Presenting a Christmas Family: Counselor and Clients
I want to share with you Jennifer Zietz’s Christmas story. Because Jennifer, 27, of La Habra, has a pretty good sense of what the holiday is all about. . . .
Jennifer started out as a hairdresser. She used to go to the group home where her older sister, Marnie Hasty, lives, to cut hair for Marnie and her friends. The group home is operated by the Regional Center of Orange County. That’s a private but government-funded program for the developmentally disabled.
Marnie was proud to have her sister fuss over them, but Jennifer decided that wasn’t enough. “Cutting hair is such a vain profession,” she told me this week. “I just knew I had to do more.”
So Jennifer sought a job with the Regional Center, to get more deeply involved with those like her sister. The Regional Center, funded through the state’s Department of Developmental Services, serves about 10,000 clients in Orange County.
Jennifer began as a substitute for staffers ill or on vacation, but after six months, got a job with its contract STEP (Service to Employ People) Program. It assists the developmentally disabled in finding jobs, then monitors their progress. Jennifer is now a STEP counselor/job coach, with three clients assigned to her--Cody German, 55, Sheri Mangum, 40, and Ron Roesch, 34.
She found them all jobs. Sheri and Ron work at a Pizza Hut in Anaheim; Cody works at a 7-Eleven store in Fullerton. Her main role now, Jennifer says, “Is to get them through their day and put a smile on their faces.”
When she isn’t supervising their work, she’s setting up reinforcement programs for them. Cody, she explained, absolutely loves potato chips. So when he meets certain behavioral standards--getting to work on time, not shouting, as he tends to do--she rewards him with a bag of potato chips. Sheri gets small rewards for money management.
Working so directly with the mentally disabled, something evolved I don’t think Jennifer Zietz could have foreseen. Counselor-client became friend-friend. Which became important for the clients, especially Cody and Sheri. Neither of them has any family. None at all. They’ve just got Jennifer.
That’s why on this Christmas, a most special time for many of us who do have families, Cody and Sheri will spend their holiday with Jennifer. Plus her husband, Matt, and 9-year-old son Joel, all at Jennifer’s parents home in Villa Park.
Dennis and Donna Hasty, Jennifer and Marnie’s parents, welcomed their daughter’s suggestion. Cody and Sheri were their guests last year for Christmas, and likely will be for many Christmases to come.
“Cody and Sheri have been talking about it for months,” Jennifer said. “Just being a part of a family for Christmas means so much to them.”
Maybe it’s no big deal for a counselor to invite her clients home for Christmas. But I thought you’d like to hear about it. Regional Center officials boasted to me how marvelously Cody and Sheri have grown under Jennifer Zietz’s tutelage. But Jennifer has grown as well. And she’s working hard to help many of us grow a little too.
Sadly, Jennifer said, she still comes across employers who resist hiring the developmentally disabled. They don’t know what they’re missing, she insists.
“Once we finally do place such a person with a job, those employers want to hire more, because they find out that our people work hard and never complain,” she said. “No task is too small for them to volunteer to do.”
Too often, she said, we fail to understand that a person’s mental impairments do not mean he or she is stupid.
“Sheri can’t drive a car, but she can read a Thomas Brothers map backwards and forwards. She could get you to Big Bear from here by reading the map. She also knows the winners of the World Series for the last 20 years. Sheri is actually brilliant; you just wouldn’t know it from talking with her.”
I should mention a couple of wonderful byproducts of Jennifer Zietz’s work.
One is, she has become closer than ever to her sister Marnie, who is 29. Jennifer said: “We were always close, but now I’ve learned to respect her more. I understand more what it takes for her to make it through each day.”
The Regional Center, Jennifer said, has helped her sister’s self-confidence “skyrocket.” Marnie works at a Hof’s Hut restaurant. She gets a ride to work, but walks back to the group home on her own.
Also, Jennifer can see the effect her work has had on her son.
“Joel is able to see past someone’s disabilities,” she said. “Children tend to see people’s faults. But Joel can see what’s inside people. I think it’s because of people like Cody and Sheri. And Marnie.”
Jennifer’s mother, Donna Hasty, quite naturally is proud of both her daughters. She said she and her husband are delighted to share their Christmas with Cody and Sheri.
“Jennifer is their best friend,” she said. “It takes a very special person to do what she does.”
Wrap-Up: I asked Jennifer Zietz if she’s had any regrets that she so dramatically shifted careers. Her response:
“This job is not for everybody. But it’s something I needed. Just like this Christmas: Cody and Sheri needed a place to go today, but really, this was for me. Having them spend the day with my family is my Christmas present to myself.”
Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by call-ing the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail tojerry.hicks@latimes.com