Donna, one of Valley Cities clinic managers, got a call one day that a client was causing a disruption at a neighboring bank. When she arrived, she found the client agitated and confused. She was able to calm the person down and advocated to have them hospitalized. Donna was sure the client would respond with anger when they were released.

Two weeks later, the client returned to the clinic for treatment. The client’s clinician wasn’t sure how to approach them and Donna advised, “Form a real relationship. Be in the moment with them. They need to trust you and know that you’re listening to what they need.”

“They need to trust you and know that you’re listening.”

Meeting the client where they were paid off. The client got back onto their medication regiment for their psychosis and reconnected to Medicaid with the workers with disabilities program. “I’m still going to keep coming here for treatment,” the client said, “I have the bus route, and everything figured out.”

After years of multiple hospitalizations, that client has now remained out of the hospital for the past eighteen months. They are employed in a steady job and have a stable living situation at a shelter. Donna loves her job. “I enjoy seeing our clients that walk along that ragged edge experience success and stability.”