Volunteer Profile: Gale Coddington
American Red Cross of Northern Colorado Disaster Mental Health Volunteer
By Rick Padden, Red Cross Public Affairs Volunteer
Name: Gale Coddington
Location: Johnstown
Volunteer Position: CPEP (Community Preparedness & Education Program); Preparedness DCS (Disaster Cycle Services) Trainee – NOCO, Disaster Mental Health DCS Member – NOCO, Disaster Mental Health DCS Service Associate – CO-WY
Length of service: 1 1/2 years
Deployments: 2 (last year’s wildfires, virtually, mental health lead; and two weeks, virtually, for Hurricane Laura)
Armed with a degree in fashion merchandising from CSU, young Gale Coddington tried her hand at retail. It didn’t go well. “I was interested in people,” she said, “not so much in making sales. I wanted to know what was going on with them; what they were up to, so I’d just talk with them.” Getting into people’s heads – listening to them, trying to understand their needs and ultimately, helping them – would end up being the focus of her entire professional career. It also happened to be the primary skill-set that she would bring to the American Red Cross as a volunteer last year, joining the Disaster Mental Health Services team.
Coddington had returned to school and earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Denver; became a licensed clinical social worker and also earned a certification in oncology.
Oncology? Yes, oncology. She said she’d been interning in the intensive care unit at McKee Hospital in Loveland for a year, when she was offered the position of social worker – a slot that hadn’t existed in the unit prior to her arrival.
Eventually, Coddington learned that McKee had been considering opening a cancer center, put her name in for consideration and was accepted.
And by 2005, she was chosen as an Outstanding Social Worker by the National Association of Social Workers (“Much to my surprise,” she said) and then opted to become certified in oncology from the National Association of Oncology Social Workers. She holds the designation of Oncology Social Work Certification Emeritus (OSW-CE) from the Association of Oncology Social Workers, which is a lifetime designation. “Cancer is a very, very disabling, disheartening disease,” she said. “But, the good thing is we also have very many survivors.”
She worked directly with clients and family at McKee, as well as with the staff. “In the cancer world, you either love it or hate it,” she said, “and there’s nothing in between. Some people can deal with it and some struggle. And sometimes staff members need as much support as patients. I absolutely loved it though.”
Her work at the cancer center (which she retired from in 2019) carried over well to Red Cross mental health services, she said. There’s a universal need for counseling people, helping them cope with difficult situations – and things they may have no control over. “Sometimes they just need somebody to talk to, help calm them a bit and also to get them connected with ongoing support in their own community,” she said. “And one of the key characteristics of a good social worker or Red Cross mental health worker, is just listening.”
Coddington worked seven weeks straight during last summer’s wildfires (Colorado and Wyoming). “It was a terrible event. What I learned during that process, was that wildfires have their own personalities. Some are slow-moving and predictable and others you never knew what they were going to do from one day to the next. Totally unpredictable.”
She is a native Coloradoan and grew up on a ranch/farm near Burlington, CO. “I had the best childhood ever,” she said. “I had wonderful parents. I had my own horse, which I rode bareback. It was the best way to grow up ever.”
Working with clients virtually during Covid restrictions was challenging, she said. “You don’t have that person right in front of you and trying to establish some kind of rapport on the phone is difficult. But it can be done.” Sometimes direct rapport isn’t even the answer; sometimes just getting a client into the appropriate environment is.
At one of the non-congregate shelters (a hotel) during the fires, Coddington encountered a young man with autism who’d been living with other people prior to being evacuated. “They came to the evacuation center together in a group, but he was assigned his own room and that wasn’t good for him. No one knew about his condition at the time. I was called to help as the situation worsened and was able to resolve it.
“It was so sweet,” she said. “Once he was with his group again (and stabilized), he would call me every day while he was in the hotel, and say, ‘Gale, I’m just calling you to let you know I’m doing really well.’ And in that particular instance, dealing with this young man actually worked better virtually. I think he felt safer, not having to look at me directly.”
In another instance, a woman was brought to the shelter who’d been found wondering down a roadway with her little dog, disoriented, disheveled and wearing only one shoe. “People were just passing her on the highway,” she said. “Finally, one man stopped to help and got her to the shelter, but she was totally withdrawn – pretty much non-responsive.
“She could tell them her dog’s name, but couldn’t tell them where she lived. The staff was worried that sheltering at the hotel wasn’t going to work and called me. I was able to get a mobile unit to do a mental health evaluation at the hotel and they were able to convince her that she needed to go to the hospital for more specific care.” Coddington credits the Red Cross staff at the shelter (hotel) for recognizing that they had a client that needed special help.
Through the course of the fires last year, she ended up dealing with families being evacuated three or four times. “I got to know some of those families pretty well,” she said. “They’d come back down off the mountain, give me a call and say, ‘Oh, we’re back at the evacuation center again!”
A lifetime of mental health work and helping other people cope can take a toll, but Coddington has coping skills of her own. “I’m fortunate that I know myself well,” she said. “I know when I need to step back, or maybe say no, and I have a wonderful supervisor (KG Campanella- Green), who is very gracious with me. Sometimes I just need to say I need some time off and she’s supportive of that.”
Coddington has three children (all living in Colorado), loves to bike and hike; loves photography and is an apprentice master-gardener (despite living in a townhome). She lives alone, but says she fared well during pandemic isolation. “I’m a pretty self-sufficient person and very independent. When I found out what was ahead, I decided I would contact at least two people that I knew every day, and I did. Also, I’m just used to being alone – do well with it – so it wasn’t a huge change for me. I also have a really strong faith, and that gets me through many things.”
If you’re lucky enough to meet Gale Coddington, enjoy the conversation. She won’t try to sell you anything.
Click here, for information on how to join the Red Cross as a volunteer.