A Bird Set Free - A Poem by Haylee Dortch

By Haylee Dortch, Case Manager

My name is Haylee Dortch, a recent graduate from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I’m now a full-time case manager at the WellHouse!

I went into social work wondering which population would call to me. It wasn’t long at all before God called me into this amazing community of hard-working clinicians and inspiring survivors. My position as an advocate or case worker is to help the residents navigate the program, meet immediate needs, seek and ensure care including medical, dental, psychiatric etc.

I help the residents with their legal issues, to help them secure their identity documents, to plan and to budget with them but also to motivate & encourage them! I am one of two case managers at the WellHouse. I introduce the residents into the program and work with them for the first three months they are with us.

This is a very intense time for us all.  It’s a special moment to meet a new resident for intake and it’s a heartfelt moment when they move into the core program…  In all, this three months is quite a transformative and beautiful thing to experience, and this is the inspiration for my poem, A Bird Set Free.

A Bird Set Free

By Haylee Dortch, WellHouse Case Manager

Intake and arrival

Dared the transition, scared of her position

and mind still on survival

Paperwork complete, multidisciplinary team

And now it's the other girls to meet 

Legal, lawyers

Court cases and calls

Emotions building, therapists for listening

Now the classes begin

Patience a little thin

But we fill this space with grace

And God has a plan

Together we provide the helping hands

To uplift

and observe their shift

To me, 

There's no place I'd rather be

than to see,

a bird set free...