“The kids teach me how to be a better mom.”

Every Sunday at 1pm Monica Morgan receives a phone call from a child who had been discharged from our residential program 2.5 years ago. She has become a trusted mentor he knows he can count on for an encouraging word. Monica considers their weekly chats a reminder of how she and her team are impacting the lives of our St. Joe’s kids. “When they [the kids] keep reaching out to you after they’ve left, that is when you know you’ve made a difference.” 

Monica, who is the residential training coordinator and a senior residential youth worker at St. Joe’s, assists the staff with learning verbal de-escalation, emergency safety interventions, and trauma-informed language. She also helps plan activities for the kids and trains new residential staff who are being onboarded, but being an advocate for the children is her motivator. “I enjoy working with traumatized kids, because if I can be that safe adult for them, then that’s what I am going to be…a lot of times when kids come here, this is the first time they have been around a safe adult or have experienced trust, security, and healthy attachment.”

Working well with the children, Monica says, starts with effective communication. “It is a dance between being nurturing and being firm, because you want to be nurturing, but you also must set boundaries.” 

After seven years with St. Joe’s, Monica’s passion for her job remains strong because of the bond she’s formed with her co-workers – and the kids. “The kids teach me how to be a better mom and they have helped me develop skills I did not possess before. I used to be an extremely impatient person, but working with these kids puts a lot into perspective for you.”