Based on the interview videos you have viewed, summarize what you believe the 3 most prominent characteristics of a human service professional should be. How do these characteristics c

Interview with Linda Williams

Good afternoon. Welcome back to class. Today we're at YWCA is Domestic Violence Prevention Center. We're speaking with Linda Ellis Williams. Linda, thanks for joining us today. Welcome. Thank you. Linda. What is the Domestic Violence Prevention Center and what is its mission? We are one of the largest programs under the YWCA and we're basically probably what you hear in the community as a safe house. And our mission is to provide safety and make changes lifestyles to end violence in people's lives. It what does it mean to be a safe house? Well, what is it safe house? It's a shelter that families who are dealing with domestic violence or any kind of violence in their home can come to to get away from that lifestyle. Now you in particular, what is your title in the organization and how did you first come to work here? Well, my title is Director of this program and I actually came into this program years ago, almost 20 years ago, as a victim of domestic violence, me and my children were fleeing our household. We had a very violent relationship with their father and we had to leave because of that. But now, what do you do on a day-to-day basis as part of your job? Well, that's that can be from anywhere from a Tuesday. My main duties and responsibilities is just overseeing the running of the shelter and the hiring and staffing and making sure that everybody is trained and equipped to do their job. But on any given day that can go from doing those responsibilities to be in court with a victim, advocating for protective orders, helping a family flee their home, come to the shelter. It can be a wide range of anything basically. Can you describe the specific population that this organization serves? Well, the population in our shelter or more so, low-income families who need to leave their home. We deal with low-income and higher income on the outside. But the families actually come into a shelter or people who can't afford just to go out and go stay in a hotel or to fly out of town, or to go somewhere else to be saved. They don't, they don't have means to do those things. So they have to take advantage of what we have in this community to help them. What are some challenges that you face working with this particular population? Well, resources, of course, especially with the economy being the way that it is there. We're seeing less and less resources out there that help maneuver or people through the system to get them from a to Z so that changing this lifestyle is part of what they get to accomplish. We see it's hard to maneuver. People do that system. Again with the economy being the way it is. It's hard for people to come into our shelter and go out and seek employment That's a little longer coming. Housing is always has been a problem with getting people into safe housing or affordable housing. Of course. Statistics say that average victim will leave and go back eight to 12 times before leaving for good. So that's that's one of our biggest obstacles to cover. Can you describe some of the services offered here at the YWCA? Number one is housing, of course, to keep families safe. We have a large component in our program about advocacy, which is again, advocating for victims of domestic violence, advocating for their children, advocating in the court system to get protective orders to if they're facing assault and battery charges. Just helping them to know that, right? No. The system know what they're up against. Doing safety planning, lots of safety planning, which like I said, our number one goal is to keep everyone safe, to prevent fatalities, and just helping children to be able to cope with what they're going to have to deal with. If I say to you, average time is eight to 12 times this mom is going to go back. That's eight to 12 times this child is going to go back. So we have to build resilience in this child to help them, to be able to live through all this and to still have hope at the end of the day that this doesn't have to be my future. Right. Linda, you've been involved in this organization for a long time. How do you see this plays making a real difference in people's lives. I see it. We're empowering people. We're empowering people were changing people's lives every day. Giving them any equipping them with what they need to overcome these unhealthy lifestyles. And that makes a world of difference even on a personal basis. As I said, me and my children had to flee to the shelter during the middle of the night to leave our home. That was full of violence. And what this program did for us was to change a lifestyle cycle of abuse. I came from a long history of abusers and victims of domestic violence and sodium, my parents and their parents. So I broke the side, was able to break that cycle with my children so that their lives will be different. Now, having been here a long time, what do you find personally most rewarding working here? I'm seeing people's lives change, empowering people, giving them hope, giving them what they need to get through another day. Given children their smiles back and give them equipping them with what they need to live through all this and still come out on top. Different people who, who've worked in this organization and currently do. What are some characteristics of those who do really well working in? People who do this work from the heart. People who care, people who are not in this for the money, because this is not a big money business in this, but people who actually are doing it because they want to make a difference in the world. Great, Thank you so much for joining us today. This has been very rewarding. Thank you. Thank you.

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Interview with Michell Duncan

Good afternoon. Welcome back to class. Today we're at YWCA of Central Virginia. We're meeting with Michelle Duncan. Michelle, thanks for joining us. Thank you. Michelle, tell us, what is your title and the role that you serve here YWCA, I say primarily I work as our events coordinator doing fundraising events and special events. I also do any special projects with contractors that we may have. And then I am a bridal shop manager. Michelle, describe for us the population. What are the women like that you serve us here? We serve every age group. Um, it depends on what area I'm working. Mostly. The age group that I serve in my daily daily work is 30-6070. With a bridal shop. We service any age, children up to adult. And the women themselves. What are the women liked? It come here. I think that I would describe them as grateful, as very down to earth, very simple in the fact that they enjoy each day. It does not take a whole lot for them to be grateful for the fact that they have a nice, safe place to live. A lot of these women have come from abusive situations. Situations where they had to flee to our shelter and then they actually do transition here into our program. And they really are very happy to have a place where they can feel safe and secure, but they can also afford it. Because we do have women who come from the situation of an economic downturn being laid off, something of that nature that describe what are some challenges that you face working with this population. I'd say the biggest challenge that we face working here and helping the women is monetary challenges and monetary perspective of you just wanna do so much and there really is only so much that you can do within certain parameters. And the other challenges that we face is understanding each person's story. It's a challenge that we do ever come, but it is a challenge on a daily basis because you have to understand where people have come from, understand how to communicate with them and get their story down and not insult them. And doing that. Michelle, describe for us a couple of unique services offered by the YWCA. The most unique service that we offer. I think there's two. I'll start with the first one that I'm less familiar with, but it's the children's supervised visitation center. And I really, really like that. And the reason I do is and I'm not sure if you know what that is, but basically, children are able to visit with their non-custodial parent, a monitored environment with a facilitator. And what I love about that is it does keep the family connection. A lot of times these children wouldn't see their non-custodial parent or if they did, there will be a lot of turmoil. We're talking very young children. I just saw a child li for the other day who was eight months old. So I think that's pretty unique in the city. It's used a lot by the court systems and a lot by local agencies that need that service. But then the one that I'm most familiar with is our bridal shop. We do offer a we call it a year-round fundraiser because it really is what it is. And it's more than just a bridal shop is a service to our community. Different designers from around the country and different bottle shops donate their surplus inventory. They're discounted inventory may be something that has been discontinued. They donate that free of charge. It's a win-win. They get to write off on their taxes. We then sell that and we use that money for our programs. An easy way to explain the need for that in the uniqueness of it is when you have a grant funding, local, federal, state, whatever it may be, you have private donations. Lot of times those are earmarked or those are asked to be used for special things. Maybe it's renovating the room we're in. You can't use it outside of that parameter with a bridal shop, this gives us funding that is unrestricted. It opened in April of 2004. I was not here at that time, but since 2004 we've raised over $350,000. And if our boiler went out, we could use it for that. If a program needed extra funding, we could use it for that. If we needed client services for someone who's hungry, we can use it for that. So it really is a very unique service. We don't in a program that we offer here. How do you see the YWCA making a real difference in people's lives? I see it making a real change in the fact that I think that we, our goal is to put more harmony into this community. So I see it. We're making people realize there are differences in this community, whether it be political, will there be racial, whether it be work wise, whatever it may be. But we can all talk about that. We can all sit down and come to the same table and talk about it. And also in under, I see it as impacting our community and them understanding our mission more. A lot of people look at an empowerment of women and they think, Oh, they want to rule the world. And that's not what it's about. It's about helping women realize their full potential. And that's what we do a lot here, whether it be with our team program or just with our residential housing. Some of these women get to live on their own. That's something they've never been able to do in their life. What Michelle, what do you find most rewarding working here? I find most rewarding the stories and the stories humble me. I really do because I come to work every day and some days I come to work dragging like anybody else, but I come to work every day and there's always a story and there's always something that humbles me and puts me into my place in life and realize that the world is very much bigger than I am, or that we are here at the YW. As you think about the folks who worked at well, what are some characteristics of those people who do really well working here? I would say the first will be loyalty. Loyalty in the sense of learning what the YWCA is about and being able to stand up for that and for the people that work for that organization in the community. I think empathy, definitely understanding peoples not just sympathy, sympathy, and empathy are two different things. And empathy is definitely one thing that you have to have and then flexibility, you have to be flexible. Obviously, I don't just do one thing. You can't be hung up on titles. This is not about being the next big CEO. This is about helping people and making a difference. So I think that's really something that you have to have when you work here. Yeah, flexibility, I think. Big-time. Good stuff. Thanks for joining jobs. Absolutely. No problem.

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