Anna R Mancheski

I really enjoy helping others. Instead of looking at things in life, I try to figure out how you piece them and make them more positive to kind of move forward. Everyone comes from somewhere, everyone has something, but moving forward, looking into the future - I really like working with people and just kind of helping them find their own path. Pretty much what I'm doing as a case manager is trying to put their problems together, a plan. My big thing is I want them to be independent. I feel like anything where I can self-advocate for anyone, or the community, or go and help, or educate - that really makes, that is my passion, not just in my career, that's just what I like to do. I like teaching people how to be resilient. That's what I would say - resilience.

Don't hold yourself back in the past. Move forward. The past can't hurt you. I had one of my very first bosses say that to me, and that's why it stuck with me. He was my first big boss out of college when I was getting my first degree in 2013, and he just always checked in, he was always great. Whenever I needed something, or a reference, or going to school, he'd always message on Facebook, just a good check-in, a good coach. That's how a coach should be - not just getting onto your personal level, but staying and checking in on your professional level. That really sets you apart from a boss to a supervisor to a mentor. A mentor is someone that's always constantly looking out for your best interests, even if it's 10 years down the road, and it's the same treatment since you worked for them.

Don't give up. You're gonna have doors closed. When doors are closing, a new one's gonna open, even if it doesn't lead to the successful path you had planned. At least you tried and can look back at all the paths you tried. Gaining those skills will actually make you much better, much more well-rounded for the next step in your life. It can help you with anything - can help you with a divorce, can help you with loss of family, grief, mental health. Just knowing that you did something, versus sat in fear, not trying. That's what I would like to teach someone that's just starting out.

The need for workers in social work, counseling, and mental health is an extreme need, but there's also a very high turnover rate. There are financial constraints - the government's cutting agencies. Wisconsin has been pretty protected right now, but I pay attention to that because I know I work as a case manager for Medicaid, and anytime those funds can go away. As much as I might be secured, it's really not. In the mental health world, they're cutting helplines for suicide and all those right now. A lot of nonprofits are really taking a hit because they're not going to be getting the money this next year. I know a lot of my coworkers in treatment facilities - all of it - the funds are not going to be there. So I think the need for social work is huge, but a big challenge for me is I financially can't go back to finish to get my license. I have more than enough hours and experience to be a licensed social worker or go as a counselor, but I physically can't go back to school to get $60,000, $100,000 more debt on my plate with a family. So I'm kind of stuck.

Setting healthy boundaries where I'm still able to have fun. That would be like setting aside time, maybe scheduling - like this past weekend, I scheduled a family night on Saturday night, made all of my kids included. We went to a coffee shop, and we just played board games for a couple hours. Just setting fun things that maybe aren't expensive, because right now it's really hard for even a family to go out to eat something cheap, it's expensive. But just trying to - I really look forward to just spending time with people. People are important. I value that time. I'm new to this balance, because before, being a firefighter and just in the emergency service world, you always had to put everybody's needs first. When I became a crisis counselor, that really taught me, because setting boundaries is a coping skill that we forget about. That's what makes all of us go off wires, not giving ourselves our own breaks. So that really helped me reset becoming a case manager.