Staff Spotlight: Angie Gillen
Angie is usually the first person our foster and adoptive families meet when they come on board. As Director of Training and Outreach, Angie is a wealth of knowledge and experience about child welfare and children from hard places. She is also a TBRI practitioner, artist, advocate, animal lover, and all around amazing human!
Get to know Angie:
What is your role at The Salvation Army and what does it entail?
I'm the director of education and outreach. I have a few roles here - I'm the first point of contact for people inquiring about becoming foster or adoptive parents, I do outreach to try to raise awareness for the need for families for the children we serve, I'm a TBRI Practitioner and I create and present most of the trainings we offer. I created The GROW Institute, which is our agency's education program. We're passionate here about making sure families are trauma-informed so they're able to be effective at caring for children with trauma and feel well-equipped to do so.
What drew you to a career in social work?
I wanted to be an attorney and my first job out of college was with a public interest law firm that advocated for the rights of children who were in the delinquency and dependency systems. I became immersed in the world of child welfare and it's a very easy field to become passionate about. There are so many hurt people, it's almost impossible to not want to help.
If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the child welfare system, what would it be?
It would be that we didn't need it.
What is one piece of advice you have for people considering becoming foster/adoptive parents?
If we place children in your home, tell them and show them constantly that they are precious. Do it even when they act out, when their hurting is on full, colorful, loud, ugly display. That's when they need it most.
What are you doing for self-care these days?
I like to make art and spend time with my family. I have a 17-year-old daughter and she's my joy. I also have three nieces and a nephew who are amazing and I visit them whenever I need my heart filled up.
Just for fun...what are your favorite:
- Animal - cats and bats
- Color - teal
- Food - potatoes in most any form
- Ice Cream Flavor - Tiramisu (from Ice Cream World)
- Sport - No thank you.
- Vacation Destination - My dream vacation is to visit Japan.
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