A practicum student’s view of the nursery
“Wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough. It’s going to bed at night thinking, Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging.”
- Brené Brown
I wanted to start off with this amazing quote from Brené Brown because every day I am building up the courage and power to fully embrace my imperfections and the vulnerable side of the human experience.
Just like many clients at the Nursery, who are seeking guidance to tackle some of life’s toughest challenges. All hands-on-deck is needed from case managers to volunteers to communications and fundraising teams, therapists, and other clinical resources. This teamwork and family-centered method for addressing crisis and trauma is addressed at all levels to ensure children and their families are receiving the help they need to be the best version of themselves. All this work is to prevent child abuse and neglect before it happens.
I discovered Saint Louis Crisis Nursery (SLCN) while searching for potential practicum (internship) placements as I began to wrap up my last few semesters of my undergraduate social work degree program. I knew I wanted to help youth and children in need, especially children in marginalized, poor, and unrepresented communities and populations. After taking a deep dive into Saint Louis Crisis Nursery’s mission and impact on the community through their website, I naturally wanted to learn more and see how I can get involved in changing lives for the greater good of society.
The Nursery’s vision presented a strong foundation and commitment to ensure every child has the right to a loving and safe home environment, and that really stood out to me because a lot of early childhood trauma does start in the home. Additionally, more times than not, in underserved communities' families are not made aware of the resources around them which leads to increased parental stress, guilt, and shame. This opens the door to potential child abuse and neglect. That is where SLCN steps in to avert crises and address the concerns parents have, whether that be lack of support, homelessness, daycare assistance, job searching, domestic violence, and challenging behaviors in their child or children.
Whatever the crisis may be, SLCN makes it a priority to assist families through the Nursery’s respite care program, Family Empowerment Program, community outreach centers, 24-hour crisis helpline, and so much more. Even if the Nursery does not specialize in a particular problem that a person in need is seeking, they are quick to provide outside resources and referrals to other organizations and community agencies who may be of assistance.
Now that I have been with Saint Louis Crisis Nursery for eight months as a practicum student this truly has been the most challenging, intellectually stimulating, fruitful, and inspirational experience of my life. I have learned so much about myself, my values, my wishes for the community, and the care and support that is needed most in preventing child abuse and neglect from tearing families apart. As a future social worker who plans to work with at-risk children and youth, stepping into the realm of crisis work felt like a much-needed exploration considering social workers play a big role within this organization.
The goal of Saint Louis Crisis Nursery is to strengthen the family unit by shedding light on the effectiveness of prevention before child abuse and neglect take place in the home. Prevention does work, and this is proven in SLCN’s track record which shows 99% of children in our programs remain free from child abuse and neglect. Additionally, 99% of our families stayed together, 171,256 hours of crisis care were utilized, and 3,443 total admissions were recorded at one of our 5 nursery locations in the year 2021.
Saint Louis Crisis Nursery is, and always will be, a safe haven for children and their parents, and this organization continues to be one of the frontrunners in saving babies’ lives, keeping kids safe, and building strong families. With great pride it has been a joy to work with others who care so much about children and their right to live happy and fulfilling lives.