(Canton, Ohio) – This month is social worker appreciation month and so, we’re introducing you to a local individual dedicated to this line of work.
Meet, Kristy DeVan MA, LSW. She’s the Regional Director with Ohio MENTOR. Founded in 1983, Ohio MENTOR is a leading home – and – community-based service provider. The organization offers therapeutic foster care and mental health services for youth of all ages with emotional, behavioral and other complex challenges – as well as their families.
Through a range of personalized supports and treatment, the organization strives to empower the individuals they serve to lead healthy, stable lives in the communities they call home. We asked DeVan some basic questions to learn more about her passion, her position, and her purpose.
(Q): How long have you been a social worker?
(A): I graduated in 1999 from the University of Toledo. I began working in the field in June the year before, 1998.
(Q): Why did you decide to become a social worker?
(A): I believe all social service professionals enter the field because of their won experience with some kind of life trauma. I believe my trauma was awareness of a close family member being sexually abused by their father. I believe that experience and reality encouraged me to move toward a helping profession.
(Q): What are your favorite and least favorite parts of the job?
(A): My favorite part of being a social worker is being able to empower another individual to become self-reliant. One can only change what they want to change. The change process is ongoing throughout all stages of situations and life
My least favorite part about the job is the misconception of what we really do. We want to help people and families, not destroy them. Child welfare caseworkers suffer the most scrutiny. But, the child welfare system isn’t a perfect system. Child welfare comes down to imminent risk of children…no social worker likes to remove kids from their family. They do it because there are mandates that suggest that at risk children are not safe and secure in their home.
(Q): What would you like to bring more awareness of when it comes to social work?
(A): That it takes a committed and genuinely empathetic person to fill the role. It’s not about money or clout. It’s about taking part in the evolution of someone’s change.
(Q): What motivates you to do the job every day?
(A): My motivation comes from my own children and the children we serve. It took me a long time to realize my kids have been given the gift of protection and awareness that over 200,000 children in Ohio do not get.
(Q): What would you say to someone considering becoming a social worker?
(A): All social work students should receive counseling. All students need to be on the other side of the desk or in the opposite chair before they interview someone for the first time.
Social work and counseling promote the change process. [The individuals] measure progress and provide education, advocacy, and empowerment to others who need to make a change.