 Hi everybody. My name is Jason Klein. I'm the Director of P20 Initiatives at Northern Illinois University, and today we've got another episode of Career Pathways Virtual Trailheads. Unfortunately, this one is just me. My co-host, Adajimoke, is busy with other things today, but we're excited to have our guests with you. We're going to, as we've been really hitting on this season of Career Pathways Virtual Trailheads, we've got another career to bring you today. So, Audrey, you want to go ahead and introduce yourself? Sure. Thank you for having me. My name is Audrey Romito, and I am the Domestic Violence Program Coordinator for the Domestic Violence Program at Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital. Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital is part of the Mount Sinai health system here in Chicago. We're located on the west side of the medical district, and we serve a population of Garfield Park, Little Village, Pilsen, pretty much all the western towns and neighborhoods over here. We are part of a three-hospital system, so it's Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital, and also our south campus, which is Holy Cross Hospital. I've been here at the hospital for about two and a half years in my position. Prior to that was actually kind of a funny story because how I started where I'm at now is, or my whole career in being a victim advocate started when I was out of high school. I went to hair school, cosmetology school, and it kind of, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. I knew I worked in a hair salon and I liked it. Did I know that I liked doing hair and being a cosmetologist? A cosmetologist no, but I decided to venture in that. And actually it was a really great experience because the school that I went to for hair school was offering free night classes to get your associates degree at the same time. So I took advantage of that, and thankfully my father made me take advantage of that. And I got my cosmetology license when I was 18 and then my associates degree when I was 19, I think 19. And I moved back from, I was over by Illinois State in normal Illinois, and when I moved back home to the rural area, I was looking for something a little bit more full time. I did like doing cosmetology. I just wanted something with a really steady income and something that I really enjoyed doing. And I got a job working at the King County State's Attorney's Office. I applied for just a general secretary's position and they had an opening in their domestic violence department, and they asked me if I would like to do that. And so that started my whole career now. So when I was 19, I started working there and I worked there for probably, I think, seven years. I did a lot of really good work there. A lot of information, a lot of eye opening scenarios and things that I saw that really made me enjoy what I did being a victim advocate. And then after that, I decided to, you know, when you're young and want to move out of your parents' house, I wanted to move to the city. So I found a job, a position open at the Attorney General's Office. And after some struggles trying to get hired, you know, it's hard to get a government job, I was able to become a claims analyst for the Crime Victims Compensation Program through the Attorney General's Office. And I did that. I specialized on domestic violence and sexual assault claims. I did that for three years. And while I was working at the Attorney General's Office, I did a lot of work with our sexual assault department and our same nursing, which is a sexual assault nursing education. And I got really interested in helping victims that were in the hospital and going through sexual assault kits and evidence collection and things like that. So I started looking into positions that were internal in hospitals. And that's how I became across the position that I have now. I interviewed for the program coordinator position for our hospital at Schwab rehabilitation. And it's been a really great experience and very, very much so something that just from starting from cosmetology school to where I am now, it's a really wonderful and fulfilling position. So yeah, that's how I got here. So I've got all kinds of questions. But let's start with this one before I get into some of the unplanned questions that I think students watching this will have as well. What does a typical day in your job or typical week in your job look like? So I think if you ask anybody that's in a position that's like mine is where it's extremely unpredictable. Now we do have things that we like to do on a regular basis. So I do have in person and telephone counseling with my clients that I work with that are on the program. Those are very, we want to make sure that we provide direct services to all of our patients and our clients on a regular basis. So that's going to be very strict during our week as we have our meeting set up according to our schedules and our client schedules. We have group counseling sessions that we do. I do those every Wednesday. Those are in person and we have them here at our hospital at Schwab. It also has Holy Cross as well. I have a lot of community meetings. We're huge in our community because the program that I run that I'm working with now is we are open to any single person who discloses domestic violence or sexual assault in any of our settings or anybody that's from the community that comes into our program as a walk in. The unique, really the unique thing about our program and something that really sticks out is that because of our setting at the rehabilitation hospital I work primarily with victims that are disabled due to domestic violence or they've experienced or abuse and neglect from their caregiver or somebody of authority. With that being said, when you talk to agencies and talk to community members, a lot of people don't have a lot of education in that field. So we are one of the few agencies to talk to and refer to for people who are disabled that are going through domestic violence. We also are one of the only hospital based in-house domestic violence programs in the city. So a lot of our outreach is community work making sure that the police departments know they can refer to us. Other agencies that we work with have someone to refer to for people with disabilities as well as able body to. We do a lot of client referrals, so we get referrals from inside the health system that we're going to their rooms to talk to the patients. We get them from outside the health system. Like I said, community agencies will refer people or people will just walk in if they heard about our program. We have a 24 hour hotline, so I do a lot of answering the phone calls and seeing if there's emergency situations that we need to take care of. Emergency shelter situations, emergency clothing, emergency food, things like that for anyone who needs to call us. There is the Chicago domestic violence hotline and if anybody discloses anything about disability or abuse and neglect of an elderly, then they usually will contact us right away and send them to our hotline. So our day to day is kind of up in the air a little bit. Like I said, we do have some things that we really are structured on like our counseling sessions and our in person and telephone contact with our clients. But other than that, I mean, sometimes I could just be, you know, sitting here working on paperwork and I get four referrals from across the street at the emergency room or I'll have someone come in that has questions about something called someone who just needs some more information or somebody who has a question about, you know, a scenario that they're going through. We also do the 40 hour domestic violence training through the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence. There is a portion of the 40 hour training that is for unique victims, and we are placed under that or under that portion. So we do a presentation at quite a few different agencies for their new advocate. And so that's becoming more on a regular virtual basis than kind of than it was before. But that's been taking up some of our day to day work too. So I said I had a lot of questions. I think I have even more questions now. So first of all, let's start with a really important one. You in answering that first question use the word enjoy a lot. And here we are. We're talking about domestic violence, sexual abuse. These are our topics that I personally don't associate the word enjoy with. And yet I want anybody who is engaged in that work on a daily basis to really love their job and be able to be whole doing it. I mean, the school principal part of me has dealt with all kinds of very, very serious situations with families and with counselors. And that's a regular part of the work of teachers and certainly school administrators, unfortunately at this point. Tell us a little bit about your kind of own personal well being approach to your work, because I would imagine that's a really important part of being successful in your line of work. Or really, for most people working in different roles in hospitals, whether they're dealing with any part of the wellness spectrum. So can you talk to us about that? Yeah, for sure. So I do think that like, well, after I've been doing this in this field for about 15 years, and I know that it's not for everybody. There is some burnout and there is some turnaround. But whenever I talk to new advocates or, you know, people that I that don't know much about the program and we talk about like how to work with people who are going through these crisis and his trauma is. And I learned this a long time ago is that you have to meet the person where they're at it's always been that for me. If I go into an emergency room and the victim is telling me that, you know, they want to go home and they want to go back to their abuser, you know, okay, that's fine. But I'm going to educate you on what to do when you do go home and maybe something does happen. You can always contact me, here's emergency room safety planning, things like that is what, you know, we go and what we're looking for is to make the transition, you know, safe as possible for our clients. I do think that another big huge goal of our program and how I make sure that this is something that I love every single day is that a lot of times people's independence is taken away from them. And what my goal is, and this is why I know that our program strives is because we have little victories all day long of little things that maybe someone might think is very minuscule and not important but to me it's huge. Little things in terms of, you know, some of my victims that are disabled opening the door by themselves or being able to put a pizza in the oven for themselves or making phone calls of job interviews or looking for apartments online, just little victories that we have that really do help make everything that we work so hard for, you know, excel in our career. It makes me want to do this for a very long time. So, I mean, first of all, I don't even know what words to use to compliment and thank you for the work you're doing, because it's such important work and really what you've just hit on is the heart of everything in the human and public services career pathway. I mean, those of us and that's my own career background also right is in that human and public services pathway our goals are around helping other people. We've had success when other people can have success become more independent do things that maybe they didn't think they were able to do. And, and when we can step back into the background and smile and watch that that's that's a success for us. So, so I really appreciate how you captured that. What would you say is the part of your job that would be most surprising to others who don't do it that they someone like me who knows a little but may not know as much as I think I know what would I do about your job that's an important part of it a big part of it. Whenever I mean, I think that what what kind of you know shook me to the core when I first started and I was just blind to the whole situation and the whole realm of domestic violence is that it does happen in around you it is in your neighborhood and unfortunately possibly in your family situations it is here. I remember the one of the first cases I had at the state's attorney's office the I've read the police report and the address was like four houses down from the house that I grew up with my parents, and I was like no way there's absolutely no way. And it just it shocked me because in, you know, domestic violence sexual assault it can be very hidden. But I think that once you start working in it then you said it opens your eyes to how intense in the realm of who's the abuser where where this can happen at how things are hidden how, you know, patients and our clients, you know, get out of those situations. So I think that that's very eye opening to someone who doesn't know much about this type of work. So go ahead I'm sorry you go ahead. So it can be. You know when you're walking into an emergency room or someone who's going through a trauma, you know, first time that you do that it's not something you're going to forget I've never ever will forget my first victim at the state's attorney's office never forget her injuries I'll never. That's something that's always going to be in the back of my head but it also makes you. I think. Further's your career and your independence and your, your strength to be able to go see those things because when you go and meet with that person for the first time you're how you react to them and how you give your your services and your support is something they're never going to forget. Yeah. Yep. So tell us about you. I really appreciate the beginning how open you were about your kind of career pathway background and your education your post high school educational experiences. And tell us about if if you were involved in hiring today today, what does someone who typically goes into this field what is their post high school education or training look like to gain entry into the field. Yeah, so I mean, I think in this field we do need a lot of. More so real life experiences is super helpful for us. I know I know that the position that I have now we did need a bachelor's degree. And some experience but that my position is a little bit. You know if you come in as an entry advocate we're looking for the 40 hour domestic balance training. And that can be done. Like I told, like I said before several times a year is what we what we need to have that for. Well because one of the staff that we hired was a student at one of the 40 hour trainings that I did. I think that share and we were able to hire her as another coordinator for our program so. We really look for that training because of our funding for these for domestic balance programs. We are not for profit so we do have some funders federal and state and then also answer I'm sorry. We do have some outside agencies that fund us and they do require the 40 hour training for most of our funding. So that's one that that's a big thing that we will look for. And then also I mean I'm not saying I think that. In this field it really just depends on if you. You need someone who. Who's going to be able to. Really be able to stand their own and be able to be able to see to go through these situations and. You know handle some tough scenarios that you have to go through and see. So let's come back to that in in one second because I want to want to talk about what skills people need but before I do that. So you're saying you don't necessarily need a bachelor's degree for example to get started in this field right. Absolutely not no I didn't have mine until further in my career I had my associates degree. That's that's great so that's really helpful. So then let's go to right where you were just going. What would you say are the skills that are most important for someone to have to be successful. I think a lot of active listening is a super strong skill. And I learned that some of the hard ways throughout. My career. A lot of times just as an example some of our victims that are stroke victims or traumatic brain injuries they will have. Some speech impediments and I sometimes would find myself when I first started trying to finish their sentences and you know that. Just another thing of taking away their independence is they're trying to tell me their story and I'm like oh wait no I know what you're saying but it's really. You have to be able to give them that time that they need. Also I think having realistic outcomes is a really good. You know. Something that somebody I need to have somebody who's being who is realistic about things. And a lot of times you get people who when you talk about domestic violence so why didn't they leave. That's something that everyone always hears as well they should leave they need to leave. But you know in real life. We have there's a lot of factors that go into leaving someone who's an abusive relationship. So somebody who's been who could be realistic. And also I think just to be respectful of people situations I'm non judgmental you could throw anybody at me and I would have no judgment towards anybody. Because I don't know. Their life and it's not mine so. I think those are really good characteristics somebody who would be. Who would like this position as well as driving it. That's really really helpful so thanks for putting those out now. Obviously I know I hope that there will need to be no jobs in this field in the near future because I hope we can create a society and environment which this stuff stops but. Being realistic at the moment what does. What do the job prospects look like for someone who might be watching this and going oh wait this is interesting to me this is a place that maybe I could help. Is this a field in which there's pretty regularly jobs in in Chicagoland and Illinois or what do you know about that I would say 100% I mean we. There's a lot of domestic violence agencies throughout the state when I was at the attorney general's office I was a work under the grants department as well and my job was to go to different. Agencies to make sure that their grant funding was correct and just I mean there was four of us that covered the state and we all had like 50 or 60 agencies so there is jobs out there for victim advocates. And if it's if it's not starting in this position there's a lot of volunteer positions that are available. I did volunteer for a long time when I first got my my 40 hour. Out in Aurora we did the hospital volunteering so in the middle of the night we get a phone call if there was a trauma that came to the hospital we would go there as a volunteer. We volunteer program through our hospital as well. So I think that if it's not 100% full time position right away. There is a lot of volunteer options can bring you to that to that point of, you know, full career position. As I'm as I'm listening to you say that last part with the volunteers. Yes, one of the things I'm wondering is is and so I'm going to probably ask a question here in the form of a statement but we're probably looking for his diverse a pool of people to do this work as possible I would guess right I mean, given the nature of the topic for victims. So help, I guess fill me in on that. Yeah, I mean, I can just give you information about when we when I do the 40 hour trainings we have. People from everywhere that join these trainings and it can't it might be that they're at their position of their career is asking them to do training, but they could just be curious about domestic violence and we get people from all over. You know, there are in these that are attending the trainings and you know, just wanting to get the information and you know maybe some people might not use it in their in their day to day lives. But it is always good to have it and it looks really good on your resume because you you might think that domestic violence is just, you know, if you're working in a DV agency but if you go if you Google domestic violence on like a career job hosting it will pull a ton of different positions that are available if you have some sort of information and education on it. That's really interesting to so going through the training could help you in ways you couldn't even anticipate even if you decide no I'm not going to use this specifically so that's a great point. You've I think you've really already answered this combined set of questions and to me the answers are pretty obvious incredibly important and totally wonderful but I'm going to ask them just to make sure it's super clear for anybody watching. Tell us why you love your job and how it has a positive impact on the world. Well, I think that the position that I have now is I do a lot of prevention and education and I, I know personally that that is going to give somebody either, you know, a topic that they hear that that's that is this a warning sign for them or that they hear something is a trigger that they know that they can either contact myself or somebody in the field of domestic violence. And I know that that's making impact because for maybe they wouldn't have that that comfort ability to do those make those phone calls and make those you know text messages on our hotline or 24 hotline calls. I think that how I could say I love my job is because it makes me a better person. Everybody says like oh, you're going through a hard time but somebody has something that's worse. It literally somebody has this having a worse day than I am and it just makes me sit back and realize, you know, everybody's life is different. Everybody's going through something very different than what you're going through and it just makes me humble. I mean, working with victims that are disabled has been the most humble thing in my life and it was the IOP. And after doing it, like 13 years prior to I thought I saw everything. I have not and I still haven't. And I think that's what makes me excited about domestic violence, which is a great thing to say. But it makes me excited because we are working with those different professors and other programs at the stage. Better, because domestic violence, better the laws that come. Making sure that things are accessible to different steps. Making sure that everybody has the ability to have our services. And I think that that means the love that I do because we are striving and we are. That really makes us a better person. Well, Audrey, I want to thank you so much for your time today. You're doing amazing work that makes our bigger community a much better place. And I have no doubt that you've made a real difference in the lives of countless people and continue to do that today and tomorrow. So thank you for joining us and sharing that with all of anybody who's watching this. For those of you who are watching this, this is part of our career pathways, virtual trailhead series. You can always subscribe to our Illinois P20 Network YouTube channel for more episodes and a wide wide range of careers. And check out more details about these on our blog as well. If you have suggestions for someone that you think would make a great guest or a position, a career and occupation that you would like to see us highlight. Let us know on Twitter at P20 Network. That's P20 Network. Audrey, thanks again and thank you to everybody for watching. Thank you very much.