Our House e-newsletter January 2012 | Page 21

by Sadé Daniels, Case Management Intern As a case management intern at Our House, I’ve been working under Ty Stacey, and the experience has been wonderful. During my time here, I’ve been able to increase my interviewing skills by assessing new residents, assist in curriculum development for resident courses and programs, and build on my ability to gather resources. It’s amazing to see how so many people with tremendous talents work together to make Our House work to optimum efficiency. One of the most amazing parts of working here was being able to put to use the theories and models I’ve learned as a social work student at Philander Smith College. By doing a myriad of assessments, I was able to use the ecosystems model in seeing how various parts of one’s environment affected their way of thinking and living. As I listened to the heartbreaking stories of some of the residents, I was able to assist in pulling positive attributes out of them. It was in a reflection session with Ty that I realized how much I was using the knowledge I’d gathered in class. I’ll always be grateful to Our House and the experiences I’ve had here both as a Summer Youth Programs VISTA and as a Case Management Intern. Both have done a great deal in preparing me for work in an organization serving at-risk populations.