I woke up the other day and realized that I am halfway through my fellowship, and I couldn’t help but be amazed. Time really does fly when you’re having fun! Yes, I said the “F” word – fun – so rarely associated with work!
Even though I have had some experience in working as a counselor and a teacher, I had never heard of the term “direct service” before becoming a Global Health Corps fellow. Basically, “direct service” is any form of work where a person works directly with their clients in providing a service (I just broke the rules of giving a definition – never use the words you are defining in your definition). Some clear examples of direct service are counseling, social work and healthcare. In all of these fields, a person is working directly with their client and providing them a service. In contrast, an engineer is not in direct service, and neither is an accountant or an IT specialist. By the way, the fantastic lesson that Global Health Corps has taught me is that we don’t all have to be in “direct service” to work in health.
The main thing that I have noticed about direct service work is that it can be very draining. A person working in direct service tends to meet with their clients when they are at their worst, and this direct service provider is in a position to GIVE something that the client needs. Therefore, a person working in direct service holds a position of privilege and power, with the ability to provide something valuable. For instance, a nurse meets with people when they are not in their best health. Their bodies are wounded or sick, and they are dependent on the nurse. This nurse has to give competent care, give acceptance, and even give hope – until that person feels well again. A counselor or a social worker will meet with people experiencing some form of stress in their lives and in need of assistance. This requires the counselor to give a listening ear and give non-judgmental support– until that person is no longer in need of it. In fact, the biggest achievement to a person working in direct service is to get your clients to the point where they do not need you anymore!
At the end of a work day, many people in these types of jobs go home feeling exhausted and depleted of all the positivity they have been giving all day. That is why such jobs need to be considered as more than a career, but a calling. Otherwise, when you are quickly depleted of the resources that you have been giving, you end up giving people anger, frustration, abuse, and harshness instead.
Where does a person in direct service get their replenishment from? Well, in my experience, I am re-energized and motivated by the joy of having helped someone. As a health counselor in a homeless shelter, I certainly cannot say that I see people at their best. Our youth are in transitional living and are under daily stress when they think of things like their family backgrounds, like finishing high school or getting a job so that they can support themselves. At the start of my fellowship year, I would go home at the end of a day and feel like I had not done very much to help the youth because they still had many other problems. What I have learned over the course of time is that I cannot take away all of their problems. I cannot conjure up stable home environments and bright, successful futures for each and every young person at Covenant House, as much as I wish I could.
What I can do is help to make their experience a bit more manageable, and I achieve that by simply doing my job. I will help someone complete an application for health insurance so that he can finally see a dentist for the first time in four years. For the person who has astigmatism and has not had the chance to get their eyes checked, I will set up an appointment for a free eye exam, and then apply for a voucher for them to get free glasses. For the young lady who has just found out she is pregnant and has no clue where to get prenatal care, I will give her a referral to a free community clinic which will walk her through the process of applying for maternity insurance and nutritional support.
I may not be able to wave a magic wand and change their lives completely, but in doing my part as best as I can, at least my clients get to have one less thing to worry about.