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Page history last edited by PBworks 15 years, 6 months ago

 

A VISIT TO ST VINCENT DEPAUL CENTER OF HOPE....and an interview with Mary Jo Nelson, Program Coordinator

On September 5, I visited St. Vincent DePaul Center of Hope on 15th street in St. Petersburg and I interviewed Mary Jo Nelson, Program Coordinator and Senior Case Manager. Mary Jo was kind enough to answer some questions that I had concerning the Center of Hope’s program for the homeless. The Center of Hope is a community outreach center that serves the needs of Pinellas County. At the center, homeless men and women have the opportunity to live rent free in private rooms during a transitional period that works to assimilate them back into society. About 80% of clients are in recovery from substance abuse. Most of these clients are male, and about half of them are Veterans of Foreign Wars. Sixty percent suffer from mental illness and many are dually diagnosed I like the wording "dually dianosed" with a mental illness and a substance abuse problem.

The center of hope works to make its residents feel as though they have a real home by providing meals, shelter, private rooms with beds and bathrooms, and each floor of the three floor building has private showers. Mary Jo explained that for many of her cases,(maybe put "in many cases") the center provides the first home that some clients have had in (I would say "after") many years of living on the street. The program holds many opportunities for clients to transition back into the community, but what I was most interested in for the purpose of this study was the literacy program offered and the computer training program offered by the center.

Homeless InterviewMary Jo provided me with descriptions of an array of services that the center offers to help its clients become more productive citizens. Not only do these services help residents learn valuable skills that make them more employable, they also help residents develop self esteem and work to alleviate the anxieties associated with transitioning from being homeless and addicted to being sober and productive.(I love the wording here) One such program is the “Writers’ Workshop” which meets Wednesdays at 4:00 PM. At (How about the word "during"?) the workshop, clients have the opportunity to journal, compose poetry and write prose under the direction of Mary Jo and another team member from the Center of Hope. Mary Jo gathers the compositions and publishes a short booklet called “Thread and Cloth” by the “15th Street Scribes.” She describes the clients writing as an “anything goes” type of project that hopes to “show clients the power of the pen.” She offered me a copy of “Thread and Cloth”, and invited me to join the group at their next gathering. The contents of “Thread and Cloth” range from emotional accounts of clients’ battles with addiction to pieces describing the plight of the poor and outcast. Mary Jo believes the writing project is therapeutic and a way for clients to express themselves through a medium they otherwise would not be exposed to. She believes the power of the pen is so mighty that she encourages her clients to journal whenever they feel the urge to relapse.  (this sentance does not flow perfect for me, I think I want to know why Mary Jo feels journaling will curb relapse) As long as they can write for seven minutes, she says, the thought of returning to substance abuse has a much better chance of being alleviated. She believes that those who journal every day have a much better chance of recovery from addiction. The pen, therefore, may very well save a client’s life in times of extreme stress, according to Mary Jo.

Besides the writing project, I was interested in the center’s vocational rehabilitation program, which includes an on staff technology instructor and partnerships with local vocational tech programs, including Tomlinson Center of Pinellas County. Mary Jo showed me the computer lab on site, and I thought about Adam J. Banks book on the digital divide and Technicolor. The digital divide could be seen first hand in the lab. Antiquated Dell desktops with outdated programs lined the interior of the room. (Good Visual) Although many clients have the ability to “take apart and put back together a computer,” according to Mary Jo, “many of them have never used a mouse.” When I asked Mary Jo what types of skills were taught by the technology instructor, the most advanced skill mentioned was that of sending an email. There is not enough funding available to teach much more than that in the lab.  (wording is wierd for me) The Tomlinson Center partnership allows for more advanced study, such as training to become a computer help desk employee, but not all of the clients are able to take advantage of such an endeavor. Many of them are concerned with finding any type of work that will assist them in transitioning back into the community. One client told me he can’t find anything that offers any more than nine dollars an hour. He was a young man, no more than twenty years old. I’ll call him Chris. Chris couldn’t wait to show me his apartment, little more than a ten by ten room with a bed, desk, bookshelf, toilet, and posters adorning the walls. To the beaming Chris, it may as well have been a mansion.

St. Vincent DePaul Center of Hope provides exactly what its name implies to clients like Chris. His hopes are to find a job and transition back into society as soon as he can, but for now, he is happy to have a place to rest his head. There are many like Chris at the Center. They have found a place that works to assist them with needs such as literacy, vocational rehab, substance abuse twelve step meetings, relief from mental illness through a partnership with Suncoast Hospital, and the chance to live in a community where there are four walls, three meals a day, and people like Mary Jo who care enough to devote their lives to improving the lives of others.

 

 

I highlighted the word "help" in red because I thought it appeared too many times in a row, synonymns might give the word "help" more power

Maybe start the piece with a description of Dr. Connor's grant project, or at introduce it early on before making the connection

 

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