A
love letter to ALL ONE
This
is a short story about a place I worked that changed my life and the
life of literally thousands of people. This is not an idyllic story
by any means, but it is one full of hope, laughter, healing, and
esprit de corps more so than I had ever experienced.
We
were a group of mental health professionals (almost oxymoronic term)
who went into people's homes (most the time invited), and worked with
families, kids, dogs, turtles, neighbors, P.O.'s, shrinks, courts, well
you get the picture. We worked in trio's, with one professionally licensed clinician (me), and two qualified mental health professionals. We met weekly to staff each of
our families intensively and to plan and provide them the best, most cost
efficient, community based services possible. We worked with other
systems like D.S.S., schools, shelters, recovery centers, coaches,
well you get the picture, to coordinate wrap around services on a
continuum of care. This approach was called Systems Of Care, it
looked good on paper, but was keystone cops in practice, not because
people weren't trying, but because all the systems were/are broken,
including our own!
But
what was special about our agency (I know every agency says this,
but I really mean it, and I worked in many freaking agencies!),
were several things, for example; there was a very clear vision by
our CEO, who started a small grass roots group dedicated to specific
principals, values, and practices that were really practiced,
certainly very imperfectly, but still with a lot of intention,
reminders, and trainings around why and how we did what we did.
Our
trio met with 3-4 other trios in a larger team once a week to provide
peer support to our colleagues, and get support we need (the big team
was called ALL ONE). I remember when I was being hired and told I
would be a lead on the ALL ONE team, I thought to myself; “I must
be in the right place! I was a burntout hippie that grew up in
California during the 60's and 70's, so I have my share of cosmic out
theredness.
The meetings we had with ALL ONE were something I ALWAYS
looked forward to. For one thing, I had an audience/support group in
which I could be my goofy, cranky, weird, funny, neurotic, loving
self, not only that, but it was encouraged of everyone to be
themselves! We actually went around and checked in with everyone and
this became a vital part of tuning into my friends/colleagues to see
how they were and to be able to be real about myself.
The other thing to mention vital to this story is, just like our CEO, the ALL ONE team had a leader with a clear vision that he shepherded with skills like Jesus, ok, I'm exaggerating, but he was really good! He was kind, funny, super intelligent, super experienced/skilled therapist/leader/mentor. His leadership inspired all of us to take leadership during ALL ONE meetings. This experience also had a profound healing on my family of origin issues, because it was a corrective experience of being part of a group/family that really cared about me, put up with me, and loved me! We paid a lot of attention to parallel process which is basically practicing what we were preaching to our families.
We
worked from a model that was a family systems model, it's not a
perfect model, none are, but it was open ended enough for me to be
myself and bring whatever else I felt was good therapeutic care into
play. One aspect of this model and back to our CEO, was that we
practiced giving and receiving feedback. We received training in how
to do this and it was absolutely a value that was practiced. I in
particular latched onto this value, and my trio practiced giving and
receiving feedback which made us better people, friends and
professionals. We still regularly give and receive feedback from each other even though we've all moved on. The man, (my
brother, partner in crime, war combat bro)
that I started and ended with when the company was sold, bought, and
went under (much like the Titanic), became a good friend and
colleague. We drove each other crazy at times, just like brothers,
but we were always there for each other.
There
was also this CRAZY Jersey red headed, on fire funny chick, much
younger than should be allowed. I remember, being fairly new and
talking with her in the pod room (this
was a general area with computers, coffee, kitchen, laundry area, and
the dreaded copier!).
A repairman had come in and was working on the copier, he had the
full on look like Dan Akyroid
with the butt crack and everything. Anyway, Jersey starts going into
the monologue and voice of the serial killer from the movie “Silence
Of The Lambs.” She
is undaunted by the repairman or the look on my face. That was
another time I knew I was in the right place.
I
could easily write a book about that time (maybe
I will),
but as time marches on, and I'm sure not getting younger, I wanted to
write this to help myself and others remember. Gratitude doesn't
really begin to cover my feelings, but it's a start. People came and
went, client's came and went, my mind and nerves often came and went,
but the experience of this family who helped other families is one of
my best. Thanks for putting me in the game coach!
Love,
zim
No comments:
Post a Comment