Our helping community has changed in recent times; years of funding reductions (and mental health restructuring) have created such an unstable environment. What I see here in VA in my work with non-profits is so much different than in NC. In NC there seems to be a constant state of stress and holding on that whatever life-line is left.
Life-line living certainly takes its toll on both programs and staff. I miss conversations that were about planning and dreaming of ways to meet the needs of the community and the families we serve. The message we seem to give families today is that we are simply holding on, they should be happy with the service we were able to provide and don’t expect much else…conversations about quality, morals, organizational development and simply saying “we will give you and your family a chance to be proud and gain success”, I just don’t know where those conversations are anymore.
I have met too many people who believe that providing a low quality helping service is now okay since their organization has ‘suffered so much’ due to the recession.
We spend so much time attempting to respond to community needs; well a response is just that, an action in the past tense – a response that is too little too late. Let’s be proactive and create programs that provide hope again.
The bottom line is that families manner. They come first, yet is seems like we talk about everything but these days. We are spending too much time holding on to the way things should be and not enough time creating new ways to serve the community around us. We as human services professionals need to remember the job is not about us, or the organization, but about serving the community member in need.
It is time to stop complaining about our ‘suffering’ and be the helpers that we are.
-This Post was made on Jan. 30, 2012 – CJE