Job Opportunity: Homeless Outreach Specialist with Mental Health Cooperative, Inc. – Davidson CountyNow don't get me wrong as you read further; I'm beyond thrilled to see an agency add an outreach worker to our city streets, and am grateful beyond words for their help. I'd like to point out tho, that my dear friend and colleague Maggie, who works as an outreach specialist in the Yuba City area near my old stomping grounds of the Sierra Nevadas, would be absolutely kick-ass in this position.
Description:
Mental Health Cooperative is a progressive mental health agency offering competitive benefits seeking a PATH, Homeless Outreach Specialist to provide outreach services for the homeless population. Refer and connect homeless individuals to services as needed.
Services are delivered through a multi-disciplinary team consisting of case managers, a team supervisor, psychiatrist, advances practice nurse and nurse. Services are tailored to meet the unique needs of each individual by focusing on the achievement of personal goals while helping the individual gain control over his or her systems.
For more information, please visit our website at www.mhc-tn.org. To apply, send resumes to resumes@mhc-tn.org or contact HR Recruiter Julie Watson, jwatson@mhc-tn.org, (615) 743-1571 or Jay Landrum, jlandrum@mhc-tn.org, (615) 743-1665.
Requirements:
We are currently recruiting for energetic individuals with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, sociology, or social work; Valid Tennessee driver’s license with F endorsement; Acceptable MVR report; Individual car insurance allowing transportation of consumers 10–15% of the time; Acceptable personal background clearances; Previous experience preferred
Maggie's got it all; she's got the lived experience desperately needed for this position. She understands the plight of folks trying to extricate themselves from the streets. She knows the critical need for reliability and street-cred. She recognizes the fact that scarce resources make triage a bitch and can help our brothers and sisters on the street remain hopeful in their darkest hours. She can walk without fear through the biggest homeless encampment at 2 in the morning. She knows when to engage folks - and when to come back on another day. She knows how to spot "tramp-trash," can spot the signs that tell her someone is sleeping on the roof of the local business, and knows where to position herself in the morning, afternoon and evening to catch the "hardest to find, least to ask for services" individuals out there.
There are a lot of "Maggies" in our communities who can run tornadic circles around the best outreach specialists many cities have to offer. These "peers" have incredible, intuitive skillsets, borne of life on the streets and their own sometimes violent struggles to end their own homelessness, addiction, and mental health challenges.
Many of these peers are often twice as dedicated as your average employee, willing to go the extra ten miles, and are so dependable you could set your clock and bet your life on them. They perform this way because they're both grateful as hell for the chance at a job that actually pays the bills and because they know that they don't have a lot of opportunity in front of them if they lose the job the have.
Unfortunately, these highly skilled, incredibly talented, top performing, over-achieving potential outreach specialists wouldn't be able to apply for this position because they don't have "a bachelor’s degree in psychology, sociology, or social work."
I happen to be a peer like Maggie as well, and I happen to be one of those folks who've lived homeless in a camp, wasted somewhere around 5,500 days ingesting a wide variety of "entertainment options" as I struggled to cope with my often self-induced poverty. I happen to be one of those folks who, had you walked past me 25 years ago while I was passed out in the gutter, you wouldn't have given me a second thought nor ever believed that I could reach the point in my life I find myself today; hell, I have a hard time believing it.
I also happen to have a Bachelor's degree in Sociology. In addition, I have a Master's degree in public administration with an option in health management. I like to think I have a pretty good education, provided to me by instructors who cared deeply about the caliber of students they were sending into the workforce and the world.
And I can tell you that in all of the "school work" I did, all of the textbooks I read, all of the assignments I turned in, not one of them ever prepared me to walk into a homeless camp and ask folks how they were doing and how I might best be of service to them. There is no doubt that my education has not gone to waste and it has allowed me to progress up the ranks of the Behavioral Health world to the point I find myself today, overseeing a very large project with literally hundreds of subcontractors, consultants, grantees and peers, all of whom count on me to perform at the level of "professional." I like to believe I haven't let them down yet, and my longevity in the role seems to support this conclusion.
But the truth is, when I was on the street as an outreach specialist, that "big, fancy degree" did a "big fancy nuthin" for me when I was trying to calm and reassure - along with figuring out - how to get a pregnant, sick, tired, beaten young lady some place to stay where her pimp couldn't find her; or stand alongside a man whose mother had just died and let him cry like a baby because he had drank up the money his family sent him to travel home to see her before she passed; or....you get the point.
In the world of street outreach and peer engagement, those carrying the real Master's degrees are those who've lived it, overcome it, and know how it feels to be mired in it. While one certainly doesn't need to have the lived experience to provide street outreach and services, those who do have the lived experience should not be excluded from the role simply because they don't have the "formal" education some of their colleagues may have.
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