#67 | A place to heal from grief | Free help for special needs persons to find meaningful employment
September 18, 2023 • 31 mins
If you're grieving or you've had a serious loss that is hard to handle, this show is offering place to get free help in Hamilton county, Ohio for anyone in the Tri-State area. Shayna Thomas from the non-profit "Companions on a Journey" explains what her group offers to people who've lost loved ones.... and important details on a weekend workshop at the end of September, 2023 to give you tools to manage your grief and learn to deal with it.
Then,
Working, making your own choices, and being independent gives meaning to life. For our loved ones with disabilities, a customized plan for employment is making individuals, families and businesses realize that most everyone can contribute. In this show, you'll hear from Genesis at Work, a program borne out of the love that Bryan Holland has for his son, whose challenges have actually benefitted countless people... by giving them an opportunity to work.
Then,
Working, making your own choices, and being independent gives meaning to life. For our loved ones with disabilities, a customized plan for employment is making individuals, families and businesses realize that most everyone can contribute. In this show, you'll hear from Genesis at Work, a program borne out of the love that Bryan Holland has for his son, whose challenges have actually benefitted countless people... by giving them an opportunity to work.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Very sweet on iHeart suits. Ithink there's a stigma around it. You
can't talk about it, or I'mafraid to talk about it if you're grieving,
or if you've had serious loss that'shard to handle. Today's show is
offering a place to get free helpright here in Hamilton County for anybody in
the Tri state area. Today,Shana Thomas returns from the nonprofit Companions on
a Journey. She joins me toexplain what her group offers to people who've
(00:27):
lost loved ones and gives important detailson a weekend workshop coming up at the
end of September to give you thetools to manage your grief and learn to
deal with it. And later thefamily is faced with this, how do
I help this child become independent?How do individuals with special needs find the
jobs that they want and need?Working? Making your own choices being independent
(00:50):
gives meaning to life for our lovedones with disabilities. A customized plan for
employment is making these individuals, families, and businesses realize that everyone can contribute.
My guest today created Genesis at Work, a program born out of the
love that Brian Holland has for hisson whose challenges have actually benefited countless people
(01:11):
by giving them an opportunity to work. Now on iHeart Cincie with Sandy Collins.
Glad you joined us today. I'mSandy Collins. This show is for
the community to find the resources neededto solve many of the issues we face
and to share stories that embolden anduplift people here in the Tri State.
My first guest is director of operationsat Companions on a Journey, Shana Thomas.
(01:36):
Good to see you return to theshow. Yes, thanks for having
me back. Absolutely, So let'sdo this. Let's have you do a
little bit longer than an elevator speechand tell me about your husband passing away
and how you struggled as a youngwidow and just kind of give us a
brief look at who you are andwhat happened in your family and what led
(01:57):
you to this group Opanions on aJourney. Absolutely, thank you. So
my first husband died a little oversix years ago. Now, he had
a heart attack, and so hedied suddenly. And so that's truly what
brought me to Companions on a Journey. When the job opportunity opened up a
little over a year and a halfago, I felt compelled with the mission,
(02:22):
and I aligned with the mission andjust supporting the breaved, one teen,
one child, one family at atime and meeting them where they are
is so important. And when I, you know, six years out,
people wonder if I'm still grieving,and absolutely I'm still grieving, but within
that first you know, several monthsto even a few years after Randy's death
(02:45):
hit me pretty hard, and Idid attend a grief group for a little
while when I lived up into theToledo area, and it really helped me
and most importantly my children. Mychildren were six and eight at the time
their dad's death, so I reallywanted to help all of us and help
us grieve together, which again whichwas brought me to Companions on a Journey
(03:07):
and we've been around for over twentysix years now. We offer free brievement
services, peer support services to students. We go onto schools. We have
adult support groups in the evening andfamily support groups as well, and this
is all a free service. It'skind of like you have a moderator there
to keep the group together. Howdoes that is that person trained? Yes,
(03:31):
yes, all of our facilitators aretrained. They have to be two
years out of their grief in orderto be a facilitator. So when they
come in, we have them shadowour facilitators and then they can co facilitate
with someone or facilitates on their own. We prefer we have two facilitators in
(03:51):
every group that includes students and ouradult groups. Sometimes because of scheduling,
that doesn't always happen, but thereis a process to be come an adult
facilitator. Most of our adult facilitatorsare people who've had that grief journey,
whether it's our Hope and Healing afterSuicide lass, or our Widowed group or
(04:12):
a brief parent group, they've hadthat happened to them and they just want
to share their experience and help others. Now, when we go into schools,
all of the people that go intoschools are licensed social workers, and
we actually have interns that are tryingto get their social work licensure that help
us out as well. So it'sa mixture of both dedicated professionals as well
(04:34):
as volunteer facilitators who've had that tappento them. If you've never been in
any kind of a group setting whereyou're doing some sort of therapy, let
me tell you from personal experience Ithelps put your grief in perspective in a
lot of ways. You get alot of support from people that have been
(04:55):
through it. They're past you andtheir grief, and they can offer you
hope and and you become a kindof a person and tell me if I'm
wrong about this, Shane, whereyou can be just ahead of someone brand
new and offer them a little bitof hope that there's a continuum if you
will, And and going there helpsyou in all these ways. Heal from
(05:17):
an experience. Now, mine wasn'ta grief group. It was a different
kind of therapy, But I thinkthe thing was so powerful because I saw
myself, this isn't the worst,and it wasn't the least, And I'm
grateful that I have all these supportpeople. So you know, that's we
talked in the first show about whatabout people that don't want to give all
(05:40):
that personal stuff out to people thatthey don't know. But there's something about
being around kindred spirits, people whoare connected in a certain way. Can
you talk a little bit more aboutthat and how that emboldens you to be
able to share. Absolutely, youhad the nail on the head. I
had the grief support group when myfirst husband died. But I also had
(06:01):
one friend whose husband died a coupleof years before my husband, So she
and I talked a lot, wecried a lot, we laughed a lot.
And so when I was ready tostart helping other people, that's what
I wanted to do. I wantedto have my story be able to help
other people's story. I wanted to, you know, just let them know
(06:21):
that it's gonna be okay. Andeverybody grieves differently, and you know,
just let them know that it's okayto talk about their loved one, it's
okay to cry, it's okay tolaugh again. I think that's one of
the hardest things, is like peopleare afraid to laugh nowadays, and it's
it's fun to laugh and be engagingin that way. And I shared with
(06:43):
a group in our local schools andI shared with them. There were several
students in the room, and Ishared that as a parent of somebody who
has children who has lost a parent, I want to be that mentor that
guide for you. If you areare afraid to ask your parent a question,
that's what I'm here for you.May you know, I want to
(07:04):
be able to you know, relateto you and have conversations and be that
support system for you. And alot of them kind of you know,
perked up and noted their heads alittle bit. Because kids have questions about
death that they would never want toask their parent for fear it would hurt
them or maybe put them in aspot. But yeah, when you've got
(07:26):
an adult jumping in there and sayingyou can ask me, boy, their
minds just start just racing. Itdoes. It does? And I think,
like I said, they you know, they started their nodding their heads
and they were you know, Ithink they were pretty happy that I offered
that that kind of support to them. And then I had one of the
people come up to me afterwards andstart engaging and asking questions. And you
(07:49):
know, that's what we, ascompanions on a journey, want to do,
is be able to be that companionon the journey. Whether you know
you're two weeks out from the deathor six years like I am, or
even sixteen years. There's still triggersevery day that happen, and we want
to be that companion for them.So there's really no time limit on grief,
(08:09):
absolutely not, absolutely not. Andthat's one thing we try to make
clear in our group that group iscompanions on a journey. My guest today
is SHANEA. Thomas. She's thedirector of operations. The reason we're here
today is because you have Is thisa workshop basically? I mean I think
that's what you could call it asa workshop. It's an opportunity for a
(08:33):
one day of healing, and soyeah, I think a workshop is probably
the best way to describe it.Well, let's talk about it. It's
coming up September thirtieth, and tellthe audience what you're going to be bringing,
the resources that you're going to bebringing in, what the participants are
going to experience, and let's getstarted there. The day of healing,
(08:54):
like you mentioned, is September thirtieth. It's at Saint max Colby Parish in
west Chester. And this actually doeshave a cost associated with it because we
will have supplies there. Launch willbe included in the cost. So we
just want to be able to coverthe needs of the day and the expenses
of the day. So there isa cost. It's twenty dollars to attend.
(09:16):
It's from nine thirty to two andthere's going to be large group sessions,
so we'll talk about the spiral ofgrief. We start out a lot
of our school program and adult programmingwith a slinky. We give everybody a
slinky and talk about the spiral ofgrief and how to balance our grief,
which is why we use the slinky. And then we talk about feelings of
(09:37):
in emotions, you know, anew family balance and what that might look
like. And then we're actually goingto break out into different type of grief
losses. So we'll have a breakoutfor briefed parents, we'll have a breakout
for widowed, We'll have an opengrief session, and then something we're going
(10:00):
to talk about is complicated grief,which you know could deal a little bit
with trauma as well as the grief, especially if it's like a traumatic loss
like some people do have those thosesituations that happen. So it's from nine
thirty to two, and it's gonnabe, like you mentioned, like a
workshop. It's gonna have several differentactivities and be very engaging. And it's
(10:22):
for adults. It's for adults eighteenand older. Yes, when you we
ask that you register that way wecan prepare for the day. Registration ends
on September twenty five, and itis it's for eighteen and older. That
way we can make sure we're preparedand want to speak specifically to adults about
this. Yes, yes, youdo have youth programs for companions on a
(10:43):
journey children that have lost their parentas well, but this workshop isn't really
appropriate for them. So if youdo have a child it wants to be
involved and talk about these things orat least get some some compassionate ears to
hear them. This is definitely aterrific place to go. As somebody who
(11:03):
lost my father when I was five, it's such a profound loss, and
it is a profound loss at thetime it could be financial. And then
you have all these questions, allthese existential questions throughout your childhood. You
have all the benchmarks of your lifewhere the person is not there, didn't
(11:24):
go to go to a graduation,not going to walk you down the aisle.
And then even as you know amiddle aged person, well dad didn't
get to meet his grandkids, andso there's just a lifetime of loss.
And I didn't get any help.These things didn't exist at the turn of
the century, so I didn't getany help. But nobody talked about it.
(11:45):
Back then. It was just suckit up and deal with it.
Not in a mean way, butjust you know, this is what happens.
And I'm just going to highly recommendright now anyone that has loss,
especially with a child that has lost, it's so important for them to know
that they can ask questions and expresstheir grief. And I think meeting with
companions on a journey in Westchester isa really good safe place to start because
(12:07):
there's no fees involved. You know, you just come in and you find
your people absolutely and I think youtalked about it. We grieve differently,
and there's different events that happened throughoutour lives and children. You know,
speaking from experience with my own children, I think sometimes they didn't bring up
their dad because they didn't want tosee me cry, or they were afraid
to see me cry. And evenyou know, talking about him now,
(12:31):
I don't cry as much, butthere are some instances where I still cry
because you know, I might havejust heard his favorite song on the radio,
or my son, you know,likes a certain football team because of
his dad, and so on andso forth. So there are certain moments
that even hit me, you know, differently, and so I know it's
(12:52):
going to hit everyone, and justto be able to be there and support
our children and support friends and family, because again, I think there's this
stigma around but you can't talk aboutit or I'm afraid to talk about it.
I think it's okay to talk aboutit, and I think it helps
the person. And as a parent, you're really modeling how your child should
eventually as an adult, handle thesekinds of situations. So if you're not
(13:15):
handling it very well, if you'reshut down, if you're you know,
not wanting to speak about it,that's just going to perpetuate when they're older.
So they need to be able tounderstand that it's okay to cry and
grieve and lean on each other asa family. Absolutely. One of the
activities that we are currently doing inour school groups this month is balancing,
(13:39):
So we're asking everybody to stand onone foot. Now, as a forty
year old, I'm struggling standing onone foot. Some of the students that
I'm working with aren't struggling as bad, but they're still struggling. So then,
you know, how does it feel? You know you're wobbly? What
does that look like? And youknow, then I asked them after,
you know, we do that fora little bit, they grab a chair
(14:01):
or grab onto a wall. Howdo you feel now you have help?
You have the chair to help balanceyou, you have the wall to help
balance you. Do you have friendsyou can talk to? Do you have
a community of people you can talkto? So we correlate the two.
You have them do that physical activityand then bring it back to grief and
being able to talk and communicate withother people. That's a very strong example.
(14:24):
So different types of deaths require differenttypes of understanding, if you will.
So, if you've got someone whodied by gun violence, the person's
going to be feeling things that aperson who lost someone to suicide may not
be experiencing. So I know youhave specialized groups for certain kinds of loss,
(14:46):
Yes we do. We have abrief parent group that meets on Wednesday
evenings. We have a widowed groupthat meets on the opposite Wednesday evenings.
Then we have some open grief groupsthat either meet on the Monday day night
or a Tuesday night. One thingthat is back again this year. It
stopped for the summer is something calledMending Hearts, which is for families.
(15:09):
We meet at the Boys and GirlsClub in Westchester and we do family related
activities, so the family grieves together, because our founder says a family who
grieves together heals together. So wethink it's very important for families to get
that experience as well. So onThursday evenings once a month, they meet
and engage in activities. The sametopic is done throughout all the whole entire
(15:33):
month, but it depends like everybody'sdifferent, and that's I think is one
of the neat things, as youmentioned, like the Hope and Healing group,
you know, might have this topic, but somebody has a situation that's
brought up. We really let themlead as the participant, and so it's
so interesting we have the same topic, but it might be different conversations in
every group because of the people inthe group and the type of loss.
(15:58):
So this is Companions on a Journey. They're little workshop is coming up September
thirtieth. Let's go over again allthe particulars. Twenty dollars per person,
that covers lunch for you and thecosts for being there at the church.
Why don't you take it from thereand tell people how to get registered.
Yes, absolutely so it's from ninethirty two on the thirtieth, and you
can go to our website, Companionson a Journey dot org and register right
(16:19):
there, and we do ask forthe type of loss and how the person
died, and it is confidential,so we just ask that you go to
the website and register. Does someonehave to die in order to be a
part of this grief? I mean, are there other kinds of grief that
people experience that would be appropriate foryour group setting? That is actually a
(16:41):
really good question, and we deala lot more with the different types of
grief within our schools, not necessarilyin our adult sessions, but within our
schools. We talk about deportation andincarceration a lot. In our schools,
especially in specific district, that isa huge factor, and some of the
(17:03):
children might even have the incarceration anda death that they're trying to deal and
cope with. For a lot ofour dog groups, I'm not finding that
to be a factor, but it'sdefinitely a factor in our school groups.
All right, Thank you, SHANEA. Thomas, Director of operations at Companions
on a Journey in Westchester. Youcan get more information at Companions on a
journey dot Org. Yes, thankyou so much. Coming up next,
(17:26):
we just don't want to get themany job. We want to get them
a really, really good job.Coming up on iHeart Sinci Next, This
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(18:37):
good. This is I Heard CinciaTri State Public Affayers program. I'm Sandy
Collins. My next guest turned avery personal challenge into a life changing resource
for people with special needs. BrianHolland is the founder of Genesis at Work
Foundation, alongside Emma Glickberg and JimFry, owner of Pello Windows here in
the Tri State. Genesis at WorkFoundation realizes that meaningful work has more benefits
(19:04):
than just money. It brings asense of purpose and can lead to independence,
and perhaps most importantly, allows individualsthe ability to flourish their work.
Started over three years ago and todaylet's meet Brian Holland, Emma Glickberg and
Jim Fry. Brian, welcome toiHeart Sinsey. Tell me why you've been
working so hard and created this wonderfulfoundation, Genesis at Work, and what
(19:29):
you do my sons, Scott,He's the inspiration for me starting the Geni
at Work Foundation and our mission iswe find meaningful work for God's children with
special needs, enriching lives and businessesand so gosh. Several years ago,
probably when Scott was nineteen, JackDarlin from Hamilton County Developmental Disability Services said
(19:52):
Scott's a success story and transitioning fromhigh school to finding meaningful work. And
so he said, you need ahad a story about Scott and submitted to
our My Life magazine. We submittedit. He was actually on the cover
last October. And he has twopaid jobs at the University of Cincinnati.
(20:12):
The one job that really speaks tohis interests, which is sports and athletics.
He was the basketball manager, youknow, for Marymont and then we
moved to Sycamore and then he's nowthe basketball manager at Sycamore. And also
he was a football manager at Marymontand still the football manager at Marymont.
(20:33):
He's twenty five years old. Buttaking those interests of sports, we reached
out to the University of Cincinnati andhe is employed by the Facilities and Operations
department, which is an incredible jobfor him. And he works with a
team, you know, sets up, works during the game, and then
works as the team to tear downand put things away. So it's a
(20:56):
wonderful job. So you realized earlyon that it was going to be difficult
for your son. He has downsyndrome, Is that correct? Correct?
So you found that it was difficult. You put some staggering numbers on your
website, eighty percent of folks withthe special needs or disabilities are not able
to work or don't work basically,and you're saying they can work and we
(21:18):
can help. How do you dothat? Yes, And let me just
share a statistic, and Hamilton CountyDevelopmental Disabilities Research said there's fourteen hundred and
fifty people in Hamilton County that reportthey want a job and need help.
And then there's eighteen hundred and fiftystudents that will be transitioning out of Cincinnati
schools looking for work. So we'rehere to help address that problem. But
(21:41):
Emma can share a little bit abouthow we work with these job seekers and
businesses. Now, Emma, youactually you actually assess each individual person,
is that right, and then figureout how to get them working. So
I actually I don't like to usethe word assess. Okay, we do
something special. We use customized employmentin order to employ our individuals with special
(22:07):
needs. And so this happens throughtwo of our programs, Discovery and Inclusive
Employers. And so Discovery, it'snot so much assessing the job seekers who
are coming to us, but it'sgetting to know them. It's getting to
see what they're already good at.We're not looking to test them and see
what they're not good at. Welook at what they're interested in, what
(22:30):
they're already doing in their every dayand we take all of that and we
bring it over to our Inclusive Employersprogram, where we work with employers in
the greater Cincinnati area to figure outwhere they could use a helping hand,
figure out what their needs are,and we match those needs with our job
(22:51):
seekers strengths and interests and create awin win partnership between the two of them.
And one of those must be Pilla. Jim Fry is with us as
well, and I understand that you'rea big part of this organization and its
success. Well, I got started. You know, I'm very close friends
with Scotty. If you spend tenminutes with Scotty, you can't have a
(23:12):
you can't have a bad day.And so I'm going through the process.
I think the word assess is probablybetter used when you're talking about the employer
and of this arrangement. We areassessing, and we call it an audit.
We're going through an audit right nowwith Emma and their team and we're
(23:32):
trying to figure out you know,I've got customer service representatives that service customers.
I have schedulers, I have logisticspeople. I have an accounting department,
and we're trying to take little piecesof each one of those jobs and
customize a job that would fit theskills and talents of a job seeker.
(23:55):
It's not We're going to figure itout. And I think the way the
words that you chose in the beginningis the realization that I've had being involved
in this. Now I'm going intomy third year. I remember sitting on
the boat with Brian sailboat and hewas talking about his dream and I was
(24:15):
like three years ago, and we'renow two years into this journey. The
staggering thing that's hit me is,you know, these kids get all the
way through high school and then thefamily is faced with this, how do
I help this child become independent?And you know, are they going to
live at home forever? Are theygoing to be able to go out and
(24:37):
find a job or that? Youknow, how do I help my child
flourish? Is I guess the rightthe right way to describe it. Parents
know what their kids can do andwhat they can't do, and that's where
Emma comes in. So if someonehas a special needs individual in their life
and they want to work, EmmaGlickberg is the person to call. Isn't
(25:00):
that right, Emma, Yes,that's absolutely correct. And I will say
this process of finding out what thesejob seekers are capable of, it's very
positive. It's very fun. Ihave so much fun doing this highlighting someone's
strengths. It. You can doso much more with it than focusing on
(25:22):
what they can't do. Sandy,can I add something here? You know?
The benefits to my company have beenamazing from going through this process.
Three years ago was just me andBrian, and now I have nine people
that are now actively doing things tosupport the organization and the cultural effects of
(25:45):
that. I have had multiple unsolicitedemails from my employees saying thanks for being
a part of this. So ifany business out there, if there's any
business owner, founder, manager thatwould like to discuss the benefits that actually,
you know, the ROI that abusiness gets from being involved with this
(26:07):
organization, please have them reach outto me. That's Jim Fry at Pellow
Windows and there in Cincinnati and Louisvilleand Lexington. This is iHeart. Since
I'm here with Emma Glickberg and BrianHolland, who created Genesis at Work Foundation.
I have a friend that has specialneeds, and so I have a
little glimpse into what their parents thought, you know, when they were little,
(26:30):
and what is she going to beable to do? What's her future
after eighteen? So I'm now talkingto the people who are friends of families
that have this situation. What canthey do, Brian, if they have
someone in their life with a disability, special needs and you know they want
to work, how can they helpthem through your organization? Well, they
(26:53):
could pick up the phone and chatwith Emma. We focus on the task
that are really really good at andwe identify what those tasks are. But
we most importantly look at their interestsand what type of businesses do they want
to work for, and we'll prioritize, you know, maybe three top three
(27:14):
businesses, and then we'll reach outto those businesses and we create a customized
job description for this individual, andthen we will find companies who have unmet
needs where they are interested in hiringand talking to some of our job seekers.
So it's a win win partnership.We want to help these individuals find
(27:36):
meaningful work. And not just anyjob. And I guess here's one of
a quote that I would like toread. It's from Diane wine Brand.
She's from the University of Cincinnati.They're Advanced trans Advancement and Transitions Advancement and
Transition Services, but she's the directorof job development there and she says,
(27:56):
what really sits genesis at work,apart from other organizations, is the amount
of time they are able to dedicateworking with each job seeker. I've seen
firsthand how they are able to investup to fifty percent more time in connecting
with businesses and creating jobs that aredirectly aligned with the strengths and interests of
those they served. So we justdon't want to get him any job.
(28:19):
We want to get him a really, really good job. And so's we
spend the time. We'll spend upto about one hundred hours from start to
finish with the job seeker to gethim to find that great, great,
great job. So for a parentEmma who says my son is twenty three,
he got his high school diploma,we don't know how he's going to
(28:41):
get to work. How do youhandle the transportation portion of this? And
I'm asking that in particular because Iread about one of your job seekers just
needed to figure out how to geton the bus and ride the bus to
work and back, and so youhelped him with that. Let's talk about
those sorts of hurdles and how youhelp out out with helping them navigate to
(29:03):
the job. So that's a reallygood question. And customized employment. Everything
that we do here is customized,and there are so many different resources in
the Greater Cincinnati area. There's somany different people who can help, and
we play a huge role in connectingthese job seekers with the right person to
(29:23):
help. Now, some people,it might be helping them find someone who
can assist them in taking the bus. It could look like getting them funding
through Hamilton County DDS to take ubersto work. It just depends on the
person. But we connect people withother resources. Brian, how can Generous
(29:45):
Tristators help your organization other than thepeople that we're asking to call and hire.
Is there any other way that peoplethat may not have that resource help
you with your work? Yeah?Well, right now, we have one
fundraiser a year and it's Saturday,October seventh at the Sharonville Convention Center and
(30:07):
we're celebrating National Disabilities Employment and Awarethis month, we're also celebrating our job
seekers that were presently working with We'realso celebrating our Inclusive Employers program. We're
also going to be recognized Paul Docherty, the retired sports columnists as our Genesis
Advocate of the Year. Anyway,so there's an opportunity to come to learn
(30:30):
more about our organization. They cancontribute by coming learning more. But then
there's also volunteer opportunities. Those areall can be found by going to our
website at Genesis Atwork dot org.And so anyway, those are ways that
they can help. I'd like tothank you all three for being on the
(30:51):
show. There's so much more togo over, but we have run out
of time today. Thank you,thank you for having You can find out
more about Genesis at Work Foundation online. And that's the show for this week.
If you have a question or comment, send an email iHeart since with
an i at iHeartMedia dot com.You can also find the show on the
iHeartRadio app. It is absolutely free. So next week we'll see you then.
(31:15):
iHeart Cincy is a production of iHeartMediaCincinnati.
Very sweet on iHeart suits. Ithink there's a stigma around it. You
can't talk about it, or I'mafraid to talk about it if you're grieving,
or if you've had serious loss that'shard to handle. Today's show is
offering a place to get free helpright here in Hamilton County for anybody in
the Tri state area. Today,Shana Thomas returns from the nonprofit Companions on
a Journey. She joins me toexplain what her group offers to people who've
(00:27):
lost loved ones and gives important detailson a weekend workshop coming up at the
end of September to give you thetools to manage your grief and learn to
deal with it. And later thefamily is faced with this, how do
I help this child become independent?How do individuals with special needs find the
jobs that they want and need?Working? Making your own choices being independent
(00:50):
gives meaning to life for our lovedones with disabilities. A customized plan for
employment is making these individuals, families, and businesses realize that everyone can contribute.
My guest today created Genesis at Work, a program born out of the
love that Brian Holland has for hisson whose challenges have actually benefited countless people
(01:11):
by giving them an opportunity to work. Now on iHeart Cincie with Sandy Collins.
Glad you joined us today. I'mSandy Collins. This show is for
the community to find the resources neededto solve many of the issues we face
and to share stories that embolden anduplift people here in the Tri State.
My first guest is director of operationsat Companions on a Journey, Shana Thomas.
(01:36):
Good to see you return to theshow. Yes, thanks for having
me back. Absolutely, So let'sdo this. Let's have you do a
little bit longer than an elevator speechand tell me about your husband passing away
and how you struggled as a youngwidow and just kind of give us a
brief look at who you are andwhat happened in your family and what led
(01:57):
you to this group Opanions on aJourney. Absolutely, thank you. So
my first husband died a little oversix years ago. Now, he had
a heart attack, and so hedied suddenly. And so that's truly what
brought me to Companions on a Journey. When the job opportunity opened up a
little over a year and a halfago, I felt compelled with the mission,
(02:22):
and I aligned with the mission andjust supporting the breaved, one teen,
one child, one family at atime and meeting them where they are
is so important. And when I, you know, six years out,
people wonder if I'm still grieving,and absolutely I'm still grieving, but within
that first you know, several monthsto even a few years after Randy's death
(02:45):
hit me pretty hard, and Idid attend a grief group for a little
while when I lived up into theToledo area, and it really helped me
and most importantly my children. Mychildren were six and eight at the time
their dad's death, so I reallywanted to help all of us and help
us grieve together, which again whichwas brought me to Companions on a Journey
(03:07):
and we've been around for over twentysix years now. We offer free brievement
services, peer support services to students. We go onto schools. We have
adult support groups in the evening andfamily support groups as well, and this
is all a free service. It'skind of like you have a moderator there
to keep the group together. Howdoes that is that person trained? Yes,
(03:31):
yes, all of our facilitators aretrained. They have to be two
years out of their grief in orderto be a facilitator. So when they
come in, we have them shadowour facilitators and then they can co facilitate
with someone or facilitates on their own. We prefer we have two facilitators in
(03:51):
every group that includes students and ouradult groups. Sometimes because of scheduling,
that doesn't always happen, but thereis a process to be come an adult
facilitator. Most of our adult facilitatorsare people who've had that grief journey,
whether it's our Hope and Healing afterSuicide lass, or our Widowed group or
(04:12):
a brief parent group, they've hadthat happened to them and they just want
to share their experience and help others. Now, when we go into schools,
all of the people that go intoschools are licensed social workers, and
we actually have interns that are tryingto get their social work licensure that help
us out as well. So it'sa mixture of both dedicated professionals as well
(04:34):
as volunteer facilitators who've had that tappento them. If you've never been in
any kind of a group setting whereyou're doing some sort of therapy, let
me tell you from personal experience Ithelps put your grief in perspective in a
lot of ways. You get alot of support from people that have been
(04:55):
through it. They're past you andtheir grief, and they can offer you
hope and and you become a kindof a person and tell me if I'm
wrong about this, Shane, whereyou can be just ahead of someone brand
new and offer them a little bitof hope that there's a continuum if you
will, And and going there helpsyou in all these ways. Heal from
(05:17):
an experience. Now, mine wasn'ta grief group. It was a different
kind of therapy, But I thinkthe thing was so powerful because I saw
myself, this isn't the worst,and it wasn't the least, And I'm
grateful that I have all these supportpeople. So you know, that's we
talked in the first show about whatabout people that don't want to give all
(05:40):
that personal stuff out to people thatthey don't know. But there's something about
being around kindred spirits, people whoare connected in a certain way. Can
you talk a little bit more aboutthat and how that emboldens you to be
able to share. Absolutely, youhad the nail on the head. I
had the grief support group when myfirst husband died. But I also had
(06:01):
one friend whose husband died a coupleof years before my husband, So she
and I talked a lot, wecried a lot, we laughed a lot.
And so when I was ready tostart helping other people, that's what
I wanted to do. I wantedto have my story be able to help
other people's story. I wanted to, you know, just let them know
(06:21):
that it's gonna be okay. Andeverybody grieves differently, and you know,
just let them know that it's okayto talk about their loved one, it's
okay to cry, it's okay tolaugh again. I think that's one of
the hardest things, is like peopleare afraid to laugh nowadays, and it's
it's fun to laugh and be engagingin that way. And I shared with
(06:43):
a group in our local schools andI shared with them. There were several
students in the room, and Ishared that as a parent of somebody who
has children who has lost a parent, I want to be that mentor that
guide for you. If you areare afraid to ask your parent a question,
that's what I'm here for you.May you know, I want to
(07:04):
be able to you know, relateto you and have conversations and be that
support system for you. And alot of them kind of you know,
perked up and noted their heads alittle bit. Because kids have questions about
death that they would never want toask their parent for fear it would hurt
them or maybe put them in aspot. But yeah, when you've got
(07:26):
an adult jumping in there and sayingyou can ask me, boy, their
minds just start just racing. Itdoes. It does? And I think,
like I said, they you know, they started their nodding their heads
and they were you know, Ithink they were pretty happy that I offered
that that kind of support to them. And then I had one of the
people come up to me afterwards andstart engaging and asking questions. And you
(07:49):
know, that's what we, ascompanions on a journey, want to do,
is be able to be that companionon the journey. Whether you know
you're two weeks out from the deathor six years like I am, or
even sixteen years. There's still triggersevery day that happen, and we want
to be that companion for them.So there's really no time limit on grief,
(08:09):
absolutely not, absolutely not. Andthat's one thing we try to make
clear in our group that group iscompanions on a journey. My guest today
is SHANEA. Thomas. She's thedirector of operations. The reason we're here
today is because you have Is thisa workshop basically? I mean I think
that's what you could call it asa workshop. It's an opportunity for a
(08:33):
one day of healing, and soyeah, I think a workshop is probably
the best way to describe it.Well, let's talk about it. It's
coming up September thirtieth, and tellthe audience what you're going to be bringing,
the resources that you're going to bebringing in, what the participants are
going to experience, and let's getstarted there. The day of healing,
(08:54):
like you mentioned, is September thirtieth. It's at Saint max Colby Parish in
west Chester. And this actually doeshave a cost associated with it because we
will have supplies there. Launch willbe included in the cost. So we
just want to be able to coverthe needs of the day and the expenses
of the day. So there isa cost. It's twenty dollars to attend.
(09:16):
It's from nine thirty to two andthere's going to be large group sessions,
so we'll talk about the spiral ofgrief. We start out a lot
of our school program and adult programmingwith a slinky. We give everybody a
slinky and talk about the spiral ofgrief and how to balance our grief,
which is why we use the slinky. And then we talk about feelings of
(09:37):
in emotions, you know, anew family balance and what that might look
like. And then we're actually goingto break out into different type of grief
losses. So we'll have a breakoutfor briefed parents, we'll have a breakout
for widowed, We'll have an opengrief session, and then something we're going
(10:00):
to talk about is complicated grief,which you know could deal a little bit
with trauma as well as the grief, especially if it's like a traumatic loss
like some people do have those thosesituations that happen. So it's from nine
thirty to two, and it's gonnabe, like you mentioned, like a
workshop. It's gonna have several differentactivities and be very engaging. And it's
(10:22):
for adults. It's for adults eighteenand older. Yes, when you we
ask that you register that way wecan prepare for the day. Registration ends
on September twenty five, and itis it's for eighteen and older. That
way we can make sure we're preparedand want to speak specifically to adults about
this. Yes, yes, youdo have youth programs for companions on a
(10:43):
journey children that have lost their parentas well, but this workshop isn't really
appropriate for them. So if youdo have a child it wants to be
involved and talk about these things orat least get some some compassionate ears to
hear them. This is definitely aterrific place to go. As somebody who
(11:03):
lost my father when I was five, it's such a profound loss, and
it is a profound loss at thetime it could be financial. And then
you have all these questions, allthese existential questions throughout your childhood. You
have all the benchmarks of your lifewhere the person is not there, didn't
(11:24):
go to go to a graduation,not going to walk you down the aisle.
And then even as you know amiddle aged person, well dad didn't
get to meet his grandkids, andso there's just a lifetime of loss.
And I didn't get any help.These things didn't exist at the turn of
the century, so I didn't getany help. But nobody talked about it.
(11:45):
Back then. It was just suckit up and deal with it.
Not in a mean way, butjust you know, this is what happens.
And I'm just going to highly recommendright now anyone that has loss,
especially with a child that has lost, it's so important for them to know
that they can ask questions and expresstheir grief. And I think meeting with
companions on a journey in Westchester isa really good safe place to start because
(12:07):
there's no fees involved. You know, you just come in and you find
your people absolutely and I think youtalked about it. We grieve differently,
and there's different events that happened throughoutour lives and children. You know,
speaking from experience with my own children, I think sometimes they didn't bring up
their dad because they didn't want tosee me cry, or they were afraid
to see me cry. And evenyou know, talking about him now,
(12:31):
I don't cry as much, butthere are some instances where I still cry
because you know, I might havejust heard his favorite song on the radio,
or my son, you know,likes a certain football team because of
his dad, and so on andso forth. So there are certain moments
that even hit me, you know, differently, and so I know it's
(12:52):
going to hit everyone, and justto be able to be there and support
our children and support friends and family, because again, I think there's this
stigma around but you can't talk aboutit or I'm afraid to talk about it.
I think it's okay to talk aboutit, and I think it helps
the person. And as a parent, you're really modeling how your child should
eventually as an adult, handle thesekinds of situations. So if you're not
(13:15):
handling it very well, if you'reshut down, if you're you know,
not wanting to speak about it,that's just going to perpetuate when they're older.
So they need to be able tounderstand that it's okay to cry and
grieve and lean on each other asa family. Absolutely. One of the
activities that we are currently doing inour school groups this month is balancing,
(13:39):
So we're asking everybody to stand onone foot. Now, as a forty
year old, I'm struggling standing onone foot. Some of the students that
I'm working with aren't struggling as bad, but they're still struggling. So then,
you know, how does it feel? You know you're wobbly? What
does that look like? And youknow, then I asked them after,
you know, we do that fora little bit, they grab a chair
(14:01):
or grab onto a wall. Howdo you feel now you have help?
You have the chair to help balanceyou, you have the wall to help
balance you. Do you have friendsyou can talk to? Do you have
a community of people you can talkto? So we correlate the two.
You have them do that physical activityand then bring it back to grief and
being able to talk and communicate withother people. That's a very strong example.
(14:24):
So different types of deaths require differenttypes of understanding, if you will.
So, if you've got someone whodied by gun violence, the person's
going to be feeling things that aperson who lost someone to suicide may not
be experiencing. So I know youhave specialized groups for certain kinds of loss,
(14:46):
Yes we do. We have abrief parent group that meets on Wednesday
evenings. We have a widowed groupthat meets on the opposite Wednesday evenings.
Then we have some open grief groupsthat either meet on the Monday day night
or a Tuesday night. One thingthat is back again this year. It
stopped for the summer is something calledMending Hearts, which is for families.
(15:09):
We meet at the Boys and GirlsClub in Westchester and we do family related
activities, so the family grieves together, because our founder says a family who
grieves together heals together. So wethink it's very important for families to get
that experience as well. So onThursday evenings once a month, they meet
and engage in activities. The sametopic is done throughout all the whole entire
(15:33):
month, but it depends like everybody'sdifferent, and that's I think is one
of the neat things, as youmentioned, like the Hope and Healing group,
you know, might have this topic, but somebody has a situation that's
brought up. We really let themlead as the participant, and so it's
so interesting we have the same topic, but it might be different conversations in
every group because of the people inthe group and the type of loss.
(15:58):
So this is Companions on a Journey. They're little workshop is coming up September
thirtieth. Let's go over again allthe particulars. Twenty dollars per person,
that covers lunch for you and thecosts for being there at the church.
Why don't you take it from thereand tell people how to get registered.
Yes, absolutely so it's from ninethirty two on the thirtieth, and you
can go to our website, Companionson a Journey dot org and register right
(16:19):
there, and we do ask forthe type of loss and how the person
died, and it is confidential,so we just ask that you go to
the website and register. Does someonehave to die in order to be a
part of this grief? I mean, are there other kinds of grief that
people experience that would be appropriate foryour group setting? That is actually a
(16:41):
really good question, and we deala lot more with the different types of
grief within our schools, not necessarilyin our adult sessions, but within our
schools. We talk about deportation andincarceration a lot. In our schools,
especially in specific district, that isa huge factor, and some of the
(17:03):
children might even have the incarceration anda death that they're trying to deal and
cope with. For a lot ofour dog groups, I'm not finding that
to be a factor, but it'sdefinitely a factor in our school groups.
All right, Thank you, SHANEA. Thomas, Director of operations at Companions
on a Journey in Westchester. Youcan get more information at Companions on a
journey dot Org. Yes, thankyou so much. Coming up next,
(17:26):
we just don't want to get themany job. We want to get them
a really, really good job.Coming up on iHeart Sinci Next, This
is fifty five KRC and iHeart RadioStation coming to Hulu next Friday and Saturday.
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(17:51):
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(18:37):
good. This is I Heard CinciaTri State Public Affayers program. I'm Sandy
Collins. My next guest turned avery personal challenge into a life changing resource
for people with special needs. BrianHolland is the founder of Genesis at Work
Foundation, alongside Emma Glickberg and JimFry, owner of Pello Windows here in
the Tri State. Genesis at WorkFoundation realizes that meaningful work has more benefits
(19:04):
than just money. It brings asense of purpose and can lead to independence,
and perhaps most importantly, allows individualsthe ability to flourish their work.
Started over three years ago and todaylet's meet Brian Holland, Emma Glickberg and
Jim Fry. Brian, welcome toiHeart Sinsey. Tell me why you've been
working so hard and created this wonderfulfoundation, Genesis at Work, and what
(19:29):
you do my sons, Scott,He's the inspiration for me starting the Geni
at Work Foundation and our mission iswe find meaningful work for God's children with
special needs, enriching lives and businessesand so gosh. Several years ago,
probably when Scott was nineteen, JackDarlin from Hamilton County Developmental Disability Services said
(19:52):
Scott's a success story and transitioning fromhigh school to finding meaningful work. And
so he said, you need ahad a story about Scott and submitted to
our My Life magazine. We submittedit. He was actually on the cover
last October. And he has twopaid jobs at the University of Cincinnati.
(20:12):
The one job that really speaks tohis interests, which is sports and athletics.
He was the basketball manager, youknow, for Marymont and then we
moved to Sycamore and then he's nowthe basketball manager at Sycamore. And also
he was a football manager at Marymontand still the football manager at Marymont.
(20:33):
He's twenty five years old. Buttaking those interests of sports, we reached
out to the University of Cincinnati andhe is employed by the Facilities and Operations
department, which is an incredible jobfor him. And he works with a
team, you know, sets up, works during the game, and then
works as the team to tear downand put things away. So it's a
(20:56):
wonderful job. So you realized earlyon that it was going to be difficult
for your son. He has downsyndrome, Is that correct? Correct?
So you found that it was difficult. You put some staggering numbers on your
website, eighty percent of folks withthe special needs or disabilities are not able
to work or don't work basically,and you're saying they can work and we
(21:18):
can help. How do you dothat? Yes, And let me just
share a statistic, and Hamilton CountyDevelopmental Disabilities Research said there's fourteen hundred and
fifty people in Hamilton County that reportthey want a job and need help.
And then there's eighteen hundred and fiftystudents that will be transitioning out of Cincinnati
schools looking for work. So we'rehere to help address that problem. But
(21:41):
Emma can share a little bit abouthow we work with these job seekers and
businesses. Now, Emma, youactually you actually assess each individual person,
is that right, and then figureout how to get them working. So
I actually I don't like to usethe word assess. Okay, we do
something special. We use customized employmentin order to employ our individuals with special
(22:07):
needs. And so this happens throughtwo of our programs, Discovery and Inclusive
Employers. And so Discovery, it'snot so much assessing the job seekers who
are coming to us, but it'sgetting to know them. It's getting to
see what they're already good at.We're not looking to test them and see
what they're not good at. Welook at what they're interested in, what
(22:30):
they're already doing in their every dayand we take all of that and we
bring it over to our Inclusive Employersprogram, where we work with employers in
the greater Cincinnati area to figure outwhere they could use a helping hand,
figure out what their needs are,and we match those needs with our job
(22:51):
seekers strengths and interests and create awin win partnership between the two of them.
And one of those must be Pilla. Jim Fry is with us as
well, and I understand that you'rea big part of this organization and its
success. Well, I got started. You know, I'm very close friends
with Scotty. If you spend tenminutes with Scotty, you can't have a
(23:12):
you can't have a bad day.And so I'm going through the process.
I think the word assess is probablybetter used when you're talking about the employer
and of this arrangement. We areassessing, and we call it an audit.
We're going through an audit right nowwith Emma and their team and we're
(23:32):
trying to figure out you know,I've got customer service representatives that service customers.
I have schedulers, I have logisticspeople. I have an accounting department,
and we're trying to take little piecesof each one of those jobs and
customize a job that would fit theskills and talents of a job seeker.
(23:55):
It's not We're going to figure itout. And I think the way the
words that you chose in the beginningis the realization that I've had being involved
in this. Now I'm going intomy third year. I remember sitting on
the boat with Brian sailboat and hewas talking about his dream and I was
(24:15):
like three years ago, and we'renow two years into this journey. The
staggering thing that's hit me is,you know, these kids get all the
way through high school and then thefamily is faced with this, how do
I help this child become independent?And you know, are they going to
live at home forever? Are theygoing to be able to go out and
(24:37):
find a job or that? Youknow, how do I help my child
flourish? Is I guess the rightthe right way to describe it. Parents
know what their kids can do andwhat they can't do, and that's where
Emma comes in. So if someonehas a special needs individual in their life
and they want to work, EmmaGlickberg is the person to call. Isn't
(25:00):
that right, Emma, Yes,that's absolutely correct. And I will say
this process of finding out what thesejob seekers are capable of, it's very
positive. It's very fun. Ihave so much fun doing this highlighting someone's
strengths. It. You can doso much more with it than focusing on
(25:22):
what they can't do. Sandy,can I add something here? You know?
The benefits to my company have beenamazing from going through this process.
Three years ago was just me andBrian, and now I have nine people
that are now actively doing things tosupport the organization and the cultural effects of
(25:45):
that. I have had multiple unsolicitedemails from my employees saying thanks for being
a part of this. So ifany business out there, if there's any
business owner, founder, manager thatwould like to discuss the benefits that actually,
you know, the ROI that abusiness gets from being involved with this
(26:07):
organization, please have them reach outto me. That's Jim Fry at Pellow
Windows and there in Cincinnati and Louisvilleand Lexington. This is iHeart. Since
I'm here with Emma Glickberg and BrianHolland, who created Genesis at Work Foundation.
I have a friend that has specialneeds, and so I have a
little glimpse into what their parents thought, you know, when they were little,
(26:30):
and what is she going to beable to do? What's her future
after eighteen? So I'm now talkingto the people who are friends of families
that have this situation. What canthey do, Brian, if they have
someone in their life with a disability, special needs and you know they want
to work, how can they helpthem through your organization? Well, they
(26:53):
could pick up the phone and chatwith Emma. We focus on the task
that are really really good at andwe identify what those tasks are. But
we most importantly look at their interestsand what type of businesses do they want
to work for, and we'll prioritize, you know, maybe three top three
(27:14):
businesses, and then we'll reach outto those businesses and we create a customized
job description for this individual, andthen we will find companies who have unmet
needs where they are interested in hiringand talking to some of our job seekers.
So it's a win win partnership.We want to help these individuals find
(27:36):
meaningful work. And not just anyjob. And I guess here's one of
a quote that I would like toread. It's from Diane wine Brand.
She's from the University of Cincinnati.They're Advanced trans Advancement and Transitions Advancement and
Transition Services, but she's the directorof job development there and she says,
(27:56):
what really sits genesis at work,apart from other organizations, is the amount
of time they are able to dedicateworking with each job seeker. I've seen
firsthand how they are able to investup to fifty percent more time in connecting
with businesses and creating jobs that aredirectly aligned with the strengths and interests of
those they served. So we justdon't want to get him any job.
(28:19):
We want to get him a really, really good job. And so's we
spend the time. We'll spend upto about one hundred hours from start to
finish with the job seeker to gethim to find that great, great,
great job. So for a parentEmma who says my son is twenty three,
he got his high school diploma,we don't know how he's going to
(28:41):
get to work. How do youhandle the transportation portion of this? And
I'm asking that in particular because Iread about one of your job seekers just
needed to figure out how to geton the bus and ride the bus to
work and back, and so youhelped him with that. Let's talk about
those sorts of hurdles and how youhelp out out with helping them navigate to
(29:03):
the job. So that's a reallygood question. And customized employment. Everything
that we do here is customized,and there are so many different resources in
the Greater Cincinnati area. There's somany different people who can help, and
we play a huge role in connectingthese job seekers with the right person to
(29:23):
help. Now, some people,it might be helping them find someone who
can assist them in taking the bus. It could look like getting them funding
through Hamilton County DDS to take ubersto work. It just depends on the
person. But we connect people withother resources. Brian, how can Generous
(29:45):
Tristators help your organization other than thepeople that we're asking to call and hire.
Is there any other way that peoplethat may not have that resource help
you with your work? Yeah?Well, right now, we have one
fundraiser a year and it's Saturday,October seventh at the Sharonville Convention Center and
(30:07):
we're celebrating National Disabilities Employment and Awarethis month, we're also celebrating our job
seekers that were presently working with We'realso celebrating our Inclusive Employers program. We're
also going to be recognized Paul Docherty, the retired sports columnists as our Genesis
Advocate of the Year. Anyway,so there's an opportunity to come to learn
(30:30):
more about our organization. They cancontribute by coming learning more. But then
there's also volunteer opportunities. Those areall can be found by going to our
website at Genesis Atwork dot org.And so anyway, those are ways that
they can help. I'd like tothank you all three for being on the
(30:51):
show. There's so much more togo over, but we have run out
of time today. Thank you,thank you for having You can find out
more about Genesis at Work Foundation online. And that's the show for this week.
If you have a question or comment, send an email iHeart since with
an i at iHeartMedia dot com.You can also find the show on the
iHeartRadio app. It is absolutely free. So next week we'll see you then.
(31:15):
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