Darren Howard, VR Counselor

My job title is Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor with the state VR agency and I work mostly with people who have psychiatric disorders. I open their case, conduct an initial interview, process medical and psychological information, determine eligibility, counsel and plan for a job, arrange services, and hope that everything goes smoothly after that - which it seldom does. Every case is so different that there is no typical course of events. I get new clients both when clients refer themselves and when other agencies clients.

My typical day will mostly be meeting new clients and "managing" currently open cases on clients. There is a lot of reviewing of plans with clients and the support service providers in the community. I find myself giving quite a bit of advice to potential clients on what is necessary to get into the VR system.

I've been doing this for 26 years, twenty years for VR and six years previously in a mental health facility. My caseload runs about 110 people. To do this job, you have to be organized, able to manage multiple activities, and willing to make decisions. You also have to be good at getting along with people.

Generally I like talking to folks. I like trying to find out what is helpful, and what I can do to help people improve their lives and go back to work. Getting people productive is really important. The most frustrating thing for me is people who have a lot of potential and don't reach that potential.

Many persons with psychiatric disabilities are not ready for VR services, or don't think they are. In a lot of the people I work with, I see ambivalence or what I call the "Maybe Syndrome" - maybe I want to go to work or maybe I don't. I try to give them a lot of information and clarification about what VR can and can't do, and help them figure out what they want to do. But you can only lead them so far - eventually they have to decide for themselves if they want your help.

Some people sabotage themselves for unknown reasons - often, they don't even know the reason themselves. They seem to fail consistently. They struggle, and often don't seem understand the barriers they create for themselves. A VR counselor has to use many techniques to attack these barriers, and different things work with different people. I always try to give people the benefit of a doubt, and try to believe that they have changed the things that prevented them from working in the past. But it's ultimately the client's choice. It's on their shoulders, but you have to continue to help them with decisions that might work. So I'd say the major barrier in my job is the lack of client motivation.

Only about one in twenty client cases are unrealistic or unreasonably demanding. But those few can really take up your time. They make a lot of demands on a counselor, and you just have to figure out how to deal with them in a way that is fair to both that client and your other clients. The problems usually happen because the person misunderstands what the VR program does and does not do.

There is also the problem of unrealistic vocational choices. Often a person has had very few job experiences and just doesn't know much about different jobs. My role is sometimes to redirect them to more successful paths. Of course, you do that by helping them reach that decision - not forcing it on them. Sometimes the redirection doesn't work and you have got to get creative and take risks. For example, you may not think a person can handle college. If they insist on trying, then you authorize a semester in an evaluation plan to let them see what it is like and whether they can handle it. And sometimes they surprise you. A strong will to succeed can do amazing things. It's the key, really - trying to tap in to that motivation if you can find it.

Society still stigmatizes and discriminates against people with disabilities. It happens, obviously, for people with physical disabilities, but often for people with psychiatric disorders too. The effects of those attitudes are unpredictable. It depends on the person and the type of diagnosis label applied to them. If the disability is not visible, like a mental disorder, and the person acts normally, then there usually won't be a problem. If the person looks significantly different or odd, then the attitudes will be there and that makes getting a job a whole lot harder. Plus, the problems of mental illness tend to make people isolate themselves, which doesn't help either.

It's helpful to use community resources to get more background information on a client when I'm first getting to know them. Their community relationships can give me evaluation data that I can't get from the one-on-one counseling. For instance, I may call up the client's community rehabilitation program or independent living center and hear what they have to say. I also really like a new type of vocational evaluation called community-based assessment, which is a lot more natural and individualized. To do that, I might take a walk with the person through their neighborhood and talk to them about the jobs that are around there, about the people they know, or about whatever else is going on. This gives me the kind of feel for their life that I don't get from traditional, formal evaluations like we did in the past.

The flexibility and authority I have as a VR counselor helps me customize services to for each person's situation. I can use colleges and vocational schools if they are needed, or I can get a job coach for them. And I have senior counselor status so I can authorize these resources on the spot. As long as I get decent jobs for people I work with, I can pretty much use any resources I want to. I tend to be pretty conservative, however, since I'm using people's tax dollars to pay for all this.

My message to new staff? You're not going to get rich. You have to like dealing with a variety of people, negotiating with people. And you have to be able to live with your decisions. You need to be able to listen, synthesize information, and come up with plans.

An essential part of this is accommodating the individual. Sometimes it takes two or three tries to get the right job for someone, but trying is important. Getting people on their own and self-supporting is important - but it's scary for some folks to get off of benefits. If you are going to help them, you have to appreciate that. It may be unfamiliar and frightening to them. You have to help them realize that having a job not only bring money, but also fulfillment and social contacts.

And sometimes you have to allow and accept failures. You have to let people fail in certain situations. It helps to be real tolerant, and appreciate the diversity of human experiences. Some people just don't have a good idea of what they want for themselves, and they just need to try some things out and get some experience.

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About Marion

Marion. She's a gem. She's had a really rough year, having to go back to the psych ward a couple of times, loosing her job, adjusting her medications, trying to take care of her daughter at the same time. She sounds like she's got herself in a more stable situation now, though, and ready to try again - which what I always like to hear. I don't care if you fail, just be ready to try again.

And she's a hard worker. She's already proven that. She's gotten through her first degree already, and most of her second. She's held a job for a couple of years, so there's just no question that she's capable, given the opportunity, of living up to the opportunity. It's our job to help her finish her final degree so she can get those opportunities.

When you talk to her, you can tell she is just a wonderful person inside. And very strong - she is not taking any grief from anyone. She will do what it takes, but she is also going to do what she thinks is best. I have no concerns about her success, although we'll always be here if she has setbacks and needs our support. She's a delight to work with and I'm glad we are going to be able to help her.

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