In the Field With...Risa Vendittuoli, BSW

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In the Field With…

Risa Vendittuoli, BSW

By Tom Frisk, ATM-S, CL

Editor

Risa Vendittuoli loves being the Supportive Housing Services Coordinator for The Housing Council in Rochester, NY. That’s because she’s good at it – not because it took more than a year to land another human services position.

Despite spending most of her career in human services, Vendittuoli endured a stretch of unemployment – and underemployment – from July, 2004 to November, 2005. She had worked in various disciplines, such as clinical, coordination and supervision. She had worked with teens, foster children, families and veterans. She had a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) with honors. She even belonged to four professional organizations.

And still nothing.

Or, at least, nothing much. Vendittuoli took the occasional short-term assignments she took to put a few drops of gas in her tank, but when they ended, she was at the job search equivalent of Ground Zero.

“I was depressed,” Vendittuoli said, “but my faith and my family got me through.”

She also stayed busy, she said, by using free computer time at her local Department of Labor office, and with outside projects.

“My projects really helped get me through” the low points, Vendittuoli, a part-time landlord, said. “I did a lot of painting and renovating of my rental.”

But after sending more than 100 resumes, she was no closer to resuming her career, which troubled her. Given her focused career and impressive academic credentials, she knew she was born to help people for a living. Still, after more than a year of fruitless resume submissions and interviews, she felt like she was on the outside of her field, looking in.

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Why was it so hard to find work? “Some agencies wanted more education,” Vendittuoli said, pointing toward the growing non-profit trend toward Master of Social Work (MSW) degrees.

"I (also) think God had his finger on me to have me sit still. It gave me a chance to go to my acupuncture appointments and deal with” other health issues, she said. headaches.”

Vendittuoli couldn’t find paying human services work, so she did the next best thing. She volunteered at the Veteran's Outreach, which helped satisfy her need to help. One of the managers there, however, connected her with another agency, which referred her to another, which faxed her resume to The Housing Council, where she’s currently employed.

She said her grant-funded position is incredibly rewarding, as well as incredibly varied. Vendittuoli helps families and singles that are “either homeless or close to homeless,” adding that only ten percent of her clients are single people.

“I deal with a lot clients who have mental health and dependency issues,” Vendittuoli said. “A lot of my clients are calling from shelters. I connect them with programs and benefits.”

She also covers shifts on the hotline. Vendittuoli said she fields calls from landlords and tenants who have housing-related questions.

While most of her clients are 40 to 60 years old, she does occasionally have the anomaly. “I recently had two teenagers,” she said.

Her favorite part of the job? “I love the independence of being able to do whatever I do without someone standing over me,” Vendittuoli answered, alluding to past employers who micro-managed.

“I’m not getting out as much as I used to,” she said. She added that most of the outreach she had done prior before was face to face, but in current position, her outreach is from her office.

“I’m so much more happy than I was before,” Vendittuoli quickly added. “They were trying to micromanage and that was depressing. Here, nobody can do what I do.”