Where is the Love?

As social workers we talk a great deal about helping people. However, we all can also say that each of us has encountered at least one angry consumer when we told them we could not help them with their specific need. While it is important to abide by your agency's stipulations, I believe it can be easy to push people away when their situation does not match up properly with what you offer. Where is the love in that? Sometimes we feel burnt out with all of the people with crises flying at us. Deep down we want to help, but taking that extra step to advocate for a need that we don't advertize can be challenging. I ask myself at times like these if I am looking at that person as another intake form or a real, struggling individual. Is my empathy forced or transparent? Looking at social services in general, are we truly putting ourselves out there to serve people? Or are pushing our own agenda? Is it structured to be accessible to those in need? Where is the love?

Chronic Homelessness

This week I met with a consumer who has been homeless for many years. He comes to our agency continually seeking assistance for moving in to a home, bus tokens, etc. It was difficult for me working with this man as I wasn't sure if he was telling me the truth about his situation, or even if he was completely "with it" cognitively. He talked about how his money and ID kept getting stolen, and he could not provide any sort of documentation about income even though he talked about it. He gets angry very quickly, even if you are simply reflecting feelings with him and trying to summarize what he is asking. I learned very rapidly that I needed to directly address what he was asking for and not focus so much on empathizing like we typically do.

Once I closed the counseling session with this individual, I took a step back and realized that I had never really believed that anyone could be chronically homeless. It's not a pretty idea! I would rather prefer to think that the services in place help to eliminate that kind of lifestyle. Unfortunately, it is a painful reality. Many people are unable to secure a sustainable living environment due to mental, physical, or financial reasons. What can be done to help these people?

What's Going On?

It breaks my heart that an 18 year old would be pregnant and looking for shelter. I talked to a girl in this situation on the phone today who sounded so unsure of what she needed to do. I can just imagine the thoughts going through her head. "How did this happen? What am I going to do? What's going on?" No matter what age you are, having a housing crisis is stressful and overwhelming. Just the same, I have an extra burden for those 21 and younger as life is just beginning for them. They're still learning how to live and what they value. It doesn't seem fair.

But, is life really fair? Is it supposed to be?