Scott is 23 and has been involved with OHI since he was referred for therapeutic foster care at 14. For the past four years, however, his connection has been employment-oriented — OHI provides him with support services that enable him, despite a struggle with mental illness, to hold a job in the community. Since July 2005, that job has been as a maintenance worker at the Orono, ME, police barracks where he sweeps, mops, strips, buffs and vacuums for four hours, four days a week. His OHI job coach is an energetic woman named Nellie who works right alongside Scott to ensure every corner is scrubbed and every bathroom gleaming. "If I don't show Scott the way I think it should be done, then I'm not doing my job," she says. "But it's his responsibility; he has to learn to use the machines and do the work." Nellie also coaches Scott on what she calls "soft skills" — his attitude, timeliness, appropriate dress and ability to interact with others — skills he needs to succeed in any job and to find and keep one on his own in the future. After several months of working together, Nellie says, Scott has learned to take suggestions, but more importantly, he's become a self-starter who takes pride in his work. Wesley Hussey, a lieutenant with the Orono police, agrees. "This is a very busy place with 24-hour dispatch and vehicle maintenance, so it gets a lot of traffic, and it gets dirty fast," says Lt. Hussey. "But Scott keeps the building the cleanest it's ever been — he's very detail-oriented. "We still laugh about the day he was down on his hands and knees in the dispatch room quietly scrubbing where the chairs roll on the floor, and one of the dispatchers almost rolled over him. He's so conscientious and personable — and very patient and respectful when people are busy and can't leave the offices he needs to clean." Best of all, Scott feels good about what he's doing, and is particularly proud that he recently mastered a new buffing machine in just one day. "This job is a great fit for me," says Scott. "I can handle it. I can do it. " According to OHI Program/Budget Manager Linda Huntington, that outlook is the real goal of all OHI support services. "We want people to become as independent as possible," she says. "Our job is to work ourselves out of a job."