I was (more than) grateful to receive OPM’s approval letter of my Federal disability application on 6-6-20. I was especially grateful given that OPM’s Disability Section had received my application on 5-7-20. I was wondering at the time whether my application had been assigned yet to a Medical Specialist, and was then surprised to learn that it had just been approved! I had recently watched Ashley Withers’s, one of your Senior Disability Case Managers, video on YouTube explaining that OPM was in some cases making decisions much more quickly, and Ashley’s video gave me special hope, considering my general understanding that OPM’s review process could take many more months to complete.
My experience with Harris Federal began when I had my initial consultation with James Ware, one of your Case Evaluation Specialists. James listened to all the details of my particular case, and he immediately offered me hope that I had a good case, and that Harris would represent me in my disability claim. Honestly, I had spoken with several other firms also, but I remember James feeling and expressing a solid confidence in my case, and also an empathetic understanding for my situation in general with regards to my job. And, at that time, I needed to find a mental health professional to begin treatments, and I remember James saying that I should feel that whomever I am treating with is on my side. In saying this, James made me feel that I should select a mental health professional not solely as someone who will support me in my claim, but even more so, James felt that I should select someone who I feel is really on my side, and who really wants to help me, in every respect. Largely because of James’s humanistic approach to my situation, and it seemed to life in general, I made a decision to go with Harris Federal.
Another personal experience with Harris Federal is when my Case Manager, Kimberly Bear, arranged a phone call with Anna Barnes, your Knowledge Management Specialist. The main purpose of the call was Anna’s providing her strong recommendation that I needed to establish a reasonable amount of time in receiving treatments with my mental health professional (treatment history), before proceeding with my application. Although this would obviously extend the time frame for working on and submitting my application, I knew that what Anna said was correct and felt full confidence in her recommendation to wait several months before proceeding with my application.
And, my other experience with Harris Federal was at the very beginning, with Amanda Underhill, your Accounts Manager. Amanda was very professional in explaining everything to me in order to begin working with Harris Federal. She helped me feel confident that I was making the right decision to be represented by Harris Federal.
I’m sure my Case Manager, Kimberly, worked closely with your Attorney(s) and she mentioned several times about consulting with her Senior Case Manager(s) with regards to my application, and I’m sure your Medical Records team worked to obtain information from my medical providers, so thank you very much to all, and to anyone I likely missed.
But, my greatest thanks of all go to Kimberly Bear, not only for all she did in working on and preparing my application (which I’m sure took significant thought, time, and effort), but even more so, in answering all of my various questions and concerns that I posed to her throughout the entire application process. Kimberly was thoughtful in responding to each of my questions, and in explaining the reasoning behind many of the answers she provided, which I especially appreciated. In fact, I learned so much about the disability application process just from the detailed and thoughtful responses that Kimberly provided to me. Kimberly also allayed any concerns that I may have had and, throughout the process, she allowed me to remain hopeful and confident that I would receive a favorable response to my application. As James did during my initial consultation, I believe Kimberly responded sensitively to all my various concerns, and she made me feel that things would be OK – and I believe offering that sort of sensitivity and degree of hope is equally as important as providing accurate and technical information to a firm’s clients.
And, I’m sure Kimberly coordinated all the wonderful hands that were involved in some way in preparing, reviewing, and advising on my application, and my case in general. And, as stated above, through Kimberly, I learned a lot about the disability application process, which I greatly appreciated.
One of the last notes I wanted to make was when Kimberly submitted my updated medical records, as supplemental information, to OPM. When Kimberly emailed me to advise that she received email confirmation from OPM that my information was received and placed in my file, I felt very good knowing that I was working with a law firm that had such direct and immediate contacts with OPM.
Again, thank you for all your firm did, and especially to Kimberly, in preparing and submitting my disability application (including some parts that I may not even be aware of), and I’m ever so grateful to have received an initial approval and in such the short time frame that I did.