Juan Changes his Plans -8/10/97
Jack - Hello, this is Jack Greene.
Juan - Hi Jack, it's Juan.
Jack - Hi Juan, how are things going?
Juan - Oh, pretty good. They've got me working full time here at the Independent Living Center. That started on the first, and that's been a good.
Jack - That's great Juan. So are they keeping you busy?
Juan - Yeah. I've got four people I'm helping with the transition to living in their own apartments, and I check on them every day or so. Plus there's a guy that just came in last week who only speaks Spanish. He's got an SCI from when a truck turned over on him on his cousin's farm. So he's pretty scared, and I'm visiting with him every day over at the Medical Rehabilitation Center. I think it helps him to have someone he can talk to about it.
Jack - That's sounds like something you'd be good at.
Juan - Yeah. Listen, I just called because... well I got the results from my GED and I didn't do so good. I scored 5 points below passing, so I don't know... What's that going to mean for starting at the University? I mean, is there anything else I can do?
Jack - Well, it's going to be a little bit of a problem, but it's not hopeless. We may have to put off the start of your classes for a semester while you retake it. And I know the score is a disappointment to you, because you worked really hard to make it.
Juan - Yeah. It's very frustrating, because I know I did better than that. I know I did. But those little circles were such a problem. I should have waited until the testing session where they have someone available to help with that. But I didn't have time to wait for that... so I don't know.
Jack - That's OK, though. You can always take it again and do better. But you probably won't have time to do that before the start of classes. Have you had a chance to talk to an academic advisor yet?
Juan - No. I've been meaning to do that. I was going to call last week about it but there were some planning conferences at work that I had to sit in on. And one of the people I'm helping, he's in a lot of pain and having a lot of trouble adjusting to his situation. We've been trying to get him into his own place and also get him some therapy on pain control, so I've had to visit him everyday. So I haven't had much of a chance to do the meetings and things we talked about.
Jack - That's all right, but it's probably going to slow us down, too. And now that you are working full time, we will need to adjust some of the financial worksheets as well.
Juan - I didn't think about that. Am I still going to be eligible for VR? Now that I'm full time?
Jack - Oh sure. You've got a definite disability that is effecting your ability to work. What might change is how much of the services VR will pay for and how much you will pay for.
Juan - That's OK, because I still definitely want to go back to school.
Jack - Sure. That won't be a problem. But, you know, I wonder if right now is the best time for you to plan for school. From what you've been telling me, your work at the Independent Living Center is going well and keeping you pretty busy. You're there full time and you sound like that is real satisfying for you.
Juan - It is.
Jack - And since we now have a several things that will keep you from enrolling this semester - which is only a couple weeks off - I'm wondering if maybe you'd be better off waiting a while before we pursue college for you. We could close out the file for now, let you try working at the Independent Living Center for a while, and see what develops there. And, down the line, if you find that the time seems better to try school, we can re-open the case and start from there.
Juan - Well... We could re-open the case later on?
Jack - Sure. You know, VR is often more like an ongoing process than a finished project. Actually, life is an ongoing process and not a finished project. Heck, when I started college I was going to be a nuclear engineer in the Navy. But I stink at math, so I backed up and tried something else. Eventually I ended up as a VR counselor. Everybody does things like that. So the VR system won't shut you out just because you decided to try something else for a while. But what we want avoid you lingering around with half finished plans.
The Independent Living Center is your main focus right now, and that's great. It sounds like you are doing good work there. It is possible that it will turn out to be what you really want to do with your life. Or it may not, in which case we back up and take another look at college for you. But let's not leave open a half-finished case in the meantime. I think we should go ahead and close you out.
Juan - OK. That makes sense. Because, I really want to go to college, but I've had trouble making the time to follow up on things because of all that's going on at work. If I could just take six months or so to get things settled in at work, and then I could take the GED again and study up for it more...
Jack - And that would put you in a much better situation for school. It might be next year, or even later, but you aren't closing the door on that, just waiting until the timing is better. Right now, your case is officially in status 14, which is for counseling and guidance. I'll go ahead and move you to status 24, which is interrupted status and that will let us close the case in status 28, which means closed before services were provided.
Juan - And then... will it take much to re-open it later?
Jack - No, not at all. We can take care of that very easily. For right now, I think you should just enjoy your work at the Independent Living Center, and then let me know if you want to talk about re-opening the case.
Juan - Yeah, that sounds good. Because we can always re-open the case later. And it would be better to go ahead and have that settled so it's not, like, hanging over our heads.
Jack - Exactly.
Juan - OK, then let's do that. Do you need me to sign anything?
Jack - Yes, but you don't need to come to the office. I can just mail it to you and you can mail it back.
Juan - OK. That sounds good. Thanks for the help, Jack.
Jack - Sure, Juan. It's good to hear that things are going so well for you. Let me know if you need any more help from us.
Juan - OK. Good bye.
Name of Client: Juan Martinez
Address: Essex Towers, MO
Person contacted: , Senior Counselor
Contact made: [_] Home [_] Office [X] Phone [_] Other
Date: 8/10/97
Juan called today upset because he had not passed his GED. He was worried he might not be able to go to school. I told him that he probably couldn't go this fall (which is only a couple of weeks away), but he can take the GED again and enroll after that. Juan has also been hired full time at the Independent Living Center, and because of that, has not completed the interviews and applications for admissions. The job seems to be taking up a lot of his time, and he is enjoying it. We decided that, since his job is very satisfying to him, we should close the case status 28. Counseling and guidance services did not impact his employment in the intended field as indicated in the IWRP. I explained that we could re-open the case easily if things change and he decides he wants to go to school later on.
I told him that he probably couldn't go this fall (which is only a couple of weeks away), but he can take the GED again and enroll after that. Juan has also been hired full time at the Independent Living Center, and because of that, has not completed the interviews and applications for admissions. The job seems to be taking up a lot of his time, and he is enjoying it. We decided that, since his job is very satisfying to him, we should close the case status 28. G&C services did not impact his employment in the intended field as indicated in the IWRP. I explained that we could re-open the case easily if things change and he decides he wants to go to school later on.
Move case to status 24 and close case status 28.
Signed: Jack Greene
8/10/97
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