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Chicagoan Sabrina*, 46, thought she had a sinus infection when she headed to the emergency room. However, it was much more serious. She had a hole in her heart that required emergency surgery, and she had a stroke during the operation. A brain scan revealed stroke damage, and Sabrina underwent months of cardiac and physical rehabilitation therapy.
After finishing therapy and thinking the worst was behind her, Sabrina went back to work at a Chicago supply chain and logistics company.
As she returned to work, she began to experience memory issues. She struggled to learn some new processes and found herself asking the same questions over and over again. Some of her colleagues were supportive, but her boss started to comment on her performance. Ultimately, she was laid off from work.
Being laid off had a significant impact on Sabrina’s finances — as well as on her confidence.
“I was starting to doubt myself. I knew something was off, but I didn’t know what it was,” she said.
Finally, Sabrina got an appointment with a psychiatrist. Tests showed that in addition to her vision, the stroke had affected Sabrina’s short-term memory. Her psychiatrist referred her to an occupational therapist at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab to help with her memory issues.
Despite improvements to her memory, she remained unemployed after months of job searching — and it was starting to take a toll on her confidence. Though Sabrina has a degree in logistics and supply chain management, she was not sure she was ready to jump back into the fast-paced field.
Fortunately, Sabrina’s occupational therapist referred her to the vocational rehabilitation program at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Vocational rehabilitation counselors help people with disabilities find jobs or return to employment. They also ensure that people have the support they need to be successful at their positions. Most private insurance plans do not cover vocational rehabilitation services, but the department is funded through donations by Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and the services are free.
Sabrina met virtually with Jennifer Barthel, a veteran vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselor.
“I liked her from the start,” remembers Jennifer. “She is very easy to talk to. I felt she would be a good candidate for what we do here.
“In our first meeting, we talked about what was going on and I gathered information related to her medical situation and her employment situation, including what she had done on the job and how that ended in a termination,” said Jennifer. “We also looked at her financial and social situations and how she was being impacted all around. I consulted with her therapist at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab to hear how she was doing and learn about her readiness to start the process of addressing new employment goals, because that was very much what Sabrina wanted to focus on. At that point, we came up with a plan to start thinking about new employment goals, identifying the types of jobs that she might be most successful in at this time.”
Sabrina acknowledges that she was doubting herself when she started VR counseling. She was particularly worried about explaining why she had left her last position and the gap in her employment related to her health issues.
“Jennifer was helpful and kind and willing to go the extra mile for me because she saw I was trying,” said Sabrina. “She told me how to address the employment gap by answering truthfully but vaguely. I would say something like ‘I took some time off for self-care and to regroup.’ It answered the question without me having to mention emergency surgery and a stroke.”
Sabrina also remembers being a little overwhelmed when she heard she needed to customize her resume for each job application. Working together, Sabrina and Jennifer decided that instead of returning right away to logistics, Sabrina should apply for some customer service positions to begin to build back work skills and confidence.
To help her prepare for those kinds of interviews, Jennifer reached out to a human resources executive with a large, national retail chain who sits on Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s Business Board.
The Business Board is made up of executives from a variety of local companies to advise the hospital on what’s going on in the business world.
In some cases, the corporate executives on the team work directly with vocational rehabilitation clients by doing mock job interviews. Jennifer thought Sabrina would benefit from the coaching.
“I felt like she needed some coaching to feel like she could get back in the saddle again. We also helped her understand that she had a lot of strengths,” said Jennifer.
Sabrina enjoyed the mock interview and appreciated the executive’s constructive feedback.
“It was instrumental, as far as rebuilding confidence, knowing what they're going to ask, the tone to use, how to answer the question without over explaining. It was just like fine tuning my interviewing skills,” said Sabrina. “Plus, I hadn't interviewed in several years, and interviewing has kind of changed, so it was good. It really helped me in my interviews.”
After months of sending out as many as 20 resumes a day and advancing far into the interview process without being selected for the job, Sabrina landed a position as a claims representative for a company that handles employee leave-of-absence requests for Fortune 500 corporations.
She was able to quickly pick up on the specifics of her new job, which boosted her confidence even more. Sabrina is happy to have steady income once again and is considering an eventual return to her former field of logistics.
“I’m grateful for the job I have, but I’m ready for a bigger challenge,” said Sabrina.
*Reader note: Sabrina’s name has been changed in this article to protect her anonymity as she is actively employed.