Trying to find a path back to social work

--was it a good idea?

Introduction

My intention in writing this blog is to share the experiences that I went through with my son, starting with the first manifestation of his illness and our journey through numerous subsequent episodes. Also to provide commentary as a parent and psychiatrist on issues that these experiences bring up, such as how the diagnostic process works in mental health, how to work with treatment providers and medication issues. My hope is that reading this may be helpful for people with mental health issues and also their families and friends.

Visit to Philadelphia

I flew into the city and landed not too much after my brother had arrived. We were both excited to see Mom’s new house and to catch up for the first time since Christmas. We get together pretty much every Christmas holiday and also every other summer with the whole clan for a family reunion. My community support team prepared my pills in little plastic packets, labeled for each day that I would be gone. I had been stable now for a little while and knew I wouldn’t have any problems with compliance. We spent a fair amount of time hanging around the house in the garden or swimming in the pool. It was a nice pool although too small to get real laps in. Mike and I walked all around the neighborhood which seemed like it had a fair number of students as well as longtime residents, lots of political signs in the yards. We took walks with mom to the Penn campus to the famous LOVE sculpture and the old traditional buildings—and found Ben Franklin standing in a quadrangle and seated on a park bench. But we couldn’t go into the buildings because of the pandemic. In the mornings while it was still cool we took long walks along the Schuylkill River. Because of the pandemic we either ate at home or outdoors at restaurants. I think we went to Honeygrow and Poke-man near the UPenn campus since they had outdoor tables. Mike was finishing up his masters degree at Washington University and in good spirits. We always have a great time kidding around and talking about all the usual things—video games, happenings when we were growing up, what our friends are up to. He asked me if I was planning to stay on my medicine and I told him definitely yes. I was sorry when it was time to head back to the airport.

Trying to help Bill find a path back to social work

He seemed to be doing well after having been a little unstable recently. His brothers were pushing him to get a higher paying job with Amazon or another warehouse job which paid about double what he was making --$13/hr. He seemed reluctant to change—seemed not to want to change anything. I had been telling him that if he wanted to get back into social work he needed to make a move. But I didn’t want to push him too hard because he actually liked his current job and felt happy there. Anyway, it was up to him to decide if it’s worth it to him to make a change.

Several months earlier, I used a contact from a friend to make a social work contact in Portland for Bill. It was a large community mental health system with an excellent reputation, it had several openings, and could provide a way for him to have a fresh start. Bill was enthusiastic about Portland, since one of his cousins lived there. He filled out several applications, wrote accompanying cover letters and made follow-up phone calls to the hiring agency but nothing came of it. Since we were in the middle of the pandemic, I wasn’t surprised he didn’t hear back, although I was concerned he hadn’t even received a phone interview. I told him not to worry and to think about other places where he could apply for jobs, including Madison. He sent inquiries to several job postings, some in cities like Houston where we had relatives, and he always sent them to me first to check over the wording. There didn’t seem to be anything that was a fit until he found a local job that sounded like it a possibility—an organization looking for a peer support specialist. Since Bill was both a social worker as well as a patient it seemed like a good fit. A worrisome fact that he shared with me was that one of his previous supervisors replied to his request for a letter of support by indicating that Bill first needed to take responsibility for not having gotten his notes in on time at the previous job and that Bill needed to explain himself before he would be willing to supply a reference. Bill wrote back explaining that he hadn’t realized how critical it was for the notes to be done exactly on time. I suggested that he needed to write again, explaining what it was that made him not take responsibility and how it had been fixed. I’m not sure he did that. He submitted an application to the job posting for the peer support position. I looked over his application cover letter. He did a great job of summarizing his reasons for his interest in the position, including his commitment to helping others with mental health difficulties. He summarized his experience in previous positions including internships during social work training including Dane County Shelter Home (DCSH), where he worked with young people who had delinquency problems, and a transitional housing program, serving people who were homeless and dealing with mental health issues. He also described his previous jobs at the vocational branch of the one of the agencies, and as a skills development specialist at an outreach program, providing direct support to clients with mental health issues, supporting clients within a clinical framework. He included his CV and concluded with a statement that he believed his skills and interests matched the opportunities at as a peer support specialist, and that he would love to be considered for a position. He very much wanted this position and placed his hopes on being successful.

Interview for peer support position

Bill felt his interview went well. But then obsessed about whether he should have waved goodbye on the way out the door. He drafted several follow-up emails that he asked me to review before sending. The emails were to the two team members who had interviewed him and to the head of the agency and described how much he enjoyed the interview and how much he wanted the job as a peer support specialist.

He wrote several followup emails when he didn’t hear back, requesting another interview so that he could demonstrate that he was the right person for the job. I told him he should stop emailing because it wouldn’t change anything. I think he believed me but didn’t want to accept that assessment, becoming increasingly frustrated when he didn’t hear back. He continued to search want ads for social work positions but didn’t find any.