Elm Street Reflection

Elm Street Reflection

Today we had the privilege of having Kelly from the Elm Street facility here in Dubuque come talk to us about her job as a probation/parole officer. Kelly stated that she works with clients who are either "half way to prison or half way home". This must be a tough job, Kelly works with all sorts of people who don't cooperate well with authority. Kelly stated that her job is to help manage the lives of her clients. She is there to assist the clients and to point them in the right direction. Once again Kelly has the difficult task of keeping track of people who are having a tough time being able to manage their own lives. Kelly told us that the worst people to deal with on her case load is the probations because they just straight up don't get it. Most of her probationers haven't been to prison so they have yet to experience hard time. The number one rule that Kelly and the other staff try to get across the clients is to be where you say you're going to be. I can see why this would be a huge concern for the staff at Elm Street because the individuals she is working with obviously don't have the greatest track record for doing what they said they'd be doing.

Kelly also helps her clients regulate their money. All clients must have a job or be actively pursuing one. They pay $19.00 to stay at Elm Street each day, but also get fed three times each day. It sounds like the staff at Elm Street treats their clients like reasonable adults and with respect as they should. I believe they give their clients the best opportunity possible to succeed.