Week 3:
Project Transitions

June 15, 2013

“You never get caught up” seems to be the catch phrase of the non-profit world. In my time with non-profits in Denver and now again at Project Transitions, the list of tasks seems to get longer and longer and unfortunately the days don’t stretch themselves out to accommodate. Slowly but surely, I am learning to accept that I will not be able to do everything I would like to do at Project Transitions this summer. The good news is that I will never be bored. I will never go a day without a jam-packed full schedule. This week was no exception, what with learning how to input data in ARIES (the statewide Texas HIV/AIDS client database), record grant statistics for the Ryan White grant (a national source of funding for people living with HIV/AIDS), organize payment and pick up for about 50 silent auction items, run a credit card machine, and understand medical shorthand. I’m always busy, and I’m always learning. Immersing myself in Project Transitions from day one has given me an understanding of how the organization operates unlike any outside observation could. My list of what I’ve learned is growing faster than my task list simply because I have experienced so much in the last few weeks.
 I’m reading a book right now about memory. It’s called Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer and he talks a lot about how our memories don’t have a list-focus, they have a locus-focus (he doesn’t use that exact verbiage, but it rhymes and I like it). In other words, humans’ locational memory is much stronger than their semantic memory. As a result, we remember things when we have a mental place to put them, not just a disconnected string of words or images. I would argue that this is the reason real-world experience is so important to employers. Skills learned from a textbook are like lists; when you learn skills as you apply them at a job, they become locus-focused. My Educational Psychology course with Kerry Botswick discussed a similar phenomenon: learning a new skill in an experiential context helps the brain create more physical pathways between neurons and thus makes the skill more easily retrievable for recall.
All of this neuropsychology gobbledygook came to mind when I sat in on my first client intake and housing plan appointment this week. Both appointments transformed my list learning into locus focus. I began reading through the case management manual on Monday, and let’s just say it’s not an easy read. Full of confidentiality agreements, liability releases, grievance procedures, and hundreds of other forms, the manual is full of language specific to housing programs and social work terms that are unfamiliar to me. I spent quite a while working through the first few sections. Then I sat in on the intake and housing plan appointment, and all of the sudden the boring forms that I didn’t previously understand had a context.

To clarify, an intake is when a person eligible for Project Transitions’ services has an appointment to learn about the specifics of our program and fill out initial paperwork. They are then entered into our files and placed on the waiting list and, according to their need, given services if/when they become available. Every Thursday, Project Transitions has up to three intake appointments. I sat in on two intakes this Thursday.

A housing plan appointment is like a check-in. A client meets with their case manager about once a month to talk about how the client is doing, follow up on any problems they’re working on together, and confirm where they are in the process of getting into a more permanent living situation.

As I sat in on both appointments, one by one all of the forms that were nothing more than a bunch of legal language became meaningful. I am gaining an understanding of the purpose of the millions of case management documents, how they help protect clients and case managers alike. Sitting in also helped me form a plan for how I would want to conduct intakes and/or client appointments. The case manager I shadowed, of course, has her own unique style of dealing with people. She has a way of making her clients feel comfortable and open, primarily through storytelling. She tells stories about her life to relate to her clients‘ lives and encourages them to do the same. I’m not her, though, so as a case manager I would have to figure out how I would achieve the same ends in my own way. It was wonderful to be a fly on the wall for both intakes and the housing appointment because I got to observe how the case manager delivered the information and how the client reacted. Next week I have more appointments to shadow with a different case manager, and I can’t wait to see how his style differs from the first. My observations of both case managers will give me a starting point to develop my own style of interacting with clients and set my own boundaries.

I also somehow fit in time to have a four hour shift at the hospice house (which will be a weekly shift from here on), take over the silent auction wrap up from our fundraiser since our event planner’s contract finished, and sit in on the Housing, Maintenance, Management, and Hospice meetings.

Like I said, the list gets longer and you never catch up. I am so grateful to have an internship that throws me in head first, trusts me with important projects, values my perspective, and respects that this is a learning opportunity. This opportunity is giving me invaluable real world experience and feedback along the way that is helping me understand myself and this wonderful world we call the non-profit sector!
As always, thanks for reading!