As a Vocational Rehabilitation counselor and manager, Jay Jasper of Sacramento, CA shares his personal views on what makes an effective VR program.
Jay Jasper is a proponent of Dr. Jordan B Peterson, who warns against nihilism in a life full of struggles, pain, and anxiety. JBP says that the only thing that makes our inevitable suffering tolerable is meaning. The way to obtain meaning is through voluntarily assuming maximum responsibility. Shoulder the heaviest load you can bear. Use your God-given talents and interests to serve others. Start where you are and grow from there.
Before becoming the undisputed middleweight boxing champion of the world, Marvelous Marvin Hagler worked in construction for 8 years. He told columnist Red Smith in a 1980 interview that he took pride in his work ethic and finished product: “I was the best cement worker in Massachusetts.” He took that ethic with him to the professional arena, where he became the undisputed middleweight champion. Marvin was undefeated for 11 years.
Difficult jobs can also serve as a driving force. Jay Jasper once worked in a call center for Wells Fargo Bank’s investments. He referred to it as a corporate sweat shop, with hovering managers who scrutinize every phone call to shave seconds off the average call time. Customers often fail to see humanity in a customer service representative.
Jay Jasper states, “I knew I couldn’t continue in that line of work. I was willing to do whatever it took to stop being a ‘phone monkey’ and never go back. I decided to get a master’s degree in School and Career Counseling. I was determined to do something that was tolerable and, hopefully, meaningful.”
It was the phone job that created the initial motivation, but Jay’s passion for the subjects soon took over. He loved working with transition aged youth while working for Turning Point Community Services in Sacramento. Jay was able to do complete his internship hours for the career piece of his MS degree. He later did his School Counseling internship for the Elk Grove Unified School District.
Jay received his Masters degree in May 2003. Around this time, California Governor Gray Davis was recalled. Public school districts restricted their hiring. Jay had been applying for 2 to 3 jobs per day, but none were working out. Being short on funds, Jay deleted his MS degree from his resume and applied outside of the counseling field. He landed a job at Citibank as a Client Financial Analyst. He worked in this role from March 2004 to October 2005.
A school counselor resigned from Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, CA. This was a one-hour drive in each direction. To save gas money, Jay would often ride his bike 5 miles to the Amtrak in downtown Sacramento, then take the train to Suisun, CA. This was an 8-mile ride due east. Some days the high winds were so fierce that it was nearly impossible to ride to work. Jay discovered why they were referred to as the Diablo winds. Diablo means devil, and that’s what they were. In fact, Suisun got its name in 1811 from the Suisunes tribe. They were a group of Patwin Indians, and “Suisun” means “where the west wind blows” in their language.
This is how Jay Jasper got his foot in the door as a school counselor. After a year of that, he accepted a job in line with the Elk Grove USD as a Transition Specialist. The role was to ensure special education youth in the Florin region of EGUSD were prepared to transition into adult life, whether it was college, training, or employment. Jay claimed that his transition into his new career helped guide young adults who were facing a transition from high school to adulthood.