My time spent at Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) in Detroit, has been interesting to say the least. I never know exactly what to except when I come in for a day at the office, and I think I like it that way.
I am a member of the AmeriCorps program Michigan Campaign to End Homelessness, and was placed in Detroit, the city that is without a doubt ground zero for the quest to end homelessness in the United States. While Detroit is in the process of revitalizing, it is also consumed by more problems than I can comprehend. Sometimes, hope is hard to find. When I have a bad day, it’s difficult to shake my mood. Driving through the streets of Detroit on your way home does very little to lift your spirits.
I was told when I started at my placement that there are 1,500 shelter beds for about 20,000 homeless in Detroit. That statistic still haunts me. At home, when I go outside to get the mail, or bring out of the trash, I can’t help but think of the tens of thousands of individuals that are enduring the bitter cold of a Michigan winter. I quickly go back into the warmth of my house. But many cannot.
I keep my sanity in this city and this placement, by interacting with people. My clients, my co-workers, my co-worker’s clients, my friends, the landlords that I keep in touch with- these people are what keep me sane.
I have learned over and over again while being here, that I am not here to save people. I am here to listen, to learn, and to give help. But the help that I give can only go so far. I give clients informed options about how to live their lives- I provide suggestions- I help them apply for health insurance- I listen to what stresses them- I help find places for them to live- but I do not save them. Ultimately, it is on them. It is their life to live, not mine.
I am learning how simultaneously frustrating, and rewarding, the field of social work can be. I’m learning that when I want something done, I need to stand up for myself and ask the question- go directly to the source, not hope someone will provide it for me. I’m learning to be more autonomous. Which I hope is a good thing.
I think for any human service field you work in, you are greeted by the same universal truth. People are people. Yes, the people that I work with are different than I am. Most have severe mental illnesses and disabilities. In some ways, there is an "us" and "them" mentality. But, they are people. And so they are also the same as me.
They don’t want to live on the streets anymore. They’re tired of being tired. They want a place to sleep and an apartment on their own. Most of them want to kick their habits. They don’t want to get hustled or mistreated by friends. They don’t want to hurt anymore. People, are people.
I often struggle with the difference that I am making here. I moved to Detroit with an incredibly idealistic mindset. I was here to change the world. Now I realize that changing the world takes time. And that it's less about the big things, and more about the smalll.
There are certain skills that I can offer that can help certain clients out, if only a little bit, or for a short amount of time. I can fill out health insurance benefit waivers for people who might have otherwise gone without. I can collect and sort donations from churches and soup kitchens. I can lead support groups that help clients transition from homelessness to housed live. I can get paperwork together so that clients can apply for furniture vouchers. I can call landlords and check out properties and expand the housing base that our organization has. I can capacity build, and create a binder of housing options, so that people can get into safe, decent housing more efficiently.
I find myself filling in the gaps of the organization that I work at. Sometimes that means grunt work. Recently I attended a Continuum of Care meeting and asked the program director where I could be of use. I spent the next five days making maps, so that thousands of volunteers could more effectively count the number of homeless individuals within Detroit city limits. This was not the most fun thing to do. But it was necessary. If I hadn’t done it, there would not have been decent maps for the volunteers to use when they went out to count. And without an accurate head count, our funding would not be reinstated. It’s the little things that count.
That is what I have learned about the social work field since being at my position. A lot of peole fall through the cracks, if there aren’t other people in place to catch them. Everything that you do is important to at least one person, which makes it important. Like I said, people are people.
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