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Tarra Neblett is a Client Care Coordinator Supervisor at the Children’s Rescue Fund’s House East shelter site. We asked her about her experiences working in the shelter system, and what Tarra’s work means to her and her clients.

HSU: Can you share a bit about your background and how you became involved in working at Children’s Rescue Fund?

Tarra Neblett: I have been a social worker for the past nineteen years. I was a sociology major and minored in social work in undergraduate school. I couldn’t see a career path for myself as a sociologist and gravitated towards the helping profession. After graduating college, I had my first job working with a foster care agency. I worked in the field of domestic violence for several years. I worked at a DV shelter, was a Domestic Violence Specialist with a preventive service agency and as Domestic Violence Consultant with the Clinical Consultation Program for about five years. I was a fee-for-service therapist for about a year and was eventually hired as a full-time therapist with an outpatient behavioral health clinic, I held that position for about five years. I had spent a few more years as a co-facilitator with a foster care agency. The training provided was for foster parents that focused on childhood disorders such as ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. The goal was to help them better understand their child’s diagnosis and how to effectively parent and provide necessary interventions. We did a lot of work on helping to reduce the stigma of mental health. I was ready for a change and learned of the Thrive Initiative of having social workers in shelter. I began working with The Children’s Rescue Fund in 2017 as a Client Care Coordinator and was later promoted to Client Care Coordinator Supervisor in 2019. I want to add that the agency really worked hard to integrate Client Care Coordinators into the whole agency. At the time the Program Director was Ms. Spence and the Director of Social Services, Ms. Williams along with Client Care Coordinator Consultant, Ms. Nash really worked to ensure the integration process. We were a new initiative, and they were 100% onboard with us being viewed as support to both clients and staff. We met with all the staff from Safety Monitors, Operations staff and Social Service staff. Years later, we are fully integrated, and we work hand in hand with the case workers and housing specialists.

What drew you to work in the shelter environment, and how has your experience been so far?

I have worked in shelter previously. I think what draws me into this work is the desire to help families, especially women and children. Many of our families experience multiple stressors and living in shelter only compounds their existing stress.

Have you faced any particular challenges while working here, and how have you overcome them?

Client expectations around our role as shelter staff. Families often believe that we are an extension of DHS. They come to us believing that we can approve the Reasonable Accommodation Requests or request for an Emotional Support Animal. There are also systemic challenges that our families face when having to interact with multiple systems. The biggest challenge was low staffing. Our site is slated to have eight Client Care Coordinators and we for many months had only three Client Care Coordinators. We overcome these challenges by clearly communicating our role to the families. This helps the families understand our role as Caseworkers, Housing Specialists and Client Care Coordinators and how we differ from DHS.

In addressing the systemic challenges, the staff conducts a great deal of advocacy. The Client Care Coordinators will accompany a client to the field. We know the very presence of having a Client Care Coordinator/Social Worker with a family many times helps the family have a more positive outcome. The agency held open houses, job fairs and posted throughout all social media platforms to recruit social workers. It was a struggle in getting social workers to express interest in working in shelter. I am pleased to state that we have one vacancy remaining for the position.

What does a typical day look like for you?

A typical day could include case assignments, reviewing psychosocials, case conferences, providing informal and formal supervision, responding to emails and completing whatever task is assigned to me by immediate supervisor while managing my own caseload. I have a lot of interaction with clients and staff throughout the day.

Are there specific tasks or roles within your position that you feel particularly passionate about or find most rewarding?

What I find most rewarding is working with the team at House East. The Caseworkers, Housing Specialists and Client Care Coordinators are all on the same page. We want to support our families successfully transition back into the community. The transition also involves connecting them to services that will help the family maintain community living, preventing a return to shelter. We care about our families and want to see them have as many of their goals achieved while in shelter. The staff are very supportive of each other. There is a high level of teamwork that is organic, rare to find in many work environments. One of the things that I am most proud of is the recognition that House East receives for our supportive housing submissions, approvals and placements into supportive housing.

How do you build rapport and trust with residents at the shelter, especially in those first few interactions?

Meeting the client at their designated time. If they have been scheduled to meet with you at 9:15am then you should be ready to meet them at the scheduled time. If a situation occurs that causes your meeting to be delayed, you apologize to the client for the delay. The client’s time is just as important to them as our time is to us. We need to convey that sense of professionalism. Another thing that I do is to make sure to say, “good morning”, or “good afternoon”, offering a smile, being welcoming to the client that you are about to meet are other verbal and non-verbal actions that I use to communicate with our clients. Families in shelter are already experiencing so much, conveying warmth and respectfulness during that initial encounter can go a long way towards building needed rapport and trust. Trust is earned. We can get so much accomplished once we have established trust with a family.

I think about my own interactions at medical/dental offices and note staff engagement. Some engagements for me are very positive and others are just cold and seem indifferent. I would not return to any medical facility where I don’t feel respected.

What kind of positive feedback or reactions have you received about your role?

We have former clients that have moved into permanent housing. They will send us an occasional email or call telling us that they are doing well. Those emails always are nice to receive as it shows that our support is recognized by the client(s). I feel very supported by upper management staff. They have shared how much they value me and my work. I appreciate the recognition.

What are your future goals or aspirations, both professionally and personally?

Professionally – I have thought about doing an article on families that have an extensive shelter history that moved into permanent housing. The focus would be on their transition back to the community from a clinical perspective. 

Personally – Having more hobbies.

What is the most important thing to consider when working in the shelter?

I would tell anyone interested in working in shelter that you must have a passion for helping people. It’s important to understand trauma, its impact on the individual and families. You can make a difference in some big and unforeseen ways.