Announcer (00:16):
Welcome to Networks Looks At, topics that are near and dear to our hearts at Networks that are really at the core of who we are, we hope you really find these helpful. So enjoy it, take care.

Nikita Arnett-Orr (00:37):
Hey, this is Nikita Arnett-Orr.

Joe Murphy (00:40):
And Joe Murphy from Networks for Training and Development.

Nikita (00:44):
This episode is part of our series about working in the disability field with a focus on roles in supported employment. These roles provide an integral part of making our communities inclusive.

Joe (00:55):
We hope you enjoy listening.

Nikita (00:58):
All right, listeners. You may recall that in an earlier episode we interviewed Mariaya from CATCH, and I'm so excited to welcome another staff member from CATCH. We have here today, Theresa Bynum. Theresa, can you go ahead and introduce yourself for our listeners?

Theresa Bynum (01:14):
Yes, hello everyone, my name is Theresa Bynum, I am the ID Division Director with CATCH and I also fill in, we've been doing a lot of job development and job coaching services that I'm very excited to talk to you today about.

Nikita (01:29):
Awesome. Uh, Theresa, can you just share briefly how long you've been with CATCH or in the field in general?

Theresa (01:36):
Yes. I have been with CATCH since 2019. Prior to CATCH, I worked as a supports coordinator for about nine years. So I've been in the field for intellectual disabilities, autism, I guess, 12 or 13 years now.

Nikita (01:50):
Wow, that is a good amount of time. I was actually joking with Mariaya earlier about how people don't really stay in their jobs very long these days, and I know that that's something that people in this field are really concerned about, turnover in general, and maybe you'll speak to that in a little bit. So you've been in the field for roughly a decade, a little over a decade. Why do you stay in this field? What makes you stay?

Theresa (02:17):
It's kind of simple for me. If I don't do it, who will? And I say that because I've worked in a lotta other social service systems, but this particular field needs advocacy, needs someone who has been around a little bit and can always chip in and help. There's a lot of uninformed people, family members and individuals themselves. So I like to use the experience and- and inform people as much as I can. It's also important to me that the work I do is in human services. So I don't just wanna work, I wanna make an impact, and being a job coach, a job development specialist, it gives me the opportunity to impact not only individuals, like, that I've working, but we also can impact the employer that they work for. I find it opens doors for others with disabilities, once an employer sees the support they have, and what good workers they are, they are really excited and wanna bring in more workers, and they sort of become invested and wanna be an advocate for our people in the ID field. Yeah, so advocacy is a big part of my life personally and professionally. So that's kind of one of the main reasons I do stay.

Nikita (03:32):
Thank you, that's so selfless of you and I think that there are a lot of people who are in this field for the same reasons. You know, they wanna make an impact, they wanna be an advocate for other people, for causes that they care about. So I think that it's really great that you're able to work somewhere that aligns with your personal values.

Theresa (03:54):
Absolutely.

Nikita (03:56):
You kind of spoke to this, saying that you want to make an impact, but what else makes this job so fulfilling and attractive?

Theresa (04:05):
Well, as I said, I worked in other social service system. What I found that working with this community it was the most rewarding. To me, they truly are special humans that help you to look at the world differently. They experience daily challenges and hardships just like everyone else, but the vast majority of them are able to just continue to live every day and enjoy the world around them. I'm often inspired by their resilience and their desire to help others. Just their love of life makes my day better being around people who are so happy and just the little things in life make them happy and I'm all about that too. Like, I really love little things in life. If I catch someone doing something that I thought was really nice, just makes my day and I think sometimes when we're working and you have a lot of responsibility on you, you just sort forget about the little things in life. So it's something that I try to take time out for every day.

Nikita (05:04):
Yeah, it's almost like little pockets of happiness that you're able to get, which is really nice. I think that that helps sustain people in this work. What makes you really good at this job? Why are you such a champion for employment, Theresa? What makes you such a good champion? (laughs)

Theresa (05:23):
(laughs) I think having experience really makes a difference. Getting to know an individual's personality, their likes and dislikes, how they communicate is very important so you can develop a good working rapport with them that works for them. And [inaudible 00:05:41] ISP helps, it's very informative, but there's nothing as good as the interacting face to face and developing a relationship, and that requires a lot of time, good observation, and attention to detail. Whether you're completing orientation with them, teaching them a new skill in a new job assignment, your approach needs to be different for each individual.

(06:05):
So having more interactions and successful experiences to draw from has been very helpful for me. I also think it kind of helps as far as my being a director, it makes hiring staff, it's kind of like a benefit because I'm able to draw those experiences and share them, and I think that when you have those real interactions that happen, like things I did well, things I didn't do well. When I'm able to give those type of examples in trainings, it seems like it's very helpful and really gives them the sense of what they're job is and the importance paying attention to that ISP and paying attention to the person they're working with is really honed in on what their needs are to best support them.

(06:51):
And another thing that I think is really important along these lines, I think it's very important for people to stay in the field because having high staff turnover rates, it can affect the individual's work performance. If a new staff is assigned to cover someone in job coaching or job development, they may still be developing their approach, they might not remember everything they just read from the ISP, and they might be hesitant in their response. So this type of interruption with inconsistent support, it can impact the individual's work performance that day. So when I hire, I really talk to them about the importance of committing and dedicating to this role 'cause you really see more rewards 'cause the more individuals you're serving and the more experiences you have, the rewards just grow and grow every day. So that's kinda one of my selling points and what I really believe in as far as a day in the life of a job coach.

Nikita (07:48):
Yeah, we're all in this together when it comes to employment, like all across the board and for sure you want people to stay so that other people can get to work, it's a very significant and important job that a lot of people outside of our field don't really know about. When you said when you share with new hires that things that you do well and the things that you didn't do well, I think that that is so great to hear from someone in a director level role. I think that sometimes there can be misconceptions about leaders in our organizations that they are people who always have the prefect answer or they've never made a mistake, and I think that when thinking about growth and leadership, especially for the newer staff when they're thinking about, you know, how they want to grow in their career, they may think that they can't make it because they assume that their directors or their executive directors don't make mistakes.

(08:57):
So I think that it's really wonderful that they can hear from someone who is a director and know, like, you don't have all the answers, you have to have the heart and the compassion and the willingness to serve and, yeah, you'll make mistakes, but you'll learn along the way and it'll be okay.

Theresa (09:12):
That's right.

Nikita (09:13):
Uh, could you tell me about a feel-good moment or maybe a funny moment that's happened on the job while you were supporting someone?

Theresa (09:21):
There's so many. I wanna say my most recent work with a young lady, she is 26, and she never had a job before in her life, she had an experience where she got caught up with the wrong side of the law, and the judge decided, hey, if mother will consider her going to a residential to try and structure her a little bit, structure her life and get some supports in place and some consistency, then we can drop the charges. And mom was willing to do that and they tried two residentials and neither one worked out, mother brought her home, mother was very concerned that she was just not really growing, not growing and taking things for granted and not making a very good transition to adulthood per se.

(10:11):
So they want her to work, so we received her referral and I happened to know her- her case from when I was an SC and I started doing job development with her, we went out into the community, we like really started basic, we really started what does a job mean to you? What kinda job... She couldn't even answer what she thought she would wanna do. We just went for walks in the community and we looked at all different things that people were doing in communities. Some were cashiers, some were stocking, some were cleaning, and we went to a lot of different environments to see. And the one place that she really liked was a restaurant and I said, "What did you like about the restaurant?" And she said, "I love the smell." She loved the food cooking. (laughs)

(10:57):
So we applied to a couple restaurants and we did get her hired and she works for a steak restaurant and it's so good to see her, she's doing really well, she's been on the job for six months and to see her growth is just so amazing 'cause I know... I know the challenges that her and her mother were kinda going through and we were looking for a job for probably a good six months and then we found her one. It was a long six months, it felt like. But at the same time, I was explaining to her mother, we're really trying to make sure that we are preparing her as best we can. Letting her know what working means 'cause she had no idea. Her skills were so basic.

(11:44):
So she's been on the job about six months now. She's polishing silverware and she is rolling it into a linen napkin, and to see her with some pride on her face, she's so happy. Her mom said that when she gets up on her work days, she says, "Oh, I gotta get ready for work." And her mom will say, "Wait, you got like hours to go, relax. You have time to"... "To relax before work."

Nikita (12:06):
(laughs)

Theresa (12:08):
This is person who didn't wanna get up out of bed, she wanted to sleep till 11:00 or 12:00, and she's on her feet for a good five hours, and just to see her being successful. And when we're in the corner working together at the restaurant, the servers will come up and they'll say, "Hey, how are you?" And they wave to her and some come up and give her a hug and she's say to me, "That's my friend." And the one dishwasher, one day he was threatening to squirt her with the hose and she got-

Nikita (12:35):
(laughs)

Theresa (12:35):
... the biggest kick out of that. So it's just such an example of where they start out and then with the time and support the job coaches can give them, you know, how much they really do grow, how much they really do learn and they love experiencing the adult world. She loves it, she talks more like she wants to be an adult now rather than stay in that kid role. It's just helped her in so many aspects of her life. I wanna say that was probably my most recent feel-good moment being a job coach.

Nikita (13:07):
So you said she's been working at a steak house for about six months now?

Theresa (13:11):
Yes.

Nikita (13:12):
Does she still like the smell of the steak house? (laughs)

Theresa (13:16):
She does. She does. And it's funny because she orders food often. (laughs) I'll say almost every time she works-

Nikita (13:24):
Yeah. (laughs)

Theresa (13:24):
... she has to order something. (laughs) She's a foodie, she likes food, so, yeah.

Nikita (13:28):
Yeah. (laughs)

Theresa (13:28):
(laughs)

Nikita (13:31):
Oh, my gosh. There was something that you said about her that I think is universal for everyone truly. It was when you were talking about the self-reflection that she had to do about like what she enjoys doing, what she doesn't like doing. I think that a lotta people don't really sit and think about what they like to do and what they wanna do. That makes it difficult for people to think about what they can do, right, and, like, they may have limited experiences and they don't really know what's out there. So I think that so many people, whether it's, like, their job search or trying to find a new hobby, you gotta do that reflection to figure out what you really like and don't like. That's universal.

Theresa (14:18):
I just spoke to a couple of... Two different high schools, I spoke to a group of graduates who were transitioning soon and that was kinda the theme of the talk, start to think now about what you like and don't like because people are gonna ask you that. As soon as you graduate, they're gonna wanna know. So start to think about it. And then I gave her a story about how we visited different sites and then she loved to be around food in any capacity and I explained how that's where she's starting out, but hopefully she'll grow and she might take on a different role in the restaurant at some point, or if she decided to leave it altogether and do something different, that's okay too. But that is a really big deal that we need to have them start to think now about what their likes and dislikes are because that helps us hone in on finding a employment opportunity that might be a good fit for them.

Nikita (15:10):
Mm-hmm. And giving people the chance to explore and say that they don't like something is so important. Sometimes it's easier to think about what you don't like versus what you do like, right, and then you can use that don't like list to narrow down that you might (laughs) wanna do. But for sure people need to do that super young, as soon as they... I don't know, I feel like people were asking me when I was like five years old like, "What do you wanna be when you grow up?"

Theresa (15:44):
Yeah.

Nikita (15:45):
And I'm like, "I don't really know 'cause I'm five years old." (laughs)

Theresa (15:51):
(laughs)

Nikita (15:51):
Is there anything else that you want to say to our listeners about job coaching, employment for people with disabilities just in general?

Theresa (16:02):
I would just wanna say in, again, reflected on my experience in the field, the one thing I just want families and individuals to always just keep in mind to try. So employment can be scary, nobody wants to see their loved one get rejected or hurt feelings. But in my experience, the amount of growth versus a person who is attending like a adult day program or just having that one on one in-home staffing support, [inaudible 00:16:34] community activities, it doesn't produce the same results to me as working does, and it has something to do with when they're- they're in their environment and them feeling really good because a lotta time of their life I'm sure they were told they can't do something or they shouldn't, or they weren't given opportunity. And to have the opportunity, you just see they just light up and they get excited because they can feel successful and I never wanna tell a family member or a person, individual what they can or can't do because I've seen them make remarkable progress and just wanna really encourage those to think about at least trying it and if one job doesn't work out, it doesn't mean you stop trying.

(17:24):
You go and find another job and keep trying till you find something that you like and that's a good fit for you and that you can feel successful. And that's what job supports is, you know, we want you to feel you're in a place that's safe, but you're also making your own money and you're also being able to grow personally 'cause that's really what the rest of us are doing and that's what they should be doing as well.

Nikita (17:47):
Mm-hmm, yeah. I 100% agree with you and I really wanna emphasize, you said it in the beginning, you wanna go out there and try and also employment, the whole process it can be scary, but you just gotta push through it. Like, you gotta just do it scared, you know? That way you can get on the other side of it. And who knows what opportunities and growth can happen after that. All right, well, I wanna thank you so much for you time today, Theresa. This has been really great. You're always such a champion for employment, you're always down to support any sort of initiative- (laughs)

Theresa (18:25):
(laughs)

Nikita (18:25):
... that has to do with employment and we so appreciate you for it, and-

Theresa (18:30):
Thank you.

Nikita (18:32):
Yeah. Thank you.

Announcer (18:39):
Thank you for listening. We hope the information provided was helpful. Don't forget to stop by our website and take advantage of all we have to offer.