Social Work Case Study: Director Of Connections

The person I chose to interview for this project was Deceil Leanne Moore. Deceil has worked at Meridian Health Services since 1994. She currently holds a Master’s in Social Work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Her current title at Meridian is “Director of Connections”. Connections is a program that formally started in 2004 for clients with intellectual disabilities. It has grown over the years to a large program with 250+ clients. Deceil is also a mom, a human rights activist, and enjoys to take “mental health retreats” every year to destress from her job. Meridian Health Services was founded as “Comprehensive Mental Health Services of Northeast Indiana, Inc.” (abbreviated CMHS) on January 1st, 1976 in Muncie, IN. Within the first

Deceil is a supervisor for about 160 staff. She mainly trains staff now. Deceil does not have a normal day, she is in and out meetings and focuses on clerical work/paperwork. The focus of Connections is working with the mental health concerns for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The Connections program is a program that started informally in 2002 as a few groups of clients, around 30 people in 1 county. Connections formally started in 2004. Now, there are more than 250 people in the program. Connections gets its funding majority from Medicaid, specifically the “rehab option” of Medicaid. There are very few clients with private insurance, and there are not many grants the Connections program can get. Deceil stated they do not rely on grants because the money runs out very quickly. The rehab option of Medicaid focuses on mental health skill building. For instance, the example Deceil gave is if someone has agoraphobia, they could look for coping skills for going to the grocery store. “The mental health skill building helps generalize behavior,” Deceil

Connections services clients of all ages and all functioning ranges. Deceil said that the most common ability level at this moment is mild-to-moderate disability, but they service the full intellectual disability spectrum. This program only has Masters-level clinicians working with clients, as well as Masters-level and/or licensed supervisors. The program corresponds with Meridian’s mission statement of treating the person “as a whole”, and not just one aspect. Deceil stated: “We strive to treat the client as a whole being; an example of this is a client may have diabetes and depression, and they may affect one another. If someone is grumpy, is it because they are having low blood sugar, having a bad day, or because they are about to have a bout of depression?” She also went on to say that people with intellectual disabilities are more prone to trauma, which does make sense. The Connections program tries to avoid inpatient stays for that reason; the stay in inpatient could be traumatizing to the client with the intellectual