TandC Associates, LLC

The Importance of Employment — Part 3 — Further Comments

Because a clubhouse staff worker is responsible for each transitional employment placement (TEP), if for some reason the member does not show up for work, that staff has to be prepared to fill-in to prevent letting the employer down.  The same core value system that underlies the whole program is thus present on a TE placement — i.e. the staff needs the member to do the job.

One of my first individual placements was at Seybert-Nicholas Printing Company. The job was a combination of porter and delivery work. It was an extremely demanding job. Soon after I became the placement manager, an opening occurred. As I looked around my program area, I believed that I had no one ready to place there, so I had to go fill-in. After a 4-hour shift, I came back to Fountain House so tired that when I looked again around the house, I “discovered” any number of people who certainly could benefit from this placement! I filled the placement successfully, the next day, and boy, was I appreciative!

There is another aspect of this kind of professional involvement that, while unanticipated, is worth noting. Fountain House ran a group placement at a car wash, located on the lower east side of Manhattan, one block west of the Bowery. This was an area known for its inhabitants – homeless substance abusers. One day as I was at the front of the car wash, a car pulled up driven by a former psychology graduate school classmate. He saw me, but purposely avoided eye contact. Puzzled, I decided to follow the car through the line and met him as he prepared to leave. I greeted him, but again he seemed embarrassed, smiling awkwardly and saying, “It must be nice to be working.” He never asked why I was there, but was so sure that by being so near the Bowery, my story must have been a most sad one, indeed…

Of course, the whole purpose of this kind of “treatment” is totally unlike most clinical interventions. This method — getting to know somebody while doing productive work with that person — has been very successful with a certain group: clinically severely disabled men and women. These members’ personal experiences underscore this approach in the clubhouse employment program.

Rose, who was a modest hard-working member, had a smile and a kind word.for everybody. She had been hospitalized for over 10 years and was most grateful just to be out of hospital. But more than that she had a singular view about what work meant to her in terms of her recovery and future:

     (Work is) interesting and it gets your life going. It gives you responsibility and also makes you feel different, makes you feel that you can face the outside world. And also, makes you feel that you are important. Important to your people (and) important to your friends because you are earning money. You’re making your own penny; your own dollar bill; your own cent. And when you walk into the store, you feel, well, I can buy this and I can buy that, because it’s your money, and it’s a wonderful feeling.
      And I’m glad to be working. And you usually look forward not to remaining here because you… give the other fellow a chance from the hospital to come out and see what he can do. It took a couple of years until somebody came over can said: “Would you like to go to work? And do something, and make something out of your life?” And I said, “Yes, would you teach me how?” And she said “Yes, I’ll teach you how to collate.”
      And I couldn’t get it right away, because sometimes you don’t get things right away, putting your mind that you can do something like you can write a letter, or write things that you want to buy and go shopping. You have to have a clear mind. When you have a clear mind, you sit down and you work, and I did. I proved that I can work.

Casey was also very serious about wanting to work, as he had not been employed for some 20 years, most of which was due to a long-term hospitalization. After joining Fountain House, his chance came when he was offered a TE placement as a delivery worker at Joseph Treu, a manufacturer of rubber stamps. He also moved into a Fountain House Supported apartment in the north Bronx. Things were going well for several weeks, when a strike closed down the entire New York City Transit System. Undaunted, Casey arouse at 4 am, had breakfast and walked all the way from Webb Avenue in the north Bronx to midtown Manhattan, some 140 blocks (over seven miles). He arrived at work just before 9:00 am, his regular starting time. Irving, the owner, was so impressed and touched that he allowed Casey to rest for 30 minutes before sending him out, and the end of his shift, let him leave a half hour early. We arranged for Casey to stay in another Fountain house apartment in Manhattan much closer to his job for the duration of the strike.

Sol (as mentioned in a previous posting) had a most difficult time with depression, but was able to take advantage of a unique employment opportunity. In 1967, Fountain House was just starting an innovative work approach for certain members who were unable, un interested, or otherwise unavailable for TE or other employment. With this new initiative, these members would register and open their own entrepreneurial small businesses in New York City.

We found out that Sol had had experience in the fashion industry where he had maintained several excellent contacts. It soon became clear that he also had a special talent with potential customers – he was a born salesman. We registered “Sol’s Clothing” and he was soon making a good profit on his sales of both men’s and especially women’s fine fashions. While his head banging continued, the incidences were much less frequent. One of the reasons for this positive outcome most probably was that with his earnings, he was able to help his son, David, graduate from Cooper Union and become a rehabilitation engineer.

This Small Business initiative was responsible in helping a number of other members to have an income-generating experience, which in some cases served as a step towards other independent employment:

Betty operated Miss Betty Assemblies under contracts with the All-Rite Pen Company and a Queens-based pocket calendar company. Betty had been in the hospital for most of her adult life, but ran her own business for several years until she retired. Betty was a special person for me because she was so sweet and so alone. She lived in a Supportive Apartment on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, which I visited periodically to help with clean–up and minor repairs.  In many ways she reminded me of a distant relative.  As a young bachelor, I would occasionally celebrate the New York scene, sometimes to excess.  The day after such an episode, I came to work at Fountain House.  After a short time, Betty looked around to the group and said, quite sweetly, “Strange, but I think I detect a faint odor of alcohol.”  No reproach, but an acknowledgement that led me to be a little more circumspect in my personal celebrations.

Herb owned Herb’s Messenger Service before he returned to the department store field from which he had started in years before.

Mike ran the Kendell Collating Company.

Vincent worked with Sol as a clothing salesman until he demonstrated his readiness to take on independent employment. He served as a security guard for many years until his retirement.

Mary operated Ms. Em’s Typing Service; Francis, The Forge Ahead Typing Service; and Sylvia, Sylvia’s Typing Service.

Another Vincent opened his own messenger service for a short time before following a wholly different path as described elsewhere.

Grace came to Fountain House as a very young woman barely, 20 years old. She had a talent for assembly work, so she opened Miss Grace Assemblies. As she gained confidence, she then moved on to a TE placement at Sears Fashion Distribution Center in New Jersey, and after completing six months went to another placement. Her work at Sears was so appreciated, however, that after completing her next placement (not at Sears), she was hired as a regular full time employee at Sears.

This series is an abstraction from a larger writing, pending publication; therefore, any reference to (or quotation from) any of the series must be made with the expressed permission of the author. Requests may be directed to this E-mail address:

tandcassociates@gmail.com

As always, readers’ comments and feedback are cordially welcome at the URL below, or at the same e-mail address listed.