Jack Greene, Juan's VR Counselor

If you have read Karen's Story, you have already read most of Jack's comments about VR. Click Here to skip to his comments about Juan.

I wasn't originally interested in rehabilitation. I was going to be a Nuclear Engineer, but I couldn't pass Calculus. I fell into VR counseling instead, but it fit for me. My personality is made for this. I enjoy the flexibility of being a VR counselor.

There are many types of counselors, and we work in many settings, like job service, crisis settings or hospitals. But VR counselors, I think, have more flexibility and can adjust our method to achieve employment outcomes. We are the most outcomes-based program I've seen, and it's because of language in the Rehab Act - which is very specific about what we are supposed to be doing.

Even our VR coding system - the numbers associated with progress through the VR system leading to successful employment - is designed to encourage effectiveness. And there's a certain independence for VR counselors - I determine where I go to get my job done.

I am a morning person so I try to come in early get all the paperwork out of the way (there's always paperwork!). I start seeing clients at 9:00 AM and continue for the rest of the day. And I see people in a variety of settings besides my office - different facilities, homes, jobs, where ever. Recently I became primary VR contact for a medical rehabilitation center working with spinal cord injured, stroke, orthopedic. In addition I see people with traumatic brain injury and learning disabilities.

Being a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor is for someone who can structure themselves and their workday. You aren't going to get a lot of specific directions - where to go, who to see. There are simply things that have to get done and no particular method to get these things done.

My caseload determines how I schedule my time. My typical day varies but yesterday, for example, I had six appointments scheduled, but I had two no shows and two drop-ins. I see people for a variety of reasons, from emergencies to routine contacts, to folks I've lost contact with and need to check on.

You also have to be able to sell yourself. Part of what we do as VR counselors is build and maintain relationships with local employers and placement providers. You have to be able to sell yourself, your agency, and your clients to be successful. Maybe that is a little manipulative, but I think in a good way - in the same way that making a good impression is manipulative, but think of the consequences if you don't - failure.

I've seen people who just can't handle the fact that the world they prepared for in school is not the world of VR. Clients are much more complex than textbook case studies. There are often unresolved family, financial, social, community, and psychological issues co-existing with the employment focus of VR. Some clients are ambivalent at times- they want to work but they are also afraid, or they might be concerned about losing benefits or about family issues. Be flexible and sensitive to what motivates people, don't assume your way of operating is the same as anyone else's.

Experience helps you figure out the "why's" - why is someone in treatment? Because they want to be, or are they court ordered? VR is sometimes criticized for avoiding people who don't appear motivated. But I can't help someone who doesn't meet me half way. I am not holding up hoops to jump through. I am here to help move them through the hoops. The reality is that there are hoops in the world, and I can't do the jumping for them.

A VR counselor works with folks who have significant disability-related problems and often severe housing or financial problems. It's way beyond what the books lead you to believe for a rational and predictable profession. With experience you learn when to intervene and that the process is developmental - it may take a while. This may seem obvious, but the disability doesn't get fixed or disappear.

The VR counselor's job is to help the client arrange supports in the community. You have got to reinforce the importance of the client as the center of the process - they must be active and not passive. Agencies and the person's experiences often take away choices, involvement and responsibility from the person with a disability. The VR counselor has to know their community resources, how to access them, and then make sure the client gets them.

You never can be everything to everyone, however you can help people achieve their goals. You have to know when to act quickly to meet needs. I'm sometimes a band-aide until the client gets other things worked out or stabilized - like an alcoholic getting started on a 12-Step program, or a person who needs to find a place to live. Help them with that, then, when they are ready to deal with finding a job, you are right on the job.

You have got to have your own way of organizing your materials and be flexible. You are working with individuals and decisions vary. Time is important to manage. If you have to have control you are going to have problems. There is a balance of what the regulations allow you to do and what must be done - how much flexibility you have. You don't always get your way. Sometimes you have to agree to disagree with a supervisor over the interpretation of a rule and not obsess about losing. And there are times you have to go back to the Rehabilitation Act and reference a decision. You never know, but the client can always appeal a decision to Protection and Advocacy and ask for a formal hearing.

Which is part of why you have to deal with so much paperwork. If you can keep up your reports of contact, if a question ever comes up, then you can just go back to the case file and see exactly what happened. That's why you spend time documenting what you did, what they are going to do, what was said, etc.

Employers are always cautious in hiring and if they think you're trying to pull one over on them they won't let you in the door. On the other hand, if you can establish a network of relationships with employers, they will refer people to you, and generally help out in ways you'd never predict.

You have got to collaborate with other resources. It is the VR counselor's responsibility to initiate and maintain these relationships - no one tells you how or when to do relationship building and networking. We never say it, but "What is in it for me and for you" is a major part of the relationship. And that is not manipulating.

Juan is one of those brilliant guys, a "diamond in the rough". I love him. He's still trying to discover himself. He really didn't have much of a purpose before the injury, so why should he have one in place now? He is trying to work with the ILC, trying to reconcile some of the things that people have told him. It's a struggle.

There are a lot of things that people go through and that I do not think are appropriate to include in the official case file - private struggles and issues. The struggles he is having are part of that. I will help him as far as I can, but eventually he has to make the decisions - and then I step in to help him figure out how to follow through on those decisions.

He had problems facing the G.E.D. I know he's nervous about it, but I also know he will take responsibility for getting over the barriers like that. Rather than analyze him psychologically, I took the tact that he needed to learn. It might slow him up, but he needs to develop and deal with barriers and know who is responsible for failures as well as successes. The important thing for me is to be there to encourage and support. He has to take responsibility.

He needs to get early contact with the programs at the University. They are tough to get in. With his educational background, particularly in math, he may stumble. We will provide tutors and study aids all the way. We will advocate for his admission into the program in counseling. We need to use every lever - that he is a Latino with a disability and wants to work in minority adolescence corrections.

 I don't want to throw a bunch of psychological tests at him to get a supposed complete view of his status. I know he is smart, takes great care of himself, has minimal complications, is motivated, did well in his G.E.D. preparation, and has a realistic vocational objective that can be satisfied at several educational levels. I think it would be intrusive and possibly harmful to get labels hung on him. I base my informal assessment of his brightness on his vocabulary and communication skills compared to his previous education, bilingual status. I also don't want to do too much in the neuropsychology assessment area.

I know that TBI often accompanies SCI, but I don't see any evidence of that in Juan, so I can't justify the expense and/or the possibility of labels again.

All I can really do is get out of the way and be supportive. Juan knows how to use VR to help him. He would probably succeed with or without VR support, but we can help him navigate higher education, which he couldn't afford on his own.

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