News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Amanda Schuelke, the in-house social worker for the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office sits at her desk earlier this week.

ALPENA — Amanda Schuelke, the in-house social worker for the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office, continues to do her best to represent clients and make sure they receive the help they need.

“The whole goal is to prevent them from reoffending,” Schuelke said. “To keep them motivated to take care of themselves and feel like the best version of themselves.”

As the social worker for the defender office, Schuelke has a large number of tasks and responsibilities that can range from anywhere from legal to logistical. Primarily, Schuelke acts as a liaison between the clients and the services they need.

“I always say I’m like their annoying sister or cousin or aunt or whatever they want to label me as,” Schuelke said about how she sees her relationship with clients. “I will call them with reminders [of court dates], give bus tickets so that they can make it to court, take them to (the) Salvation Army so they have clothes to work, help them pick up their medication, I assist in all of that stuff, and if I can’t, I have a whole load of resources.”

The Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office represents clients from Alpena, Alcona, Montmorency, Presque Isle, and now Oscoda counties. As the only in-house social worker with the office, Schuelke currently works with 144 clients, though she specified, on average, she works with 4-5 clients a week.

“Every time I meet with someone, I always say that our door is open,” Schuelke said. “That way they always have somewhere to go. I’m not calling 144 people every day.”

Schuelke’s career in social work started in high school with a desire to be a psychiatric nurse. Eventually, the areas that she took the most enjoyment in were best achieved through a career in social work. After graduating from high school, Schuelke immediately started working at the Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority for nearly 15 years.

While with Community Mental Health, Schuelke worked in a program called the Supported Independent Program where she worked as a direct care worker.

As a direct care worker, Schuelke worked with individuals with severe mental disabilities and taught them how to live outside of the hospital system.

“I was a person who was teaching people how to live as independently as possible in their own homes and communities versus being in a psychiatric hospital or a group home,” Schuelke said.

Schuelke went on to become an emergency responder in the Supported Independent Program and eventually a supervisor before going back to school to receive her bachelor’s degree in social work.

Schuelke then went on to work as a hospital discharge planner and a jail liaison.

While working as a jail liaison, Schuelke participated in a program called jail diversions that seeks to help individuals arrested during mental health emergencies avoid jail time as they go through the court system.

As long as the crime committed wasn’t a felony, an individual meets the criteria of the program and is approved by the prosecutor, they are helped through mental health treatment and kept in the community.

It was this work that eventually inspired Schuelke to take her current position with the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office.

“That was my favorite part,” Schuelke said about her time working on the jail diversions program. “That was a big part that inspired me into wanting this job.”