This morning I had a morning meeting, but it wasn't until 10. So after I dropped Axton off, I went back home and worked from there for a while. It was quiet and I had my coffee while I was working. It was very nice.... :)
My first meeting was with a client that I have known for probably 4 or 5 years. She is a sweetheart and she and her roommate are probably two of the most pleasant people to work with. It was so nice to see her, but even moreso to talk about making changes...positive ones...to her life. She is now going to try (after never being able to be alone for any amount of time) being alone for 30 minutes a day. This is a HUGE deal and I am so proud of her. In the past she has been fearful of getting a job in the community (she works in a sheltered workshop now), and today she actually said she would consider it. She told us how she just got back from vacation with her new Home Manager and her roommate, and how nice that was...she will go to Oglebay in December and stay there for a couple days and see the lights and other attractions...and next fall she is going on a cruise to Jamaica with some staff and other clients from our agency. It is just thrilling to me to be able to have an impact on this woman's life for the good. Never in her wildest imagination did she ever think she would be capable of any of this. And here she is. Before we left her meeting, she took us on a tour of where she is working and showed us the job she was working on. Again...I am just so proud of her and the progress that she has made. What a success story.
I had a meeting scheduled for 1:00 today and I have been anxious about it. I have been praying...and prayed silently through the whole meeting...for God to please give me wisdom on what to say to this family. We employ the mother and father of a new client that we serve. They work with their son. There are lots of other people who work with their son as well. He has two staff at all times round the clock. He has significant aggressive and destructive behaviors, but at the same time, he can be the sweetest and most affectionate young man. He has a personality for sure! I met him and worked with him years ago, so he has a special place in my heart...and his parents are Christians and pray the best for their son and in spite of that, they have been with him through some horrible times....and almost lost him 4 times...and for those reasons they hold a special place in my heart as well. The QA Coordinator over this site sat down with me and mom and dad and we discussed things with them that we were trying to, or wanted to, implement with their son. He has autism and both of us have experience working with individuals with autism. We suggested some things that the parents were willing to agree to, and I think we made progress with them in that regard. The hard part was when we had to talk to them about maybe doing a trial period of them not working with their son to see if his behaviors decrease when they are not in the home. These parents have had people threaten to take their guardianship away, they have almost watched their son die several times, they have had staff at other agencies abuse and neglect their son, and they do not trust anyone. I wanted this face to face meeting with them so they could see our faces and our body language and know that we were being honest when we said that we didn't want to take their son from them....we only wanted to work as a team to get him the best care that we could. They accepted that and I think we are on the right track to a good working relationship. But that was an emotional hour and a half. And I came away from that meeting with a much better appreciation for parents with special need kids. What rocks they have had to be for their son. They are fighters. And I am happy we get to fight right alongside them to help their son have the best possible life he can have.
Tomorrow is a new day, God. Surprise me. :)
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