Independent Perspective #1614

Guests:  Geraldine Metcalfe and Zanus Cook

Topic:  Virtual job readiness workshop for persons with mental health disabilities

Duration:  05:41

Published:  September 15, 2020

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living (WNYIL). Our guests today are Geraldine Metcalfe and Zanus Cook who are Employment Coaches Peer Specialists and Erie County Department of Mental Health Work Support Program individuals at Mental Health peer Connection (MHPC), and your host is yours truly, Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program, Geraldine and Zanus.

Guest:  Thank you.

Host:  And you're here because of something which has originated in part because of concerns of social separation and that brought on by the COVID-19, and of course I'm talking about the virtual job readiness workshop that you folks started.

Guest:  A lot of people who are not computer savvy and a lot of people who are just frustrated with Corona fatigue, they weren't calling because they were, how am I going to get a job if I can't go anywhere for the interview. So, our group came up to more or less give people some insight on how to apply for jobs, personally, how to use the internet as the new tool because during this coronavirus the internet and virtual groups have become a new way of living. As a matter of fact, it's the ones who are making the most money doing this. This pandemic is the telephones and computer system, and the electronics, because now if you didn't know how to use it, you'd have to learn how to use it.

Host:  Could you give some examples of some of the sorts of things you help people with?

Guest:  One of the things that we really specialize in is what Geraldine does; Miss Metcalf helps them with resume development, interviewing techniques coping with change, and a lot of people are having a very difficult time coping with the change right now because this has become a new world order. This is not something that just happened for a couple of weeks and it's gone now. Now we're going into the better part of close to going into a year, you know we’re past the six-month mark, and people are still working from home, people are still unemployed. So it's really a traumatic time right now and one of the prerequisites to be able to come to the job club is you have to have a mental illness with some kind of diagnosis, be in treatment right now with therapy, which a lot of our people and peers are not getting that treatment because some of them don't know how to do tele medication or telematics, and they don't know how to do teleconference for their anxiety or for their phobias or whether it's raining or whatever the case they suffer from. It's difficult for them to be still in trust that they can get the same help online by somebody on a computer. And contrary to what people believe a lot of the people we know in poor areas, they have a lot of people call it an Obama phone, like space bank or insurance, and these kind of phones come with preset minutes. So, if you got 250 minutes and you call to a place to get some help and they got you on hold for half an hour. Those 250 minutes will run out quick. Now other people have 500 minutes or two or even 1000 minutes, and I've seen the phone with 1000 minute run out and half of the month because they also use your cell phone for their personal business, talk to mom, dad, girlfriend, boyfriend, and not so much calling looking for jobs. By the time they do get with us and try to get a resume together and all of these things. They have to have a phone number to be called or emailed address to be called. And if they don't have contact information where they can hear from these companies, they fall to the wayside or they fall through the cracks.

Host:  Thank you so much, Zanus. Speaking of contact information, we're just about out of time. Maybe Geraldine can give us a number where people can call to get more information on your group.

Guest:  You can RSVP to zcook@wnyil.org. The group is every Tuesday afternoon, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. So, you can RSVP to be granted an invitation to join the group virtually, or you can dial 836-0822 extension 533, and leave a message.

Host:  Thanks so much for being with us Geraldine and Zanus.

Guest:  You’re welcome.

Host:  You've been listening to Independent Perspective, a Public Affairs presentation of WNYIL. Our guests today were Geraldine Metcalfe and Zanus Cook, Employment Coaches Peer Specialists and Erie County Department of Mental Health Work Support Program individuals at MHPC, and your host was yours truly, Ernie Churchwell.