Overcoming Adversity

Being disabled often comes with a plethora of other difficulties. In the clients that I see, it affects the way that people treat them, their ability to work and obtain income and insurance, and sometimes properly care for themselves in daily life. While disabilities come in many shapes and sizes, they can come with extra baggage that is undeserved and preventable.

Using the Social Security Insurance/Supplemental Security Income, Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) program, my host site, Mental Health America, works with these individuals to obtain Social Security benefits that can get them back on their feet. By obtaining these resources, individuals then qualify for health insurance, enabling them to get proper treatment for their physical and mental conditions (sometime for the first time in their lives). Proper medical treatment and additional income allows them to better care for themselves and their families, leading to a new found and deserved independence.

The process of filling out the paperwork, tracking down important records, waiting to get an appointment (and making it to that appointment), as well as waiting for an approval or denial decision is a long, frustrating, and discouraging one. So it is up to me to advocate for my clients, make the process more understandable, and encourage them to believe that their situations can and will improve.

In my service term, I have been able to partner with a local affordable housing non-profit, who now refers me their neediest residents who are at immediate risk of homelessness. We’ve also begun a partnership with local jails to ensure that individuals are connected to the proper resources immediately upon release.

By reducing barriers to benefits and services, Mental Health America plays a small role in preventing chronic homelessness and helping individuals obtain a quality of life that they deserve. Not only does this difficult process result in proper resource attainment; it results in things like an individual’s ability to cope with their post-traumatic stress disorder or heart condition, to physically play with their children again, to get dressed by themselves, or to finally afford proper nutrition for their families.

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This blog was written by NHC Florida member Dana Metzger.

Dana serves at Mental Health America of Northeast Florida as a Health Educator.