Tender Mercies, Inc.

Juliana Lavey, Summer 2019

My summer at Tender Mercies was spent planning events for the residents and getting to know many of them. I spent time in my office planning events surrounding exercise programs, nutrition workshops, and stress management skills. All together, I planned and executed 16 unique events, not including painting and coloring events that I hosted multiple times. I hoped to be engaging residents to advocate for their own health. My goal was to create fun and interactive group health sessions that made these concepts fun and accessible to everyone in order to promote better health outcomes for residents. Planning and executing these workshops came with their own challenges, like finding creative ways to promote attendance (usually healthy snacks) and being confident in answering questions and admitting when I didn't know the answer.

At the beginning of my time at Tender Mercies, my supervisor informed me that residents have a lot of people coming in and out of their lives: case workers, volunteers, counselors, and others. This revolving door of people can be very difficult, especially given the residents' histories of mental illness, it can affect the ways they form attachments. They are often not given formal introductions, the opportunity to form solid relationships, or the chance to say goodbye when those relationships meet their natural end. So, in part, my consistent presence at Tender Mercies was a benefit in and of itself. I would sit and chat with residents, offer good mornings and well-wishes, and practice maintaining a professional relationship with them. Also, by offering an introductory Meet & Greet and a final Send-Off Party, my site supervisor emphasized this as allowing residents to have a clear beginning and end to a relationship.

A significant part of my contribution this summer was being available to chat, listen, and answer basic health questions. Many of the events listed under “stress management” also doubled as an opportunity to sit with and listen to the residents, getting to know each of their stories.

There was a mutual benefit for both myself and the residents as I made myself available to hear stories and chat with them. I learned more than I ever could have anticipated about the life of a low-income individual in downtown Cincinnati. I heard in detail what it is like living in the mind of a person with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Many residents looked forward to telling me stories, and I looked forward to listening with an open mind and heart.

The residents of Tender Mercies are a unique vulnerable population in that they all have suffered from chronic homelessness and struggle with some form of severe and persistent mental illness. Like many Americans, the residents also suffer from diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and chronic stress. My project looked at several ways to address these issues while leaving the residents with lasting ways they can pursue their own health.

Download Juliana's poster (.pptx)