Hello everyone, this is Jiayu again. If you’ve forgotten, I work with Abby at Threshold. Abby posted earlier this week, but just as a refresher: Threshold is an organization that works with the mentally ill to help them learn skills, find a job, and re-integrate into the community. This summer, Abby and I are trying to develop a class on financial literacy and budgeting, as well as helping out with various tasks around the workplace, ranging from watering plants to helping members get their high school transcripts to updating bulletin boards.
For the financial literacy class, we planned to focus on counting money as cash register etiquette in order to both help Threshold train cashiers for the snack bar and kitchen, as well as help members develop employable cashier skills in the real world. However, as our supervisor describes, having schizophrenia is like trying to carry on with life while simultaneously wearing three sets of headphones all playing different voices. Imaginably, we had some trouble with our first financial literacy class: people were reluctant about showing up (the staff had warned us of this before, many of our members are afraid of the cash register and are hesitant to learn), and the ones who came were already proficient at counting money. Although, after discussing with staff and member, I think we have a plan for next week: we are going to ask the kitchen and snack bar staff and target a few members who would really benefit from the class, and approach them specifically. The members who came were also incredibly sweet and assured us that the class is really helpful and that they would come back for our next session.
The work we do is relevant to Durham’s past, present, and future through our members. Threshold opened in 1985, and many of our members have been a part of Threshold since then. Each of these people is a piece of Durham’s economic past. The issues we talked about in the panel this week regarding the racial and socioeconomic segregation as well as the “two Durhams” are all evident looking at our members. While I know people at Duke who could easily spend over $100 on dining and entertainment each week, many of our members make around $300 per month. In fact, talking about the restaurant Elmo’s with one of the members today, she asked how we could afford to eat out at all.
While the fundamental mission of Threshold has not changed, the logistics are certainly progressing. As opposed to just teaching members basic skills such as cooking, cleaning, and counting money, Threshold offers computer classes and encourages members to keep up with technology. Even if the mentally ill don’t make up a majority of our population, by working with them at Threshold for the past two weeks, I’ve learned that they are skilled, and many are able to function at, or close to, the level of a healthy person. As schizophrenia is often diagnosed between the ages of 18-25, many of our members can, and will make an impact on Durham’s future.
For the financial literacy class, we planned to focus on counting money as cash register etiquette in order to both help Threshold train cashiers for the snack bar and kitchen, as well as help members develop employable cashier skills in the real world. However, as our supervisor describes, having schizophrenia is like trying to carry on with life while simultaneously wearing three sets of headphones all playing different voices. Imaginably, we had some trouble with our first financial literacy class: people were reluctant about showing up (the staff had warned us of this before, many of our members are afraid of the cash register and are hesitant to learn), and the ones who came were already proficient at counting money. Although, after discussing with staff and member, I think we have a plan for next week: we are going to ask the kitchen and snack bar staff and target a few members who would really benefit from the class, and approach them specifically. The members who came were also incredibly sweet and assured us that the class is really helpful and that they would come back for our next session.
The work we do is relevant to Durham’s past, present, and future through our members. Threshold opened in 1985, and many of our members have been a part of Threshold since then. Each of these people is a piece of Durham’s economic past. The issues we talked about in the panel this week regarding the racial and socioeconomic segregation as well as the “two Durhams” are all evident looking at our members. While I know people at Duke who could easily spend over $100 on dining and entertainment each week, many of our members make around $300 per month. In fact, talking about the restaurant Elmo’s with one of the members today, she asked how we could afford to eat out at all.
While the fundamental mission of Threshold has not changed, the logistics are certainly progressing. As opposed to just teaching members basic skills such as cooking, cleaning, and counting money, Threshold offers computer classes and encourages members to keep up with technology. Even if the mentally ill don’t make up a majority of our population, by working with them at Threshold for the past two weeks, I’ve learned that they are skilled, and many are able to function at, or close to, the level of a healthy person. As schizophrenia is often diagnosed between the ages of 18-25, many of our members can, and will make an impact on Durham’s future.