago and due to this move is disconnected from a doctor that can give her medication. She suffers from PTSD, so this is pretty critical for her. She hasn’t actually come in to see me yet, but has an intake appointment this week, so I guess that is why I got the call. At first I thought, this was ok, she’ll come in, I’ll refer her to some counseling services and she can get back on her meds. However, this timeline is probably a week at best, if not two or more. Later that day I got a call from her saying she was feeling more anxious and extremely depressed and didn’t know what to do. I called some places and called her back, unfortunately I was unable to refer her since she wasn’t with me, but she could call them. Before I could call her back I got a call from the suicide hotline. She had called them with thoughts of suicide, but no concrete plan and had been routed to a call center in GA. They called me to verify she had an appointment. However, I had to explain I was not a doctor and that I was trying to help her get connected to one. Together we got her some local suicide hotline numbers and hospital numbers and addresses. I called the woman back later and she now reported feeling extremely alone, feeling unable to get out of bed. At our last call she was reporting physical symptoms including chest pain and shortness of breath. She had a doctors appointment to see a general practitioner, so hopefully she got connected to what she needed. I gave her more numbers and she assured me she would call them. I need to call her back today and check in. The whole process of this though was a bit overwhelming. I am not at all trained to deal with this. Thankfully I have learned some of the questions to ask and know of more resources so I was able to help some. However, the weight of it all is pretty heavy. It’s difficult not to think “what if I said something wrong? what if I didn’t say enough?” and think of the worst. But hopefully she is doing ok and has found what she needs.

At work we are also about to try a new model of programming around here. The stages model! We’ll be piloting the program this May. Guests will either be in the orientation stage, goal-setting stage, achievement stage, or the transition stage. We have chosen 8 current guests plus our two new guests to test this program. The plan is full implementation in July or August. We’ll see how it goes. An additional comment – I have 8/35 guests on my case load, but I ended up with 5 of the 10 on the pilot program. Now what are the statistical odds of that….

And the GOOD NEWS! One of the guests on my caseload found housing (and another might hear about some this week!). It is the first guest on my caseload to become a graduate of our programs and I am thrilled. He moved into an apartment on 4/30. On May 1, I got a message from him that was really nice. He said that he didn’t think it would have come through as quickly without my calls and that he appreciated me standing by him when he knew he was on thin ice at LPCS (he almost got kicked out the week earlier for not doing all program requirements). He didn’t need to call and leave that message, and I think a lot of his work with housing was his own doing, however, it is nice to hear a thank you. It all made my week. I know it’s not the housing he necessarily hoped for, but as he said, it’s a start and from there it will just get better. I’m pretty proud of him for it, and thrilled that in my time here I have had a graduate!

The only other update in my life is that I completed a four mile run yesterday. The run was called C4 Miles and was a benefit for the Community Counseling Centers of Chicago. They do great work and on a sliding scale down to zero, so they dont’ reject anyone! They have counselors to deal with mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, etc. and I have heard great things about the people that work there. They doubled their registration numbers from last year too! And despite how out of shape I was, I successfully ran faster than I thought (not fast, but good enough), my knees and lungs held up, and I didn’t walk or anything. It’s been a long time (years?) since I have run 4 miles. So it felt great. For a good cause, and running along the lakefront on a gorgeous spring morning - amazing way to start a day.

That’s about all for me. Other than I also figured out my classes for the fall at GW! I am taking: Research Methods in Policy Analysis, Urban Sociology, and Approaches to Policy Analysis. I’ll also be sitting in on the first half of the first methods/stats course that is required at GW. I get to bypass it mostly due to my stats background. Sweet.

Back to work! Have a great week!

news on poverty (disproportionate effects)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8013102.stm

A story on the impact of the bad economy on African-Americans in Chicago

Updates

Hey all,

I don’t have much to update on but I wanted to share a couple of things. First, I saw a news story on NY Times today about housing organizations illegally moving squatters into foreclosed homes. It is interesting and definitely a topic that brings out some debate. I, of course, lean more toward offering people shelter. However, other options (negotiating lower payments, etc) are of course better and should be tried first! Here is the link to the article, any thoughts?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/10squatter.html

Second, I’ve finally decided on a graduate school! I’ll be mailing in my official acceptance as well as declining other options this weekend. Plus, the fun FAFSA for May 1st financial aid (tons of loans….) deadlines. I’m planning on accepting at George Washington University in DC for their Master of Public Policy program. I’m hoping to study the concentration of International Development Management more in depth while I am there. While I was impressed with other programs as well and funding would be potentially more readily available at other institutions, I was drawn to the program at GW more strongly than others. Though this means a ton of debt for me at least for my first year (then I will try every method possible to get second year funding), I’m ok with this decision. As my dad says, it is an investment. I’ll have great resources and job connections/opportunities in DC and I love the program. Added bonus: I get to live with Jo! So I’m really excited about this. It’s great to have a plan and be able to get excited about the next two years!

That’s pretty much all for now. I’m heading home to Missouri for the first time since Christmas today after work. I’m thrilled to get to go home again (thanks Mom and Dad!).

Abby

almost 8 months in.

Hey all. So I realized it’s been a while since I posted, really posted that is. The year has gotten much busier lately. I find my time taken up a lot more by my LVC life, my friends, ultimate frisbee, etc. But it has all been good. I wanted to share a bit of an email I sent to a friend, regarding a client that I see regularly. 

 

“Work continues to be good, but hard. Last Monday I had my hardest day of work by far. I’ve been working with this client who is developmentally disabled, has a bad family situation (mother/grandmother seem to be minimally verbally abusive among other poor treatment and the mother may be an alcoholic) and is depressed. For a while, I thought he was faking a lot of the stuff with depression, hallucinations, hearing voices and stuff because his SSI case just got denied and he is in the process of appealing (thus the sicker he seems the better). I thought he had people from his building telling him things, however, he’s been notably worse lately. And working with him is just tiring, see, he’s not even homeless. He was, and we helped house him, and he has been coming to us since (even though he has a case manager where he is living). It is just exhausting partially because each time it’s like working with a very very difficult 12 year old and he goes back and forth between hating me and liking me. There are many more stories to tell in between but what made Monday bad was that he came in somewhat suicidal. I think that  he wasn’t going to do anything (if I had, I would have had to take him to the hospital as we are mandated reporters). But I spent an hour talking to him about this, trying to get information out of him to see how serious he was, trying to get him to go to a hospital or call the suicide hotline if he needed to, etc. Thankfully he came back on Thursday safely and Friday I made him an appointment next week to see a therapist (I have told him I’ll go with him in order to get him to go), so I think we’re on the right track. But it was just awful. I felt like crap, so drained. I am so emotionally invested in the guests and community clients. It sucks when things don’t work out (though of course, on the flip side, it is amazing when they do). But i can be so hard you know? I called Ian that night and was telling him about it and I just lost it, I just kept thinking, what if I didn’t say something right, what if I said something to trigger him, what if I should have taken him to the hospital??? And of course, I can only just keep doing what I am but it was just so hard. I love this job, but out of protection for myself, I don’t think I can do this direct service for the rest of my life. I love it, but it’s hard. SO hard.”

 

So the update on this particular client is that I did successfully get him into some mental health treatment. After BEGGING on the phone (problems with him not being homeless, but in subsidized housing, but on Medicare, etc.), I got him to see someone who felt that the problem was chronic enough he should come back for an intake. Which I got him to do (BARELY) and he actually has seemed to follow through. The therapist/social worker from this particular clinic that comes to LPCS to meet with our guests saw him there. So it appears he is following through. He should get medication early April. I hope it will help and it’s been a nearly 8 month battle to get to this point. He asked me last week “so you think that will help? I can be my old self again?” Which was hard to hear. I don’t think medication is the only answer, but he should be able to engage in regular counseling there, which takes pressure off of me and gets him someone to talk to who is actually a trained professional. My hope is that he continues to follow through, that he’ll stay in his housing, and his social security case will get approved…

 

The other thing I have been thinking about lately is that he really is my only “success story” so far. And that success, while big in some ways, is small in a lot of ways. I have put so many hours in…and the results can be so small. I know that they will come, and I don’t doubt the value of my work. But this particularly speaks to the hard parts of it. 

 

Anyway, that is an update on the job front. Now I am in the midst of making life decisions, as my graduate school decision is due by April 15. I am currently wrapping up a visit in DC to GW and will visit WI and MN next week. I’m excited for this time next week, as I hope the decision will be clear! I will post another update soon after that.

The Diplomat

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=6679158

This is a news story about some single room occupancy housing near my shelter. We’ve been working with Lakeview Action Coalition on this issue. I find it difficult, because these people have been unfairly put in this position and don’t deserve to get kicked out. But at the same time, it is dangerous for them to stay there and that is really serious. However, I’m just wondering, WHERE are they going to go? I’ve been “on call” at our shelter to go over there whenever they vacate the building the contact information for local shelters, DHS, etc. because all of these people could become homeless. The news story says DHS will “try” to place people in other low income housing, but I’d love for them to tell me where…

sports as motivation

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-homeless-soccer-03feb03,0,1125823.story

This is a pretty powerful story and made me really happy!

(longer update soon!)

LPCS has a blog!

http://lincolnparkcs.blogspot.com/

While the date on the blog says October, this just became official today. No exciting posts as of yet, but please check back for more. The blog will feature posts by guests, staff, and supporters of LPCS.

P.S. Shopping at Amazon through LPCS’s website raised $300 in December for the shelter. Please keep it up! Thanks!

A new semester?

So it’s been almost a month since my last real post, so I figure it’s about time to do a little update.

For the most part, life in LVC and at LPCS continues the same as of my last post. Things are different now, but we’re continuing to adapt to our new roles. I’m slowly but surely getting the hang of things. Mostly, I still feel overwhelmed. I don’t know nearly enough about the procedures and the routines of regular in-depth case management. Nor do I know about a lot of th resources. But in time right? My confidence lately has come from the reassurance of my boss (thanks Betsy!) and her patient support in the transition. It’s nice to have a boss you can be honest with and say hey, actually, I am overwhelmed and nervous! However the past week has been good, ridiculously busy, but when I am not worrying myself over not knowing things, I’ve actually felt more the opposite. Now I really feel like a full member of LPCS staff. The guests seem to really like me a lot and trust me a lot more. I’ve always been shy, so I feel great that I can just walk out into the community room and just say hey “Frank, how’s it going” and it’s just natural. I feel like my guests on my caseload trust me too. So that has been good.

This week I am gaining a few more clients, bringing my total up to 6 (would have been 7, but one guy didn’t show up last night!). The other ones are people who have settled in at LPCS and have been working with Laura, since much of the work with guests comes in their first few weeks at the shelter.

In other news, Laura is leaving LPCS. Which is incredibly sad, for several reasons. Her boyfriend, Richard, accepted a job in Portland and she is moving wth him.  Which is awesome. Sad though, because Laura is awesome, and we’ll miss her. Sad also, because AHHH, what will I do without her at work? We’ll be hiring someone new soon though, hopefully before Laura leaves!

Not much else has happened lately, I’ve met some more of Ian’s friends who are all wonderful people, so that has been fun. The roommates are all back now, which is also awesome. I’m jealous of their much longer breaks though!

The only remaining thought I have is in relation to the title of the post. People have been asking me lately, so what’s it like being back after break? And my response is normally, well, I didn’t really have much of a break. I mean, the week of Christmas I worked only two days. That was nice. But last week I still worked 4 days! So that’s practically normal. The thing is, I have found that I mentally am just like, oh, ok, so it’s the end of the semester, what’s next??? But, it may be the end of the semester for some, not me anymore (for the first time ever!). So that’s a new thing to get used to. And it’s funny, because I really do like my job, so it’s not that…but it does still affect you. So, I’ll be trying to get over the fact that I feel like it’s time for something new. Since I have 7.5 more months of this left!  But I am planning on enjoying it.

So anyway, I am off now to continue to enjoy our new wonderful internet (we finally bought a new router) and relax. Work will be long and busy tomorrow!

Help LPCS!

Hey all,

As you know, the shelter has recently been in greater need of donations. And there is good news – I have an easy way you can help this holiday season! If you happen to be buying any gifts off of Amazon.com, please do me a favor. If you go to our website (www.lpcsonline.org) and look on the right hand side of the page. All you have to do is search Amazon from that link. Honestly, that’s it, you just click it once! Once you check out through Amazon, it will remember you have entered their site from our website and we will get a portion of what you spend donated to our shelter. You don’t spend any extra, but you help us out! The even better news is that if 25 more items are purchased, the amount we receive will increase to 7% of each purchase made (this is not just for the items bought after that point, but for all items purchased when linked from our site)! So, if you are doing holiday shopping online this season, think of us!

Thanks!