Helen,
Yes, I am a MInnesota Family Man. As to my job, that is quite a complicated
question. Why? Because if I go by my official titile it confuses people and
they don't understand why it is I am with my clients in court, or down at the
Federal building trying to get their SSI reinstated. Social workers get mad
at me when I am calling them about why it is they haven't had contact with my
clients who may have lost housing, medical insurance, or any number of
problems.
I have worked in the field of education for 11 years. After graduating from
the University of MInnesota I was essentially a behavior specialist (my
official title at the time was Educational Assistant level II), initially
this was with autistic clients and later, when Traumatic Brain Injury became
a fundable special ed. category I worked with clients who had traumatic brain
injuries. Taking on the task of trying to design behavior plans for people
with TBI proved a daunting task and provided me with great insight, that a
strict behaviorist approach to education was making false assumptions
regarding the cognitive processes that people operate with. For instance if
you use words as an antecedent for directing behavior the person with TBI may
in fact be keying off a totally unrelated stimulus. I became effective when
I began using an approach similar to cognitive-behavior therapy. In essence
getting the person to relay their perceptions and subsequent adaptations.
Then, once I was able to understand how they were accomodating for their own
deficits I was succesful in helping them advocate for their own needs.
For the past five years (2 of them as a licensed teacher) I have been
working in a Community Based Program for clients identified within the school
system as having emotional/behavioral disorders. Unfortunately the adult
systems do not recognize this as a diagnosis. Also, adult systems do not
recognize an E/BD Teacher as one who has any understanding of mental illness
or how to provide appropriate service. Therefore, our program philosophy is
to not identify ourselves as teachers, we are Case Managers. We do not call
the people attending our program students, they are clients. We do not
operate out of a classroom model, we are community based and tyherefore much
of our instruction takes place on metro transit buses, job sites, or wherever
it is in the community our client requires assistance. In a category where
dropout rates are high we graduate aproximately 90% of our clients with a
high school diploma.
Let me just give you a concrete example of the problems our clients face when
receiving assistance. If a client has a child and are over 18 they can apply
for MNFIP (it is what the rest of the country calls TANIF). Once on MNFIP
they have a social worker for that program. If the client needs daycare they
then get a different social worker for helping them find daycare. If the
client is interested in finding a job they then get a social worker that
works with them on finding a job. If the client needs to find housing they
get a social worker that is in charge of controlling the housing finances.
If the client qualifies for county assistance because of cognitive
functioning they get a separate social worker for that. If the client
qualifies for a county assistance because of depression, schizophrenia,
bi-polar, or borderline personality disorder they get a separate social
worker for that, unless they qualify for a social worker because of of their
cognitive delays. Besides the job counselor MNFIP supplies the client could
also qualify to recieve assistance from the department of Vocational
Rehabilitation. And so on and so on.
My point is that there is plenty of services available but there just doesn't
seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why some qualify for certain assistance
and why social workers become so defensive when they are asked to help with a
difficult client. "This is a voluntary service, if they aren't going to make
the effort then there is nothing I can really do," is the common reply I
hear. Well, yes there is something that can be done. Mental illness is not
a choice and many times people with a mental illness don't know anything else
other then their life of chaos. Providing numerous opportunities and some
outreach from a system that is set up to provide service would be a nice
thing. Maybe instead of expecting the client to always come to the
professionals office, why not go out in the community and see what
environment the client is coming from? Instead of providing a prepackaged
program why not ask the client what it is they need? I am sure there are
many people who work in the social services who would like to provide
outreach but feel tied down by the rules and regulations of the system. All
I know is that there has got to be an easier way to provide assistance.
Hope I have provided insight,
Eric
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue May 01 2001 - 01:01:50 PDT