5 Questions is our ongoing feature where we introduce you to the people who make Brandywine Counseling run, spotlighting a different staff member every two weeks.
Name: Jenn Kutney
Job: Counselor, Bridge Perinatal Program
Time with BCI: 2 years
1. Tell us about your job and the clients you work with.
I’m a counselor for pregnant women, [and] women with young kids, that have a lot of case management issues, a lot of people with dual diagnosis. I wanted to work with families, and women in particular, women with children. That’s really why I came here.
Name: Jenn Kutney
Job: Counselor, Bridge Perinatal Program
Time with BCI: 2 years
1. Tell us about your job and the clients you work with.
I’m a counselor for pregnant women, [and] women with young kids, that have a lot of case management issues, a lot of people with dual diagnosis. I wanted to work with families, and women in particular, women with children. That’s really why I came here.
A lot of our clients are coming in with problems with Health and Social Services. They’re coming in pregnant. [They] don’t really understand methadone and how it reacts with pregnancy, that whole interplay. A lot of women need housing help.
These are people that are coming from very chaotic backgrounds. They bring a lot of that chaos here to get it out, and it makes it chaotic here sometimes, and if you take it personally, it’s gonna burn you out.
2. What is your biggest challenge in doing your job?
There aren’t a lot of services for women with young children. There’s not a lot of housing programs available for women with young children. There’s not a lot of treatment programs available for women with young children.
There aren’t a lot of services for women with young children. There’s not a lot of housing programs available for women with young children. There’s not a lot of treatment programs available for women with young children.
You can get a single woman into treatment a lot easier than you can get a woman with children into treatment. You have to deal with finding a place for the children to go while she’s in treatment. I’m so grateful for The Lighthouse Program, because it’s desperately needed! It’s a great concept for a treatment program and I think it could do wonderful things if it continues.
And also, one of the biggest challenges is providing addiction services to women with open Division of Family Services cases, because sometimes they don’t quite understand what addiction is, the disease of addiction, and things like relapse.
3. What has been the most rewarding moment for you at BCI?
I started as a case manager, and I had a client on my caseload from day one when I walked in the door. DFS had taken her kids, and terminated her rights to one of her children, and taken the baby right from the hospital. She was discharged almost a year ago now. And I actually hear from her now, and she’s doing wonderfully. She’s clean, she’s moving out of state to get away from everything, and she’s doing very, very well.
I started as a case manager, and I had a client on my caseload from day one when I walked in the door. DFS had taken her kids, and terminated her rights to one of her children, and taken the baby right from the hospital. She was discharged almost a year ago now. And I actually hear from her now, and she’s doing wonderfully. She’s clean, she’s moving out of state to get away from everything, and she’s doing very, very well.
4. Many of our staff decorate their office with personal items – tell us what you have in your office.
I like to hold things for clients, apparently! Right now I have strollers, and clothes, and all sorts of stuff. I wasn’t originally in this office, so a lot of the things I have are inherited. I inherited a picture from Kathy Kelley. I have kids draw me pictures, I have pictures of the babies, and of my nieces and nephews, hand drawn pictures.
I like to hold things for clients, apparently! Right now I have strollers, and clothes, and all sorts of stuff. I wasn’t originally in this office, so a lot of the things I have are inherited. I inherited a picture from Kathy Kelley. I have kids draw me pictures, I have pictures of the babies, and of my nieces and nephews, hand drawn pictures.
5. What is something people would be surprised to know about your job?
How dedicated a lot of these women are to their families. The biggest stereotype I’ve heard since I started working here is that these women really don’t care about their kids. And they really, truly do care about their kids, and how their kids are doing, and making their life better, so that their kids don’t have to go through a lot of the things that they went through.
How dedicated a lot of these women are to their families. The biggest stereotype I’ve heard since I started working here is that these women really don’t care about their kids. And they really, truly do care about their kids, and how their kids are doing, and making their life better, so that their kids don’t have to go through a lot of the things that they went through.
1 comment:
Great job, Jenn.
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