Employee Spotlight
November 13, 2023
Rhonda Barnes-Bell
Vocational Development Specialist
Q: How long have you worked for VA?
A: : I’ve worked for the VA system for 30 years.
Q: What is your current role at VA?
A: I'm a vocational development specialist for the homeless.
Q: Are you aligned under any specific program or are you essentially the whole homeless team?
A: I'm aligned under VA's Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) program. However, I handle VA’s Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) program as a whole, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program, the Grant and Per Diem (GPD) program, and the Veterans Outreach Justice (VJO) program.
It's a partnership. The CWT supervisor is my supervisor; however, I also have a dotted line connection to the Traumatic Brain Injury – Residential Rehabilitation (TBI-RR) homeless program and all the different sections of employment needs.
Q: What is your typical day like as a vocational development specialist?
A: A typical day starts off with me coming into the office with many messages on my phone, since a lot of Veterans call overnight during their work breaks and leave me messages. I check those messages and narrow down what's important and what I need to address right away.
After that, I look through my emails and go through job leads. I have a daily blog with job leads that I send to all my Veterans, even if they're not in the homeless program Then, I begin going through resumes and start working on those. My day is all about employment.
There are certain points of the day where I may hop in the car to check out a job fair that just popped up. Some job fairs are already structured — for example, they’ve told me about them a month in advance, so that'll be on my schedule.
I also work with an organization called Tech for Troops, which helps Veterans with learning basic computer skills and works to provide them with refurbished laptops.
My days fluctuate, but it's all-encompassing of employment.
Q: Why do you believe that employment is important for Veterans who are homeless and formally homeless?
A: In my opinion, it is sad to see a Veteran without income or a roof over his head. These are people who put their lives on the line for us. For them to not be able to take care of themselves is heartbreaking. I've worked with Veterans through all aspects of their VA experience because I'm also a licensed practical nurse, so I understand the medical side as well.
On the employment side, I'm there because employment helps not only to give them some of that self-esteem back, but it also helps them feel secure in their housing.
Housing and employment go hand in hand. You can get them into a place, but if they don't have income, how will they maintain it? You want to keep them motivated and moving.
Q: What do you think most people get wrong about employment and homelessness among Veterans?
A: First, there’s a misconception that they don't want to work. That's a very wrong opinion. Second, many believe homeless Veterans are dependent on the government to take care of them. That's also wrong. And finally, some say that if someone is homeless and not employed, it's their fault.
I've learned in this job, and even in my own life, that employment is hard. I'm an employment specialist, and even if I apply for a job, I'm like, “Did I get it? Did I do it right?” It's not an easy thing, and sometimes you need someone to walk with you through the process of it.
Getting a job is a job. You're sitting down, you're weeding through job posts, and if you don't know where to look, you're lost. There’s a whole bunch of gobbledygook out there, and I help Veterans weed through that. I think people need to understand that our Veterans need a holding hand sometimes.
Q: What's your why for the work that you do?
A: As a nurse — and I still am licensed practical — you get to a point where part of you is tired. But that fatigue doesn't mean you don't still want to help. So, I had to look for another way of helping.
I thought if I went into administration — which I did — that would be fulfilling. But it wasn’t for me. I had no contact with Veterans.
I started my career to help my Vietnam Veteran father learn to love the facility he was staying in. He was under the assumption that it was not a good place to be. I think having me there helped him realize he needed to get what they had to offer him for putting his life on the line. Ever since then, he's been going to VA. He began to love how everything he needs is there.
That’s why it was important to me to maintain my connection to Veterans, and that's why I went into this. My current role is a different way of working with Veterans compared to nursing, but it still allows me to show them love. I feel Veterans need a kind and caring hand. We know they are taught to be rough and strong. That does not mean they don’t need tenderness and lightheartedness.
