A ghost in the machine

I once attended a job fair being held by a local behavioral health agency. They were hiring for a variety of positions. Besides me, there were several people from other local agencies seeking to get hired there. I had seen or met these people in the past--at trainings, or other functions. These people were experienced and knew the system, and would have likely provided good services to clients. When I had my brief interview, the two people conducting it seemed to be doing it simply as a courtesy since I had shown up and met at least the minimum qualifications (in this case, have a pulse and a bachelor's degree in a related field). They went through the list of questions and overall it was pretty quick. At the end of the interview, they were courteous but let me know that this agency was really seeking people just out of college and saw the case management position as entry level. Sure enough, during my wait for the interview, there had been a young-looking person who was being gi...

Been busier lately. Hiring taking place some places for case management staff, for general mental health and substance abuse caseloads. The question that is unanswered is what will happen with these positions come October. On October 1, the AHCCCS health plans will take over case management directly for general mental health and substance abuse clients, while SMI clients remain with the RBHA and the contracted agencies such as COPE, CODAC, La Frontera, and so on. This is less than a month away.