August 10, 2011

Internship Evaluation for Johanna Lowrey

Johanna Lowrey came to Dakota County Social Services for a social work internship during the summer between her junior and senior year at Morris University. She did work with us from 5-25-11 to 8-11-11 in the Community Living Services (CLS) Division of Dakota County Social Services. She was a member of my unit that consists of social workers and case aides who do work with people with developmental disabilities (DD) primarily. This is a unique Team in which our focus is all Person Centered/Consumer Directed Services in which clients use a variety of funding streams in which the participant has chosen their services to be consumer directed as opposed to using traditional licensed/formal services. For instance, rather than having a PCA who you do not know come to your house to help with bathing /behavior management for 8 hours/ week, they choose to take a lump sum of money and convert it into an individualized service plan of unique- to- the -person services such as staff that know the person like grandma or a parent (with specific tasks that are above and beyond typical grandma or parent duties) or specialized camps, community activities that are expensive to a typical family because the participant needs to repeat classes to be able to learn, or they need practice after practice in order to learn the new skill. Sometimes it is a simple thing like incorporating a behavior plan that the family can use in their home. This service (called consumer directed services) is statewide, is cost effective and participants are more satisfied with their services and surveys show that this model of service is meeting the health and safety needs of participants more than licensed/formal costly services. Dakota County is a leader in the state for incorporating consumer directed services and choice into all DD services.

During those 11 weeks we were able to provide a variety of experiences for Johanna including;

Be a unit member of a unique model of service. She participated in unit meetings, had great questions, and had a fresh approach to looking at things. She did a great job of engaging with social workers and case aides.

Participated in CLS meetings that also included information about seniors, people with traumatic brain injuries, mental health and people who ‘fall between the cracks’ and aren’t eligible for case management but are eligible for a funding stream.

Attended a Consumer Support Grant (CSG) Orientation--this is the most common funding stream for consumer directed support. She also attended the public training from our unit called “How to Write Your Own Plan” so that she could help families write their plans as needed.

Had cases assigned to her wherein she was responsible to make changes to individual plans with consultation from unit members.

Wrote, with shadow from a social worker, 3 CSG plans, got them approved which means she learned that process which is highly bureaucratic and system based so that the consumer can actually implement the plan.

Did a face to face visit with a client independently for a worker who went on a medical leave unexpectedly. When she returned another social worker helped her write a full Individual Service Plan. Again, she went through the whole process of getting info, assessing, planning, monitoring and implementation.

On her first day she went to an Emergency Guardianship Hearing, met the client from a Psych Ward (with a social worker and me as the Supervisor), watched the court process and was there for the return of the client.

Did ride along meetings in which she shadowed experienced social workers when they met face to face with their clients on a regular basis so she got to experience a variety of styles and situations.

Assisted with the preparation of materials for Presentations that the Team does to the public and to other social workers. She was able to attend those trainings to gain more social work knowledge.

Attended with a social worker a placement visitation for monitoring of the placement which has to take place on a monthly basis. This particular visitation also included an interview with the mother.

Was able to shadow one of our Adult Foster Care Licensing social workers who did an annual licensing visit. She was able to see the monitoring and quality assurance steps that are taken to ensure individual client rights are enveloped in all services.

Shadowed a social worker who was doing a face to face visit at an adult person’s day service so she was able to see a day service option for adults.

Several times she shadowed a DD intake/Assessment social worker to meet a family wanting services and reviewing the information to make an assessment so a determination of eligibility could be reached.

Several times she went on home visits with a Team C social worker to engage with families about how to write an individualized consumer directed plan.

About half of her time was she became an equal partner to her Team C unit in working on an electronic filing system for our unit. Johanna’s fresh approach and easy grasp of the technical part of the system enhanced the planning and development of our new electronic filing system.

Review of Johanna’s Performance:

Johanna is a quick study. She was quick to pick up the philosophy of the unit and service plans and jumped right in to make contacts with families as needed.

She has excellent interpersonal savvy and was embraced by workers who have not always had the time or the desire to give up their time for people with little experience. Most of Dakota County’s DD social workers are well established and have long and rich histories of the work and the system. Obviously from the experiences noted above, Johanna easily won people over as they would go to her to see if she wanted to go to appts to give her more experience. Johanna was able to adapt easily to the variety of styles of workers, types of clients we serve and settings in which she was able to experience. She was embraced by our unit for her interpersonal skills.

Johanna’s engagement with her Team C coworkers was quite positive and surprising to me in that coworkers would ask for her insights and she was able to articulate fresh insights and ideas into our work. Johanna became one of the leads on our electronic filing system and was sought out for information and ideas on how to incorporate this new technology. She actually trained a social worker and a support staff supervisor on use of the scanner and the program /process so that we can continue the work once she is gone! They were impressed with her training ability.

Johanna’s youth is especially in her favor when it comes to technology and systems. She was able to pick up on tracking systems that some of our social workers who have been here for 20+

years haven’t been able to! Her approach is very practical and she has no fear of the system and doing something wrong. This makes her very efficient in her work.

Overall the work that Johanna did this summer has been excellent. We tried to give her a variety of experiences and the only thing I would say that she needs is more and continued experience. Her initial contacts with families were tentative and in the last weeks she is much more comfortable making calls and following up with families. She will make an excellent social worker as she grows in experience.

She has good work ethics; on time, able to pick up and do things without needing a babysitter, responsive to needs.

Thank you for the opportunity to work with such a wonderful person as Johanna. We really enjoyed our experience with her and we gained new insights because of her being with us. We wish the best to Johanna and hope to work with her sometime in the future. I would be honored to give her a positive reference in the future if requested.

Teresa Walsh, Social Services SupervisorConsumer Driven ServicesDakota County #3001 Mendota Rd WestWest St. Paul, MN 55118651-554-6014Teresa.walsh@co.dakota.mn.us