Shayla Madramootoo-Smith is the Associate VP of Families with Children Services at HELP USA. We asked her about her views and experiences working in the shelter environment and what it means to her and her clients.
Can you share a bit about your background and how you became involved in working at HELP USA?
SM: I started in the criminal justice field. Definitely did a lot of work within that field, but I didn’t feel fulfilled within that field. I felt like it was more punitive than helping. I decided to start working in shelter. I started working in a Domestic Violence Shelter, it was with HELP USA. I decided to go back to school and got my master’s in Social Work. I left HELP USA and went to a supportive housing program.
Then came back to HELP USA, but in a clinical role at the time and have since been promoted several times to my current position here, as the Associate Vice President. So, I’ve done a little bit of work in supportive housing, and then within HELP USA, I’ve done families, I’ve done domestic violence, I’ve worked in our HPD shelter, I’ve worked on the single side with men, I’ve worked at the Women’s Assessment Shelter and now I’m back on the family side. So, I’ve done a little of a few things within the shelter system and the different populations.
What drew you to work in the shelter environment, and how has your experience been so far?
SM: I think it’s being able to provide quality services, so that we see the changes in the individuals that we serve and whether it’s within families or within the single population, just being able to see the changes. It may not be with 100 % of your population, but if you can see at least 20% of a difference, being able to move the families and or individuals into permanency, see the fulfillment of them walking out of shelter to their permanent housing. That’s what continues to drive my passion. Because there are changes. You can see the changes. It’s tangible. It puts into perspective the work that you’re doing and the lives that you’re changing in the process.
Have you faced any particular challenges while working here, and how have you overcome them?
SM: I think the biggest challenge is navigating our current political climate. And then considering the circumstances and how it affects the clients that we’re working with. Just continuing to provide the best services that we can provide within the limitations that we have currently.
Putting effort into working with my team to for them to understand, this is just another hurdle, and we will continue to provide the best services that HELP USA can provide and make sure that we’re supporting our clients along the way.
What does a typical day look like for you at the shelter?
SM: My days are normally filled with meetings. I rotate when I’m in the office and when I’m in the field at the different sites. If I’m at the sites, I try my best because I actually enjoy being at the sites. I get to see the clients, I get to see the families, I get to see the kids. Having one-on-one conversations with them which is the fulfilling part of this job.
Being in the field and getting to meet the clients and hearing their stories from them, not what the team is telling me, not what the case managers are saying. It’s getting to talk to them and walking around when I’m at the sites. I walk around a lot by myself, I don’t walk around with staff so that people can feel at ease, if they decide to have conversations with me. I’ll ask “How are you doing? How are things going? How is the adjustment? How is the staff treating you?” And sometimes people don’t want to answer that if staff is around. So, I tend to do a lot of walking around without staff so I can get some real tangible on on-hand information about what’s going on. What can we do better? What’s happening? And good feedback that we can do.
Are there specific tasks or roles within your position that you feel particularly passionate about or find most rewarding?
SM: Thinking of ways in which we can improve services, bringing additional services to our current shelters. Like right now, we’re working in collaboration with a company organization called Happy Feet to provide support to kids who have flat feet, providing them with shoes that they can wear that are not the typical therapeutic shoes. So, things like that, being able to work with other organizations to bring support.
We now have art therapy in three additional sites that we run for the families. So doing those collaborations, working with our funding team and our grant writing team to see what’s out there, that may not necessarily be covered by our currents funding sources. But additional resources that we can have that we’re bringing into the shelter that are going to enable better services outside of the normal case management, housing, employment, you know just additional things that can support the families.
How do you build rapport and trust with residents at the shelter, especially in those first few interactions?
SM: Having open conversations, very open conversations and not being pushy if they’re open for conversation. I start with asking simple questions “How are you adjusting? How are things here? Is there anything else that you would like to see that you’re not getting right now?” Those things take time. Sometimes people are willing to open, others are not. Letting it be very authentic in the conversation. I walk around by myself so that it’s not intimidating, and they don’t feel like they need to tell me something I want to hear. I want them to feel like they can be transparent and honest.
You know, there are things that we could change and things that we cannot change because we are governed by others who have rules and regulations. I like to be honest about what can or can’t happen and not sell our clients a dream that we know we can’t provide.
What kind of feedback or reactions have you received from the residents about your role in the shelter?
SM: We’ve had some clients asking for better food. We did a few taste tests with different vendors, so that if there’s a need to change vendors, we can do that. Most recently, we actually just changed vendors at some of our sites based on the feedback that we received.
We are always taking feedback like “What additional services can you provide? What else can you do that’s better?” We’ve gotten good feedback in terms of moving our clients into permanent housing. It’s always going to be at the top of my list because when you move a family, that’s a success.
What are your future goals or aspirations, both professionally and personally?
SM: I want to continue to grow within this field. I would like to start my own nonprofit, I’m currently working as a chair for a Caribbean Mental Health Association Nonprofit (Zenfemcare).
I would like to continue to grow within my role, to either a VP or a COO. But really, learning and gaining the additional skillset to continue moving up.
What is the most important thing to consider when working in the shelter?
SM: Don’t take anything personal. It’s not personal to you, giving yourself grace and understanding there are going to be good days, there are going to be bad days. You might be a target today, but tomorrow you’ll be a hero for someone else.
Understanding that you have a team beside you, no matter what, tap into your team, because if you try to do it as an individual, you will feel burnt out really fast. So, tapping into your team, tapping into the resources that you have around you to make sure that you’re not in an island by yourself. Get mentors in this field that you can talk to, that you can brainstorm with, that you can get and gain ideas and feedback.
Our families face a lot of things in shelter, coming into shelter, before shelter and some of those traumas might be displaced towards you as the worker. But it’s not personal.
Shayla’s final statement about shelter:
I love being in this field. I enjoy the fact that I’ve worked with so many different entities within shelter that I have a very well-rounded understanding.
Having this knowledge and the skill set of the different populations within the homeless shelter system has been helpful in just being able to navigate systems. The New York City Shelter system is very complex and it’s not a one-pager that can tell you everything. So, if you don’t have first-hand knowledge, or if you don’t have some knowledge of it, it’s hard to navigate, and it’s harder if you’re navigating and having to share that information with someone else. Being able to have that expertise and knowing different things, knowing the people in the different places has been a lifesaver to me in terms of helping my team and helping the clients that we’re serving.