Tonight I was asked to help a young person in crisis. Friday nights are my training nights, I had recently arrived at the martial arts studio where I train, Plus One Defense Systems (@teamplusone) in West Hartford, when my Sensei pulled me aside as I was beginning my work out and asked me if I would sit with a young person who admitted they had no place to sleep for the night; he was hoping that I might be able to offer some assistance. As a former law-enforcement officer in a different state, my Sensei had a sense for some of the resources that might be available in his home state, but was not intimately familiar with the kinds of support or resource that would immediately help this person. As someone who is committed to community service and helping others I was happy to step in at his request and speak with this young person in hopes of identifying a potential solution for their housing crisis. As it turns out the individual was not readily willing to take some of the steps necessary to receive help i.e. share any personal information, go to emergency room or answer a series of personal questions posed by an emergency crisis counselor, whom I was able to connect with them. The individual did their very best to assure me that they would be fine and my assistance, while appreciated, was not necessary. Not being completely settled with that I continued to work with the counselor at the emergency crisis center and was able to make a connection that resulted in two counselors coming to the martial arts studio to meet with the individual and hopefully connect them with housing for the evening. I left this exchange feeling somewhat contented in the support that I was able to provide, however, I'm left wondering how far would you go to help someone who's not willing to admit they in fact really need the help.
How far do we go to help our job seeker customers who aren't willing yet to admit they really need the help we provide. How far are we willing to go to help someone that may be in crisis that's unwilling to admit the severity of their situation and who gets to make that determination. Perhaps I went too far, perhaps this individual really did have the means to find temporary housing for themselves even though they reached out to my sensei for assistance, maybe they had a plan b that they'd rather not resort to, but does in fact exists. Maybe I stepped over the line in trying to help this person. As workforce development professionals do we ever step over the line, do we ever go too far? What do you think?
It is important to remember that a person should not provide assistance they are not qualified to do. For example, the average workforce development professional may be able to make a referral to social services, but not be able to provide clinical services to an individual as he is not licensed. The same would be true about health and medical treatment. I would also say that the answer to your question is a personal one and unique to each individual workforce development professional.
ReplyDelete