Celebrating Social Workers

As Social Workers Month comes to a close, Wellpoint Care Network celebrates the hard work of social workers across our organization who facilitate equity, learning, healing and wellness for people in our care, wherever they are in their journey.  

Social workers are found in nearly every program here at Wellpoint. Whether they work in Child Welfare, Wraparound REACH Care Coordination, Foster Parenting, Youth Transitioning to Adulthood, School-Based Mental Health or one of many other services, our social workers all share something very important: a sincere care for the individuals and families they work with. “We really want to help people do what they need to do to live the life they want to live,” says Timesha, a Child Welfare Supervisor.

Emily, a Foster Care Licensing Specialist, says, “We love our jobs and we love the people we work with. It’s hard work, but if we didn’t love it, we would look for something else to do.”

Social workers here are highly motivated. Timesha has been at Wellpoint since 2007. “I’m passionate about helping people in my community. I was born and raised in Milwaukee and I’m raising my own children here, so it’s very important to me to serve my community. I care about building positive relationships with families.” As a supervisor, Timesha enjoys mentoring case managers who are also passionate about their work and getting to share what she’s learned in her many years of experience. 

Emily supports people applying to become licensed foster parents throughout the process of obtaining and maintaining licensure, including both general community applicants and kinship caregivers. She loves getting to know people and learning what makes someone who they are. A former foster parent herself, Emily is familiar with the challenges foster caregivers can encounter. She also knows it’s important to share different perspectives with foster parents. “It is important to help foster parents understand that the parents of that child are also going through something.”  

Kathryn, a Child Welfare Supervisor who has been with Wellpoint for over 20 years, says she knows that much of the work she and her colleagues do is about long-term change. “We’re not looking for people to be perfect. And we may not see it right away. We don’t know what’s going to happen five years from now, how that relationship we have now might have impacted them. Every connection we make can lead to something.” 

Social workers at Wellpoint often encounter people at a particularly difficult time in their lives, and Timesha says that can make it challenging to establish trust, but she wants people to know that she and her colleagues do what they can to help people navigate difficult circumstances. “No one gets it 100% right,” says Kathryn, “We all make mistakes, and we can all learn from our mistakes. In our role, we’re trying to help people be safe for their kids, and in that process they can make changes that will make their life better overall too.” 

Amanda, also a Child Welfare Supervisor, shares “We, as social workers, make connections because we understand the importance of relationships.”  Her 10 years of work in child welfare are motivated by the belief that people can change and by the importance of ensuring children have a safe space. “I have seen people make changes they never thought they could.” 

We are grateful for the many social workers who provide compassionate, Trauma Informed Care to the children and families in our community.