Client Successes
Holly’s Story
A client Project Permanency for seven months, Holly has achieved significant milestones towards achieving self-sufficiency in permanent housing.
Holly and her three children, all under five years old, became homeless after her husband went to prison for selling drugs; she and her husband have a long history of drug abuse. Holly was not able to stay with relatives or friends and she and kids became homeless.
She was referred to Project Permanency, where she underwent a comprehensive psycho-social assessment by a TAP case worker, who agreed Holly would likely benefit from transitional services on the way to achieving permanent housing.
First the case manager assisted Holly in setting her goals and establishing a plan to achieve them. One of the first goals was to get all three children into daycare and work with the daycare provider around issues of consistency. With the case manager’s help, Holly achieved this goal and began parenting training around issues of disciplining the children and providing a safe environment.
Holly also had a goal of obtaining her GED. The process of helping Holly to enroll in GED classes was a lengthy one, for a number of reasons. Because she had only a 9th grade education, she was intimidated at the prospect of returning to school. Along with the case manager, Holly worked to identify her interests as well as her priorities, exploring the positives and negatives of several different vocational training and education programs.
When Holly had difficulty following through on the GED programs, the case manager uncovered the issues of poor self-esteem as well as anxiety about taking on new challenges. After working through these issues with the case manager, Holly finally enrolled in coursework. She has since obtained her GED. This great accomplishment improved her employability and gave her a sense of achievement that she had rarely experienced and upon which she can now build.
Another important goal was to establish mental health and chemical dependency counseling. Holly has struggled for a good part of her life anxiety and depression as well as chemical dependency. The case manager linked Holly to the appropriate mental health treatment and encouraged her to stay in the chemical dependency program. Her case manager also helped Holly identify signs of anxiety and taught her how to effectively manage these symptoms through stress reduction techniques.
In addition to managing her stress, Holly has learned strategies to maintain a clean and sober lifestyle. The case manager also worked with the client on the medications prescribed to her by her mental health provider, exploring the positives and negatives about taking the medications and how to schedule doses appropriately. Currently Holly attends weekly appointments with mental health and chemical dependency counselors and takes her psychotropic medication to control her mental health symptoms.
Another key piece of the case management has been to help the client maintain her care plan with Department Social and Human Services (DSHS), which has enabled her to receive a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant and Medicaid. Regular contact with DSHS has allowed Holly to continue to receive the medical benefits necessary to pay for her chemical dependency and mental health counseling, as well as pay for childcare.
The key factor to the success of the family has been the therapeutic case management services, which have allowed Holly to stabilize her situation and make progress towards self-sufficiency. Holly is addressing her mental health and chemical dependency issues, stabilizing her financial situation, and working on the issues that were impacting her ability to obtain and maintain stable housing for herself and her children.
Her case manager is very encouraged by these successes and believes that continued case management will only enhance holly’s current stability and allow her to maintain permanent housing without ongoing case management.