Learn how trauma-informed clinical care serves as a crucial resource for women receiving social services and working with case managers on individualized care plans, supporting their mental health and well-being while empowering them to set goals toward a stable future.

Clinical Care in Action

Shenetta Giles, LMSW, CASAC, serves as a Clinical Supervisor at our women’s shelter in New York City. Each day, she supports mothers in the shelter setting as they navigate motherhood, manage day-to-day stressors, and heal from trauma. Through her work, Shenetta plays an essential role in our supportive housing model and contributes to the long-term stability of the families we serve. Below, Shenetta offers insight into how she approaches clinical care in the shelter setting.

How is clinical care integral to our model of support? 

Clinical care is the foundation that transforms services into sustainable change. It ensures families are not only connected to resources but also emotionally supported, clinically assessed, and guided through intentional care planning that stabilizes crises, addresses trauma, and strengthens long-term functioning. 

Clinical care is where services become healing, and support becomes stability.

What does consistency and ongoing care mean to someone who’s experienced instability?  

For someone who has experienced instability, consistency is not routine; it is regulation. It communicates safety without words. Showing up repeatedly, predictably, and with integrity helps recalibrate a nervous system that has learned to expect disruption. Consistency teaches safety when instability has been the norm, while ongoing care tells people they are not a temporary concern.

What resources do you find valuable to the mothers in your care? 

The most valuable resources are those that integrate emotional support with practical access. Mental health care, parenting support, housing stability, and community-based services are most effective when they are coordinated, not siloed. Therefore, resources matter most when they restore choice and confidence. Equally important are relational resources: spaces where mothers feel seen without judgment and supported without shame. Advocacy, psychoeducation, and culturally responsive care empower mothers to move from crisis navigation to long-term self-efficacy. I believe empowerment happens when access and understanding move together.

What does ‘trauma-informed care’ mean in practice, and what does it look like in your day-to-day work? 

Trauma-informed care means understanding that behaviors are often adaptive to responses to experiences that once required survival. It asks not, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ but ‘What happened to you and what helped you endure it?’ 

Trauma-informed care means understanding that behaviors, emotions, and barriers are often rooted in lived experiences, not resistance.

Day to day, it looks like pacing instead of pressure. It looks like choice, transparency, and predictability. It means recognizing when a client’s resistance is actually fear, and when silence is a protective strategy, not disengagement. Trauma-informed care shows up in tone, consistency, and the willingness to repair when trust is tested. Healing begins when people feel understood, not managed.

How would you define success in your role? 

Success is not measured only by outcomes; it’s measured by safety, trust, and sustainability. It looks like a mother who begins to advocate for herself, a family that experiences stability without fear of collapse, or a moment where someone feels less alone in their process. Success also includes strengthening systems supporting staff, improving communication, and ensuring that care remains ethical, responsive, and grounded. If people leave interactions feeling respected and supported, then meaningful work has been done. It’s the quiet progress that doesn’t always show up in data. However, success is when people feel steadier than when they arrived. Success is when support turns into self-belief. I know my work is meaningful when a mother shifts from “I can’t” to  “I’m learning how”.

Shenetta’s work is one part of a larger solution. By meeting mothers where they are through trauma-informed, compassionate services, we help families find stability, healing, and thriving.

To learn more about our Clinical Services at WPA, click here.

To explore our programs and services, click here.