In honor of National Social Work Month, we salute these important professionals who make such a difference to our organization. One is Chelsey Morling, Director of Social Services at The Summit of Bettendorf in the Quad Cities. Chelsey tells her story, including just why WesleyLife means so much to her, in the interview below!
Q. Chelsey, until recently, you were a social worker at Brio of Johnston, one of our communities in the Des Moines area. Now you're coming to us from three hours to the east. What changed?
A. I absolutely loved my job at Brio and thought I'd be there forever. But my husband and I are both from Galesburg, Illinois, and we had been talking about trying to be closer to home, in part because my husband would love to be a part of his family's farm. I had gone to The Summit to help fill in when they had no social worker, and I really enjoyed the fact that our families were less than an hour from there. So my husband and I did some talking and I went to my leaders at Brio and said, "Could we make this work?"
Q. What was their reaction? Were they sad to lose you, but eager to help?
A. Exactly! I made it clear that I love WesleyLife – the residents, the things we do as a team, the desire to bring joy. All of our communities are beautiful and welcoming places, so I'd be proud to work in any of them. But being able to transfer so close to home was huge to us. I'll always be grateful to Brio for allowing me to make that happen.
Q. Has the change been positive for you?
A. Absolutely. I guess I'd say first that I went into it with such a positive attitude because WesleyLife had just been so wonderful to me in allowing me to make the change. I was already familiar with The Summit and the team there, so it was an easy transition and I was able to hit the ground running! It's just been one positive after another. And the best positive of all is that my husband and I are expecting a baby, so being closer to family means even more to us now!
Q. For those who don't know how community living and social work intersect, tell us a little about an "average" day in your life at The Summit.
A. Sure! First, social work, for those who don't know, is equal parts compassion and problem-solving and thinking way outside the box! We are a resource for residents and families to make sure everyone is being served in a way that meets their needs. We get to know residents and families to a degree that other people in other roles might not.
A day for me might look like this: I look at our census and see where I need to spend the bulk of my time that day. I look first at people in our health center who are being discharged to home so I can make sure they know what the plan looks like from that point – what they'll need and what resources will be available to them. I help the team and we work through all that together.
Then I focus on admissions; we have three to four a day sometimes. I meet with the individuals and their families to make sure they understand what will happen during their time with us. I want to make sure they're comfortable and that they know the process. And then a huge part of my job is to keep the families updated to ensure they never feel like are in the dark about what's happening with this person they care so much about.
Q. If you could choose one thing to tell people about your association with WesleyLife, what would it be?
A. When they say they care about the people who work for them as individuals, they mean it. They cared about my work-life balance enough to allow me to make a major change. That kind of thing inspires loyalty and helps you do your best work.