Kickin’ R.O.C.s
With the new college semester starting this past week, some ROC representatives were invited to come speak about expectations to the new cohort of senior-level nursing students at UTC. They will be joining us on outreach on Mondays and Fridays throughout this semester. During the presentation the students were given a statistical breakdown of the types of impact they can expect to experience:
50% of the impact will be dealt with internally. Half of the battle is how outreach will affect you personally. Your emotions will be triggered. Your preconceived beliefs will be challenged. Your perspective of what it truly looks like and what it means to experience homelessness will be altered. You will get to see, hear from, and talk to those experiencing homelessness and learn that they are human, just like yourself. You will gain a newfound respect and possibly marvel at how truly tough and perseverant people must become to survive.
30% of the impact will be dealt externally. Effective homeless outreach requires physical exertion. In order to meet people where they are and to be welcomed openly when you get there, you will be required to walk, hike, sweat, climb, duck, slide, carry, and present yourself with a non-threatening, non-judgmental, engaged posture.
20% of the impact will be dealing with change. Rarely while on homeless outreach will you be witness to, trusted enough to be personally invited to, or have the actual means to connect someone to a resource that will result in an evident change in that person’s life. But it is this sweet, rare, and precious 20% that makes the more abundant, grueling, monotonous, and painful 80% worthwhile. It is the staying committed to the 80% that allows for the 20% to eventually kick in.
It is helpful for us at the ROC to view ourselves as the supportive cast in a hero movie. The client always has the potential to be the hero of their story. While they may be lacking a physical house, a semblance of a home, or a safe place is achievable. While clients may have never had a home full of hope, everyone is deserving of one. Where there is hope, this semblance can exist. We aim to supply and be supportive of that needed hope.
At times that has us looking similar to the characters in the movie, sending forth the hero on the journey ahead while we stay behind. We are encouraging and commissioning them to go kick down the barriers, to kick addiction in the face, so that one day they hopefully come back to tell us all about how they did it. And where there is opportunity to join in, to walk alongside, and to provide additional kicking support, we will do so.
For example, when you see the person sitting outside the gas station that you have only met a handfulof other times, and you approach them and give them a bag of food and water yet again. You ask them how they’re doing? They respond by saying that they are doing the same old same old. That they are getting kicked from place to place, struggling to find a place to lay their head. You ask them if they would like a first-aid kit for the wound that is visible on their knee? They say they would. After walking to the van and returning with the first-aid kit, they say that they would like to ask you a question. They then ask you if you know of any way to help them get off fentanyl? This drug is kicking their butt; they can’t continue living their whole life chasing the next high. They are now ready to kickstart the rest of their life. You then immediately get them on the phone talking with Maurice and Emily at NuStart. At the end of the call, the client now has a plan of action to start the process of kicking fentanyl back. You tell the person how proud of them you are for being brave enough to take this step forward and for being brave enough and for trusting you enough to even ask the question. You explain to them that the work of driving and walking around, day after day, and handing out these supplies is all meant for moments such as this. You then part ways with encouraging them that they can achieve what they have set in motion to do, and you give them your number so they can reach you once they get there.
You’re never too far gone. You can always find a way home, and it is the journey, not the destination, that will kick you into who you must become in order to get there. So trust and stay committed to the journey.
#KickinROCs
#ImpactReport
#80ForThe20
