WINNACH Community Behavioral Health is located on Fort Stewart, Georgia and is a part of the Department of Defense organization. This agency serves the military population to include Active Duty Service Members, Military Reserve, Retirees, Family Members and Children. This establishment provides social services in the areas of individual counseling, group counseling, family counseling, diagnoses, medical evaluation boards (Military members), Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), disorder testing, just to name a few. This organization works closely with various establishments off-post in order to have a cohesive plan of treatment on and off-post.
I interviewed Ms. Sue Scott, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, who works as an Independent Living Skills Trainer within this clinic. She has the duty of providing individualized training to her clients based on their assessed needs. Ms. Scott advocates for her clients on many levels compiles a portfolio for them to “live” by. Some of the areas touch on establishing personal relationships socially through community interaction, financial assistance, medicinal help, and hygienic support. If this doesn’t sound like a full schedule, she also oversees her clients’ everyday living circumstances (cooking, cleaning, banking, etc.) and their personal physical care as well ( brushing of teeth, showers, washing of laundry, etc.) Last but not least, Ms. Scott makes public appearances within her community to make the public sector aware of the effects of disabilities such as TBI. A vast majority of people are under the misconception that TBI is genetic. Traumatic Brain Injury occurs through mishaps such as war, medical incidents, freak accidents, chemical inhalants, automobile accidents, or a loss of oxygen in the blood flow.
Ms. Scott’s level of advocating is mainly dependent upon the needs of her clients. Although the outlook on her position doesn’t appear to have a large role in the advocacy arena, she often times advocates as parents would for their children. Compassion and caring for individuals are two major attributes with advocacy. She also stated that she has to take on a verbal role for more dependent clients while others do not require as much assistance. Ms. Scott emphasized that one of her main duties is to educate her client in order to start them on their path of independency and the public to embrace and understand the plight of such clients. She and her colleagues participate in voluntary and mandatory training in order to stay informed of the many changes that take place in her service sector.
Ms. Scott’s countenance brightened when I questioned her as to what makes her job so rewarding. She made it clear that “being able to see a client transform from dependent to independent makes it all worthwhile.” She talked about the satisfaction of listening to a male client express his excitement of being about to conquer everyday duties (i.e. shaving, putting on his suspenders, etc.). Ms. Scott reminisced on an event that sparked her interest in working with the TBI population. She watched her best friend care for her brother after a horrific ATV accident when he was 19. This incident caused a TBI in him and it was extremely hard for him to recover. Her personal values have had a positive effect on her performance and TBI research. Ms. Scott is proactive in informing the public that TBI’s are not a result of drug use. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a disruption of function in the brain resulting from a blow or jolt to the head or penetrating head injury. www.armymedicine.army.mil/news/releases/20090225Briefing
Ms. Scott’s title as an Independent Living Skills Trainer encompasses everything that she could ever want while working in the Behavioral Health sector. She reported to me that long work hours can be tedious however the overall picture is rewarding. Ms. Scott feels as though she has been truly blessed to have such an opportunity to make a positive change in so many people’s lives.
REFERENCES:
www.armymedicine.army.mil/news/releases/20090225Briefing