Valencia Phillips Randolph

I would say my parents, the strong foundation, watching my parents have a good moral compass, be very supportive, prioritize family, and have a good work ethic. My parents are very supportive. I'm blessed enough to still have both of my parents. I'm in my 50s, my dad is in his 80s, and my mom just turned 80, so I still have both my parents. That has been my foundation. That is the start.

I think the best advice is to find that light in the darkness. So, even on bad days, find or try to find one thing that has went well. Sometimes it's hard, because when you're in that space, that survival mode, if you will, everything is just negative. Like, you're in survival mode, moving, making decisions. But pausing, stopping, and then saying, what went well today? So, kind of like that internal debriefing, because I need to keep my mood elevated, because it will trickle down, and it is important to me to lead by example, even in how I present and show up in my work. So, yes, finding my joy, even if everything went bad all week, you know, at some point, something went well, or something wasn't as bad, that you can pull your strength from.

I would say, prioritize your self-care. Prioritize your self-care and maintain personal workplace boundaries. And I say that because I struggle with that at times, and it has, I have, at times taken a hit on my mental health, because of how I work. The wake-up call was, you know, I was dealing with my sister had passed, and with work, and then dealing with that grief, I could not figure out a way to get out. I had to put in some strong boundaries and separate my two worlds and prioritize my mental health and my health to be able to do this work. So, I would say that is the biggest thing that I've learned in doing this work over the years, is to take care of yourself.

I'm gonna say one of the biggest challenges is finding quality staff, quality people that are driven and have passion for the work. I have seen that changed over the years, and so newer social workers are, in my opinion, very different from when I came into the field. That has been the challenge in having them approach this work from a social work and trauma-based lens, because that is a different way of doing this work. When you look from that lens, then you can understand and empathize with the children and the families, because you understand that it's just not, it's behind, it's trauma behind that, all of that. That's the biggest challenge, and at the first inconvenience, then folks is out of it. And we're like, well, stick in there, like, it's not going to be easy, this is really, really hard work, and so that's where I come in with preparing through training, you know, trying to get staff trained up as best as possible, so that they can build that tough skin, to be able to do this work.

Good work ethics, family is very important to me, so the family structure is very important to me. Just being a good human, a kind human. Being kind and compassionate, and understanding, to your fellow humans' plight. So that's what's most important. I teach that to my children. I instill in them, you know, kindness and compassion, and my strong faith in God.