Each week we will post interesting and representative 211 calls. This week, we have a connection from New Brunswick:

A 211 Service Navigator received a call from a woman in New Brunswick, who identified as being low-income and having a 13 year old son with special needs. She had been advocating on behalf of her son and was struggling to make the right connections to services. Additionally, the caller had no access to the internet at home which was making it difficult to find resources and creating stress for the caller. 

The Service Navigator acknowledged the unique challenges the caller faced and began to offer emotional support to help the caller feel deescalate from her initial distress. She asked a number of probing questions to understand who the caller had previously been in contact with and to avoid duplicative referrals in order to focus on better outcomes for the caller. A number of possible referrals were identified and given the multiple challenges being faced by the caller, the Service Navigator offered to provide advocacy on her behalf. The Service Navigator sent an email to a local agency on behalf of the caller, explaining her situation and her needs, took the callers contact information and arranged for follow up when the information was received. A few days later the Service Navigator received a response from the local agency saying they had reached out to the caller to inform her that they would be able to assist with the family’s needs and that the loop had been closed to ensure the caller was receiving support.