Maureen Gahan, '76
Social Worker for the Disabled
Alumni Profile -- (Fall 1998 Newsletter)
"I put great stock in the mystery of life. Doing this
sort of work allows me to see the great mysteries of creation,
and I find it a great privilege to be doing what I'm doing."
For the past 15 years, Maureen Gahan, ("76) has cared
for the "mysteries of life" people, young and old,
who suffer from profound physical, mental and social disabilities.
She is Director of the Community Living Services Program for
Stone Belt Arc, a large social services agency located in
south central Indiana.
From a central office located on the campus of Indiana University
in Bloomington, Gahan supervises 150 staff employees and 100
volunteers who work in 50 residential locations throughout
a four-county area. The organization was founded by parents
who wanted to provide a better alternative for care of disabled
family members than that offered in state-run institutions.
One of her locations is a group home for medically-fragile
children who have a variety of physical and mental disabilities.
Another is a group home for older children who have severe
behavioral problems. Most of them have lived "a veritable
Hell on Earth," having been exposed to a life of physical
and/or sexual abuse.
She tries to integrate these children into the community
by placing them in schools and churches, and helping them
get jobs as well. "The group homes have a very spiritual
effect on the community," she says. "Someone might
not be able to get you your hamburger as fast as you'd like,
but there's something infinitely better about letting them
try to serve you than hiding them off in the hills of Indiana.
Most people I think come to recognize the value of that."
She also supervises "respite" services for families
who need training or assistance in caring for disabled members
who require specialized medical care, such as the insertion
of feeding tubes or other medication. Once, when she couldn't
find a home that had suitable living arrangements for disabled
clients, she arranged to build them her own. "We sat
down with a napkin one day and drew our model "barrier-free"
home." That design turned, eventually, into nine homes.
Gahan stumbled into this work 15 years ago, when she had
decided to not do the dissertation that was standing in the
way of her Ph.D. at Indiana University in the History and
Philosophy of Science. She wanted "hands-on" work
and had a knack for working in special education. "I
liked working with the forgotten ones," she says. She
stuck with it and last July became director of the program.
In spite of the seemingly hopeless conditions she encounters,
Gahan is inspired and energized by her work. "You can
always see the mystery and presence of God in their lives
and the healing power of grace, especially in the bleakest
moments. You can't imagine how beautiful that can be."
Gahan is completing a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family
Therapy Pastoral Counseling at nearby Christian Theological
Seminary. "Much of what I do is in creating communities
and this degree is helping me see how best to do that here.
I don't want to be your average social worker with a psychology
degree."
But it was her experience at the College for which she is
most grateful. "TAC showed me how to make meaning out
of life on a profoundly spiritual level. It taught me how
to think, to analyze, to articulate my ideas and persuade
others of them. I feel a debt of gratitude I can never repay."
No doubt Gahan's clients think the same of her.
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