5 Questions for Wendy Geist, Assessor

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: Wendy Geist
Job: Assessor, Probation and Parole/Alpha Program
Time with BCI: 1 year

1. You’re a BCI employee, but you do assessments on site at Probation and Parole. How does that work?
I’m here [at Cherry Lane] two days a week and I’m at Hares Corner two days a week. Everybody that comes in to see me is on probation. The probation officer does a referral form for us that includes collateral information regarding any previous mental health and/or substance abuse treatment.

Brandywine Counseling assessments at Probation & Parole are more for the convenience of the clients than anything. Instead of the P.O. giving the clients a list of places that they can go to for an assessment, they can go to our sign-in book downstairs and directly schedule the client for an assessment on site. Sometimes it works out pretty well for the client. They can see their probation officer and the assessor the same day so that they don’t have to make two trips.

2. What does an assessor’s job involve?
I do the mental health/substance abuse evaluations. We have other assessors that just do the substance abuse, but I do both pieces. I’m usually with people an hour and a half to two hours. I only see them one time, and then with what we find out through the evaluation, we make referrals as needed. I see up to three people a day, because it takes a couple hours to do each assessment, and then also to do the reports I have to do. So it’s kind of a simple day, but it can be time consuming, depending on what the client brings.

You have to be very nonjudgmental, because you’re not with clients for very long and you have a lot of information to gather. If you appear to be judgmental, clients won’t feel comfortable with you and they won’t be very forthcoming. So, you have to hide some of your initial reactions to some of the crimes that you hear that people have committed. You just can’t tell by looking at somebody what his or her history is. I’ve had people that are sex offenders. I’ve had people that have murdered people. I’ve also had people who have just been caught with small amounts of drugs. There’s such a wide range that you just never know what you’re going to encounter.

3. What made you decide to work in the addiction treatment field?
I have family history of addiction, I wanted to learn more about addictions, and I wanted to get my CADC. An opportunity opened up where I could come here and use my mental health background, and then learn on the job about the substance abuse piece. It’s interesting, a lot of times you have people that have mental health problems who self-medicate with illegal drugs. In my eyes, quite often, substance abuse and mental health go hand in hand. I’ve worked at other places where the primary focus was on mental health; they didn’t want to focus on substance abuse at all. I would prefer to do both. I think it’s important to teach other ways to handle psychiatric symptoms besides self-medicating with illegal drugs.

4. What has been the most rewarding moment for you at BCI?
I had a client who was suicidal, somebody that was in crisis. We were able to make arrangements for the family to take the client over to Rockford Center for crisis stabilization and an evaluation for treatment. That was a high point for me, because I felt like the system worked as it should. It might not sound like a high point, but in this field, I’ve found that sometimes it’s hard to place people with services in a timely manner, or to place people with services at all.

5. How do you get through the day doing work that can be draining and repetitive?
I like to have a peaceful place to function. Especially if you have to be at work so many hours, you want to be happy with your surroundings. I have a picture of my husband and me on our honeymoon in Jamaica. I have plants and flowers that I believe are pleasing to the eye. And then there’s music; for some reason, I can work better with music as opposed to silence. Then I’ve got my picture of the rainforest and waterfall; that’s my idea of the perfect place to go, where there’s no honking horns, there’s no telephone calls, there’s no TV, just a place where you can really be in awe of your surroundings, nature, and beauty. This office I just moved into at Cherry Lane is my own place, and to have a window, because I like natural light, this is heaven! I could stay here all week, that would be wonderful!