How do you assist clients who may be anxious about assistance programs and services that they rely on? Are there special accommodations being made that people should know about?

Our social workers, peer specialists, and upper management have been circulating every resource we can find to one another to assist clients with programs and services that they rely on in their daily-life. These include programs for mental health, substance use, homelessness, unemployment, and benefits, but also address the current-world circumstances our clients are facing during the spread of COVID-19 such as food and clothing shortages, self-care resources, parenting during an epidemic, immigration struggles, and reentry services for those who are being released from Rikers Island in the midst of an epidemic.

To give a broad sense of the special accommodations we are making, our social workers have teamed up with our peer specialists to assist each client to the best of our ability, no matter what obstacle they are facing. For our homeless clients we have increased our efforts to reach clients through their shelters and assisted displaced clients in finding resources close to their new shelters. For our clients that have lost their jobs or have had to pause employment, we have researched and informed them of urgently hiring companies and how to apply for unemployment. We have also researched and provided clients with means to obtain their benefits, as well as fill their prescriptions or obtain medical treatment with operating programs.

To give a more specific example, for our clients who speak limited English, are homeless, and are undocumented, we have shifted our goals to sessions centered around crisis. Many of these clients who have lost their jobs are cut off from certain services like shelters due to their immigration status, and they fear going hungry. We offered assistance in the form of connections to food banks and drop-in centers that are still in operation and provide a large variety of services regardless of immigration status. We shared links and information of companies that are urgently hiring. At the end of many of the phone sessions, the clients stated that most of their anxiety was stemming from not feeling well and being too fearful of their immigration status to go to the emergency room. We made it a priority to provide them with information from the CDC in their preferred language, and also provided the nearest testing sites for undocumented folks along with directories for free clinics. Many of the clients stated that this was the first time someone took the time to explain the symptoms, and no longer felt fear to get tested due to immigration consequences.

General

Medical

Housing

Food

Mental Health

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