This morning I had coffee with an executive from a very well-respected local agency. We were talking about self-direction, managed care, and many of the other large scale changes happening in our world when we took a moment to ruminate on the fact that this is a very pivotal time.
Sure, many of the changes are terrifying to think about and I'm not sure any of us are very clear on how we're going to get from here to there - but that's the exciting part! We have a chance to make a real difference and shape the way that things go.
During this conversation, I shared that I'd spoken with a mentor who has been in the field for longer than I've been alive and he admitted to feeling very guilty and ashamed for some of the things he'd taken part in and condoned during the early part of his career (shock therapy, horrific instituational practices etc.)
The gentleman I was having coffee with then shared that his agency has every new hire watch Willowbrook videos as part of their training - and how absolutely horrendous and awful it is for everyone to see.
We're not where we need to be for sure, but it's really encouraging to look back and see how far we've already come. For us, this morning, that begged a very important question: what will people think of what we're doing now, twenty years down the line?
