Brandi’s Story: Caseworker Today, Differences Tomorrow
Winter 2013
Partners in Housing helped me tremendously, and everyone was fantastic at everything, I just wasn’t there for any of my life changes. … [My caseworker] Jamie was always there for me. Christmas we never went without. She kept inspiring me to figure out what I wanted to do in life. She saw me getting depressed and helped me find a counselor who was wonderful as well. The biweekly Life Skills classes, where we all met at the Colorado House and Resource Center were mostly helpful. Car fix-ups were always great. [Jamie] was just wonderful. She saw a larger place had opened up and moved me and my son there. It was a great experience. I do believe that everything has a path and a meaning, I just happened to find mine later in life. A few years ago, I moved back [to Colorado Springs], got a job at my son’s school as a lunch monitor, which opened a door for me. I became a paraprofessional in the multiple handicapped rooms, fell in love with that job, and am going to pursue a career as an Occupational Therapy Assistant.”
That is Brandi’s* story, her time with Partners in Housing was not an immediate success, and yet it made a huge difference in the long run. At Partners in Housing our caseworkers, Rick Palmer, Dea Rivera, and Lora Schwahn do wonderful work to move families towards self-sufficiency like Brandi was able to do. In Partnership with UCCS graduate student, Gina DeMattee, Partners in Housing is doing a survey to look at the long-term outcomes for the families who have walked through our doors. Brandi and her family are regular In-Kind donors.
