We recently told you about our Behavioral Health Home Services (BHH) program, now it’s time to meet one of the forces behind it.
Barbara Kaiser is a Health Home Specialist/Certified Peer Specialist who has experienced some of the same struggles as her clients. Out of her 40+ years in the workforce, working with Guild the past few years “has been the hardest job I’ve ever had and the most rewarding!”
She reflects, “As a ‘peer,’ my role is to share parts of my recovery journey in order to say, ‘If I can do it, then so can you!’ No one’s journey is the same. What worked for me may not work for my client, and I remind them that they get to choose what that path looks like. And, even though I consider myself ‘well,’ it takes daily work to stay healthy, and there are days when I don’t feel well.”
Like all staff in BHH services, Barbara works in a multidisciplinary pod of three people. She and her team meet with clients to learn about their unique needs, barriers, and desires through goal planning and assessments. Barbara and her team support between 60-70 clients per month, so making referrals is critically important. For example, clients could need providers like therapists, food shelves or tenant attorneys.
Barbara says the most important thing in her work is the ongoing relationship she creates with clients, where “trust is built and the ups and downs of life can be tackled together.” She explains, “BHH is a wellness program and the client gets to decide what that means. Sometimes clients don’t know what ‘well’ means. So through as many conversations as it takes, and gentle suggestions about evidenced based programs, we figure it out together.” She reminds clients that they deserve the life they want and it takes hard work and a willingness to change to get “unstuck.”
According to Barbara, the favorite part of her job is, “The diversity and cohesion of the people I work beside. We talk as long as we need to through difficult situations like the death of a client or how hard this job is with such limited resources. We laugh, and tease, and laugh some more!”
Join the BHH Team
We have positions open on the BHH team. Apply today and join a team working to support individuals in reaching their goals and improving their overall quality of life.