Standing at the end of Checkout No. 4, Jesse Bent made quick work of the groceries coming his way.
He stood the Stouffer’s lasagna in a plastic bag. He gently laid loaves of Rotella’s bread. He double- wrapped the meat.
“Didya have a good weekend?” Jesse bantered easily with a customer in a red Nebraska ballcap.
The man did, naturally. The Huskers had won. Husker Hat and Jesse shared a chuckle about that, and in a minute, Husker Hat was out the door with a cart, and Jesse got to clock out. Another five-hour shift in the bag.
It might seem like a small thing. But to a 36-year-old with a very spotty job history — plus a record of substance abuse and mental illness — this ordinary work shift was actually another important victory, another step toward the normal life that Jesse desperately wants but until last year had not ever believed he’d have.
Jesse’s job at the Hy-Vee at 132nd and West Dodge has come with a lot of help, including a guardian angel of a job coach and a Hy-Vee manager with a big heart and open mind. And it is a symbol of a kind of common-sense treatment for mental illness that service providers highlighted Wednesday at the annual Lasting Hope conference on mental illness.
The theme of the conference at Creighton University was “supported employment.” It’s a term that means a j-o-b, of course, but also significant hand-holding. According to experts and some studies on the matter, people with mental illness want to work, can work and can stay in jobs if they have the right support.
[For more of this story, written by Eric Grace, go to http://www.omaha.com/livewelln...a9-23348ed47f33.html]
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