Several years ago, Trenise Wells felt her life was falling apart around her, her hair salon closed leaving her without work. The mother of two, with another on the way at time, tried to do hair on the side but due to her pregnancy, she was unable to continue.
She and her family eventually found themselves homeless, so she turned to Jobs Have Priority, a nonprofit, for help. A case worker with the organization helped her get back on her feet.
As she decided on what was next for her, upon the urging of a friend, she applied for a new program being offered by D.C.’s Department of Human Services. The training aims to turn people who have lived experience with homelessness into case workers who can help homeless people find work and housing.
It’s called the Peer Case Management Institute; the 17-week program at Howard University School of Social Work provides the tools and training a person needs to apply for work as a case worker.
“Oftentimes, we find our residents or clients are much more comfortable opening and sharing their stories and being vulnerable with somebody that they feel can really relate to what they’re going through,” said Rachel Pierre, the interim director of the Department of Human Services.
Wells was a part of the program’s first cohort, and Pierre said it has become popular, with 600 people applying to be a part of the second cohort, which only has 40 slots available.
“We say that we’re actually as, if not more, selective than Harvard University, because we only have a five or 6% acceptance rate,” Pierre said.
The first cohort had 35 students, 20 of them are now serving as case managers.
‘I’ve been there. I know you can do this.’
Wells was among the first graduates and within weeks, after an internship, she found the nonprofit that employed the case worker that helped her, Jobs Have Priority.
“I found my calling,” Wells said.
She said with only seven months on the job, she has seen several success stories play out and believes her understanding of what her clients are going through, has helped her best help them.
“I have the empathy to be there and say, ‘It’s OK. I’ve been there. I know you can do this,’” Wells said.
Her experience has also helped Wells give clients that extra nudge they might need, Wells recalled one woman she helped who was hesitant to try out for a job position.
“She was a little discouraged in the beginning, and I had to pull her I said, ‘I was you,’ I said, ‘I’ve only been a case manager for four months,'” Wells recalled. “She looked at me. She’s like ‘I would have never known.’”
The city said the training program is a first-of-its-kind program which looks to create what it calls long term pathways to the middle class for people who experienced homelessness and create a pipeline for skilled case managers to help people currently experiencing homelessness.
Wells said she never would have imagined a rewarding job she loves would come after some of the darkest moments of her life.
“I’m proud of where I am now, you know, at one point in time, I didn’t think I could, I couldn’t see myself out of it,” Wells said.
Wells has a goal of becoming a director and hiring other case workers down the road, and said doing hair is in the rearview, other than the time she’s donated to doing hair at area shelters. She said another bonus was the prestige of being able to say she went to a school that she considers to be the Mecca of colleges.
“I’m a graduate of Howard, and I’m a case manager,” Wells said.
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