Week 6:
Project Transitions

July 6, 2013

Choice: a decision made of one’s free will. The concept of choice is a recurring theme in my case management training. This week I reevaluated my own definition of choice.
In life, we make choices every moment of every day. We choose what to wear, what to eat, what to say. These are choices that I am used to. Never before have i thought about the fundamental choices that make up my lifestyle. I choose to wake up in the morning, choose go to work, choose to balance my checkbook, choose to complete the projects given to me by my boss. I’ve always considered these choices to be necessary steps, actions more than choice. It’s good for me, so I do it. I never considered who’s definition of “good” I was referring to. “Good for me” has always been based on my agenda for myself. Now that I am case managing, part of my job is to connect clients to resources that are “good” for them. The problem with that is that the only definition of “good” I have to go on is my own. This week, I went with a client to the Austin Clubhouse, a wonderful place that provides a social community for people with some kind of mental health diagnosis. I went with the idea that the Clubhouse would be “good for him”. Based on his other case manager’s recommendation, I went in with an agenda: Get him signed up to be a member. I thought I knew what was good for him. Turns out he wasn’t interested. He didn’t sign up.
From here I had a choice: see the trip to the Clubhouse as a failure or as a success. At first I beat myself up about failing the client. I wasn’t convincing enough, I thought. I didn’t try hard enough. Then I realized it’s not about my agenda, it’s about his choice. I wrote in my journal that night (I keep a daily log of what I do at work/reflections on the day): “My job is not to give him what he needs…it’s to give him an opportunity to choose what I think would be good for him.” There is no single right answer for what is good for any one person. Life is made up of a whole lot of gray area, and that’s what makes life so interesting. People present to each other what they think is right and the choices that result make up our world. I saw this phenomenon loud and clear at the Texas State Capitol on Tuesday. I went down to watch the testimonies on House Bill 2, the bill containing new regulations for abortion clinics.

All afternoon I watched people present what they thought was right, giving the committee the opportunity to choose the side they were arguing.

In addition to the field trip to the clubhouse, this week I also learned how to audit charts for our hospice program (there is a LOT of paperwork required for our federal Ryan White grant), shadowed another housing plan appointment, helped out/chatted with the patients at the hospice house, created an info packet for another client about a resource I think would be good for him, and inventoried a collection of western art that was donated to Project Transitions (we’re going to sell it through an auction house).
Needless to say, I’m still wearing a variety of hats at my job. Social work is still my favorite; it is where I work directly with people. Case management, I realized, is similar to my Residence Life job on campus. When I was a Hall Council Advisor, it was my job to connect the hall councils to resources I thought would be good for them and their hall. Just as I can’t beat myself up when a client chooses differently than the suggestion I offer, I wish I had realized I shouldn’t beat myself up if the hall councils didn’t take my recommendations. I will certainly continue to apply that concept to my role as a Peer Advocate for NSO and hopefully to every job I ever have that deals with people.
Before I conclude this week’s post, I’d like to formally thank the Project Transitions staff. Their support and mentorship has allowed me to use this opportunity as a way to continue my education, not just do a job. Everyone in the office is so willing to teach and answer my millions of questions any time. I don’t tell them often enough how truly grateful I am to learn in such a positive work environment.
Thanks also to all of my friends and family supporting me, and thanks for reading!