ayva stauts

I knew I wanted to go into the nonprofit world because my mom had passed away from cancer when I was in high school, and I got connected to a lot of different nonprofits that helped our family. I was really inspired by the work that they did, and that motivated my passion to pursue psychology and social work. As an Employment Specialist at WestCare since January, I work with a caseload of about 60 homeless and at-risk veterans. Once they're intaked into our program, I sit down with them and we develop an individualized employment plan - figuring out how they want to get there, whether they want education, and what resources they need like clothing for the job, tools, or transportation. I work with them on their resumes, help them find their skills, and do job placement by calling different places in the community to see if they're veteran-friendly and want to hire our veterans. We do interview prep and skills workshops. I've also put together a resource library here and created a food pantry based on donations I got from the community. The work is incredibly rewarding, and I'm currently finishing my graduate school application to become a licensed clinical social worker, with plans to possibly work in medical social work in oncology or pediatrics, or do one-on-one therapy.