Recently I have had conversations that address the topic of access to community services and addressing the needs of individuals within the community. My take is that services are layered. There are entry level services that community members need or seek. They are services that have limited ability to solve a problem. However, once they have approached and applied for this service — they now gain access to auxiliary services that will piggy back on the initial request.

This piggybacking of services will begin to resolve some problems and alleviate some issues but not all. It also requires significant effort on the part of the individual that is requesting them. These services are accessed through a network of individuals that are connected to the initial service.

Thus there is no single one call does it all solution for those in need but rather a series of requests and applications and band-aids that are time consuming and sometimes frustrating to access. They require persistence, tenacity, and resilience as you will often hear no, or go here, or ask this person.

The difficulty that I see is that often the persons in need often do not have the skills or resources to do this. They have not been taught the skills that are required. And it becomes a full time job, at an emotionally, financially and spiritually devastating point to access this network. They are seeking a single point of entry, someone who provides hope, a gateway, access to the community of services, be it university or community or state or federal programs. If only life were just this simple.

An unemployed single mother, has multiple problems to resolve quickly, and dwindling resources that she must protect at all costs. A 55 year old woman that loses her job in the midst of breast cancer is emotionally and physically unable to deal with the onslaught of complexities and demands that will occur as her healthcare, financial and social structures fail her.

The success that you have is dependent on the network of individuals that you have cultivated and your ability to suddenly “in your moment of crisis” cultivate a new network of people to help you. Your social skills, your communication skills and your ability to ask for help, to accept the insight and guidance of others and to trust this unknown system with graciousness are key to accessing this new network.