Forgotten People — Never to Be Forgotten — A Series: Lesson 12
on September 15th, 2014 at 11:05 amThe Importance of Employment (Part 2) — In their Words
Robert had two activities that took his mind off of his lamentations – work and running. More about his running later; on the subject of employment he said:
I always knew that I would make a good recovery from bipolar disorder, my primary mental illness. One of the cornerstones of recovery is employment. Fountain House has given me all the opportunities necessary. In the early years, I was best suited for outdoor messenger work (I couldn’t get along with people). So the director of transitional employment hooked me up with a printing and messenger business. I spent many good months working for this company and Newsweek as a messenger. I also completed a six-month placement at Publicis, an advertising company.
I have had some successes and some relative failures. The director patiently explained the realities to me when I lost a job. One of my first true successes was as a supplies requisition clerk at the First American Bank. There, I established friendships with one of the vice presidents, and a former member of Fountain House who is no longer able to attend the program. I make reach-out calls to him every other week.
Since that presentation, Bob did move onto a new job at Project Renewal’s Clinton Residence as a counselor, a position he held until his untimely death in 2009. In addition, he had been enrolled on a part-time basis at the Hunter College School of Social Work.
The member he mentioned for whom he made reach-out calls was able to get it together enough to return to Fountain House on a once-a-week basis, and was present to speak, movingly, of their relationship at Bob’s memorial service held at Fountain House.
I first met Peter as he started a transitional employment placement as a porter-delivery man at Seybert-Nicholas, a printing company specializing in sheet music. I was training him, and on a cold snowy day we were delivering a pushcart with several reams of paper to a nearby stationary store, when Peter said he had had enough, it was too cold, and snowy. I said that we had to complete the run; he said, “No.” We had more words, and he finally slapped me in the face and left.
I completed the delivery, went back to Seybert and finished the job for that day. The next day, I told Peter that not only would he would be paid for the previous day, he could (and I thought) must continue on that placement. He looked at me, smiled, and said that he would be most grateful for a second chance.
He did indeed go back to work, and in the following months he overcame many work-oriented problems such as lateness and slowness to complete that placement successfully. He went onto several more TE placements before obtaining full-time employment as a messenger, a job he held for many years. P art of this job required Peter, from time to time, to deliver materials outside of New York City, and whenever this happened he always sent his worker and me, postcards typically picturing where his employer had sent him (Seattle, Boston, Denver, etc.).
Rudy described the importance of employment opportunities this way:
Fountain house gives you a reason to get up, shave, and get out the door. (It) stresses ability over disability. Employers know we’re good workers. And if a placement doesn’t work out, you know there will be plenty more chances.
Jill had been a member of Fountain House for years, had successfully completed several TE placements, and had moved into her own lovely studio apartment near Fountain House. Most importantly, she had brought a dog into her otherwise solitary life. She so enjoyed walking “Tootsie” often along with another dog that belonged to a Fountain House staff worker.
Both dogs died within a short time of each other, leaving Jill in almost total despair. It was suggested to her that because the apartment complex where she lived was very large there might be a lot of working people who could benefit from having a local walk their pets doing the day. She brightened up with this idea, prepared flyers offering her services and soon had a growing and thriving business. While not a huge financial enterprise, it has been both emotionally satisfying and remunerative enough to more than make it worth her time.
Kathleen described how being employed was important:
After several months at Fountain House, I went to work at my first Transitional Employment Program (TEP) job. As with any Fountain House TEP job, my coworkers knew of my mental illness. Thus, from the start I was accepted by all of them, as they were accustomed to members of Fountain House coming and going at this job. But, after I had proved to them that I would not only do my share of the work but would always help them out whenever they had an overload, they repeatedly told me how much they liked and appreciated me.
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