Anthony Glenn has had a wildly diverse career.
Now, he’s a return-to-work coordinator on the RETAIN Kentucky project at HDI, but through the years, he’s worked at a number of different jobs across the state.
“Prior to coming to HDI, I was a secondary education history teacher for ten years. Once I became a licensed clinical mental health counselor, I served as executive director of Salvation Army for five years and later executive director of Job Corps for four years,” Glenn said. “I currently own a real estate company whereby we provide adequate housing and mental health services to the homeless.”
There’s a common theme in each of these wildly divergent fields, though – empowerment. Glenn said that he enjoys helping people find the means to push past challenging circumstances and excel through hardship.
“What I enjoy most about my work is having the opportunity to empower individuals to believe and hope again in the face of crippling circumstances,” he said.
And HDI certainly offers him a good opportunity to do that. HDI caught his attention with the RETAIN project, which provides stay-at-work and return-to-work case management services to people who acquired an illness or injury outside of the workplace, making it difficult for them to work.
Now, as a return to work coordinator, he’s helping another group excel through adversity.
“As return-to-work coordinator, I am responsible for carrying out an organized system designed to bring injured or disabled employees safely back into the work environment as soon as they are medically capable,” he said, adding that this often involves organizing for accommodations within the workplace”.
“As I try to return an injured or ill worker to work as part of the return-to-work plan, it may be necessary to modify that employee’s job to help him or her meet the position’s demands,” he said. “These job accommodations may be short or long-term, and they often change as the employee’s abilities change.”
With this work, Glenn has been able to help eligible RETAIN participants and employers maintain their employees and talent. He is proud of that work – as he tells it, it’s good for the organizations and the individuals.
“I came to HDI upon hearing about RETAIN and the opportunity to do something a little differently in terms of social services,” he said. “My proudest achievements at work are the success stories of how we are able to assist our participants with bettering their lives.”