Teresa Jackson

I feel like I had a really, really, really good supervisor and mentor about 15 or 16 years ago when I came into leadership with Child Protective Services. It really helped ground me on the differences between being a leader and a manager, because they're two different things, and combining those. I think I am a natural-born leader. I was in the 5th grade when I got selected to go to a leadership conference, so I think I've always had those leadership skills. I think I've just been able to perfect them or continue to grow them through my career, with really good mentors.

I think the best career advice that I've ever received would be from one of my mentors that told me that your compassion to help others will never show up on your paycheck. You have to have a real desire to help others in this field versus getting a paycheck.

I would tell them to have a thick skin for the challenges. Cry at home, not at work. And to definitely have an understanding support group. When I say that, your people who are outside of work have to be supportive of your desire to be in this field. Because you will have the secondary trauma of it all, and you will have good days, you will have bad days, you will have days that are really rough. People might not be as nice to you when you're trying to be nice to them. So I would say a thick skin, and to have a really good support group.

I think currently the biggest challenge that we have faced is the constant change of policy and procedure. We are dealing with a government agency contract, so the current political climate has an effect on what we do, which dictates why things change. It's just trying to make sure that myself and my staff are staying aware of the changes and what procedures need to be completed now versus the change that might have happened last week. So that has been the biggest challenge right now, is just the constant change of policy and procedure, and making sure that we are staying on top of those new procedures.

I would say at the top is integrity and accountability. I feel when, especially in this line of work that I do, social services, without integrity, without your integrity, without being accountable, you're gonna make mistakes, and that is a given, but you have to be accountable for those mistakes, you have to acknowledge that you made a mistake, apologize for it, learn from it, and keep moving. But your integrity, your ability to do the right thing, you know, there's a difference from doing the right thing and the right thing to do. And that is very common in social services. Integrity and accountability are the top things that I look at and hold true in my values. But being kind to others, because we all are just one mishap away from anything happening to us that some people that we service go through. I used to tell clients all the time when I was in the field that I could have been them, but I had a support group. I had a family that supported me. And so I made different decisions, and so not everybody has that. So, compassion, integrity, accountability, those are the things that I hold dear.