One of Caseload # 138’s Shining Star Success Clients is Ms Tanya Castillo Flores. She applied for DETR services on 04/05/2016 and her initial Intake Interview was 4/6/16. She was deemed “Eligible” for DETR Services on 4/28/2016 with a diagnosis of 289.9 Psychotic Disorder NOS as well as a history of polysubstance abuse. She was receiving SSDI due to her psychological disability. She has been with DETR for 7 years. She is a single mother with twins.
Through Counseling and Guidance and with the support and encouragement of the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Tanya originally enrolled at Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) in 2016 in the Associate of Arts degree program in Early Child Education. She was already working as a mentor and volunteer in the Enliven Program. Although her education at TMCC was primarily funded by PELL grant monies, BVR was instrumental in providing necessary funds for two (2) summer sessions that were not covered by financial aid, Required Textbooks not covered by Pell Grant monies, Transportation (gas card privilege), math classes not covered by financial aid, costs associated with Tanya’s practicum/internships, a new laptop computer for school, job placement assistance, job-seeking skills preparation including resume’ writing and improving her interviewing skills, and new Interview and work clothing.
Tanya maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout her TMCC degree program. She earned an Associate of Arts degree at TMCC awarded on May 18th, 2018.
She continued to dream of becoming a social worker but questioned herself and her abilities to obtain her goal. Again, through Counseling and Guidance provided by the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and with the unconditional support from DETR staff, Tanya enrolled at UNR in the Bachelor’s degree program in social work. DETR continued to assist Tanya with those services not covered by the Pell Grant monies, paying for required textbooks, transportations costs, and also graduated from UNR maintaining a GPA above 3.5 with a Bachelor of Social Worker on May 14, 2020.
Following graduation from both colleges, Tanya requested BVR/DETR services to prepare her for the workforce. The RV Counselor referred Tanya to our Internal Job Development Team to help her write a great resume’, learn Job-Seeking Skills, apply for jobs in her field and follow-up accordingly, and taught her cutting-edge Interviewing Skills.
Emboldened with her newly acquired skills, Tanya began applying for jobs and was recently hired full-time as a Teacher within the Washoe County School District. In May 2022 she reported to BVR/DETR staff that she has maintained her employment with WCSD and reports she “loves (her) job!” She is now confident to maintain employment on her own and requested DETR finally close her case “Successful.”
When DETR staff effusively congratulated this outstanding student and DETR client, Ms Castillo Flores graciously stated: “I could not have done it without the awesome support of DETR staff. Thank you so very much for everything.” She also stated (02/13/2022: “I’m finished with school. Thank you for all the help and for all that you do. I can’t stress how much Voc. Rehab. helped me tremendously in my endeavors.
Sincerely,
Tanya Castillo Flores.”
