The ProLife Team Podcast
The ProLife Team Podcast
How to Support Women in Crisis: The Role of Social Workers in Pregnancy Clinics
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Learn how social workers can enhance support for women facing unplanned pregnancies. From crisis intervention to community resource coordination, discover the vital contributions of social workers in pregnancy clinics.
To the mountain mercy, to the crimson perpetual time. Kneel down on the shore, be thirsty no more. Go under and be pure Christ to the mountain.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Uh would you introduce yourself, Ochinga, and tell us a little bit about your background and how you got connected to pro-life pregnancy clinic related work?
SPEAKER_03Okay. So uh my name is Ochinga and I am I'm a voyant Congolese, so but I was born and grew up in Beirut, Lebanon in the Middle East. And I have been uh working in the pro-life movement. I gotta say working I say five years, but involved, I believe eight years, because I believe the first day that I walked into our pregnancy center that uh I serve at uh in Texas, the second that I stepped in there was just uh for a project. I think in my I was working on an English paper. I believe that from the first day of me stepping into the office, I counted as my day one, just being involved in a movement.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Yeah, so tell us about your your con yeah, what you bring that's unique to the pranksy clinic space when it as a uh when it comes to like you know your your your vision and your your backstory.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So um very to briefly summarize all that, I um my my story, how I got into into everything. I these are things I kind of found out like after being serving at my local pregnancy center, that I did not know that um there has been a history of abortions um in my life, in my family's life, in my history, even before that, even 30 years before I started working at our pregnancy center. And I did not know that, and I was raised by a single mother, and I was really, really drawn to helping and supporting women and wanting to help them because I said that wow, my mother was really brave by raising me and wanting to take care of me, and realizing that and learning a lot about that, and that's what pushed me to get into a job that where I do want to emulate hope and help and serve Christ because I'm a Christian and foremost, and I did not think that being a pastor was something I wanted to do. I said I wanted to um be in the pews, be among the people, and that's why I chose the route of being a social worker and be literally a ministry uh missionary among the people and use my hands and feet, and even if I don't look like one a traditional one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so tell us more about what a social worker is, and then let's talk uh talk about um you know what how that looks as someone on a frequency clinic team.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so I I always want to emphasize what is a social worker first, and um a social worker is a trained prof uh professional who is equipped to serve, uh advocate, uh advocate for and intervene on behalf of individuals, families, communities. So work social workers are trained to work uh from a multi-level perspective, addressing needs ranging from one on one client to direction to broader community and even policy level concerns. They are skilled in crisis intervention, resource coordination, advocacy, counseling, and system navigation.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and so tell us the story of how you um well what your thoughts on a social worker working at a pregnancy clinic.
SPEAKER_03So I remember when I saw working at the well, I remember doing my internship at uh no, not my internship, I was doing my volunteering hours, and I really, really wanted to have a job at a princess and so I was trying to plant a seed or maybe a little worm in the ear. I was like, huh, wow, these are really great things here. You don't know what you need, you need a social worker. I was not a social worker yet, but you need a social worker. So I was just planting a seed. I think I was uh a sophomore in college, and I was like, you need a social worker, and um and afterwards, you know, I got sure I started working there. But I think that some why should um PhCs consider hiring a social worker? Well, the benefits of incorporating a social worker are tremendous. So social workers are trained to work within multidisciplinary teams and bringing a unique perspective to client's care. They are taught to consider multiple approaches when helping clients and can often identify solutions that may not be traditionally considered within a pregnancy center setting. Additionally, licensed social workers complete extensive education, field placements, and often more than a thousand hours of supervised clinical uh experience. So this training provides credibility and expertise in areas such as crisis intervention, uh, mental health, case management, trauma-informed care, and community resource coordination. Social workers can build bridges into community and settings, uh, professionals, networks, and service systems that faith-based organizations may not always be able to have direct access to that. Um, as you can, you know, of course, like there's a lot of missionaries who will do missions, but they do not do it in a traditional way. Maybe they can go into business and different things. So sometimes this is the way that you can see a social worker who is Christian-minded to do that, and their professional relationship can expand APHE's uh ability to connect clients with needed services and support.
SPEAKER_00So awesome. How much um time in school or education you know does it take to go from being well how much time did it take for you to become a social worker? What was your your experience going through school or getting licensed or educated uh to be you know to take that step?
SPEAKER_03Okay, so uh obviously it depends where somebody goes, but if you want the fastest route to be a social worker, you have to go to a college that has a uh with a social work uh degree. Social work degree is actually what did I forget the word, but basically accredited. Yes, it's a accredited program. And once you do that, it's uh you do it for four years. And if you graduate from university that has accredited social work program and you jump into your master's, your master's is gonna be cut into a year instead of two, because your four years of undergrad would be counted as your basic year of social work, and then after that you do it for one year, and right when you get out of uh your master's program, you can sit down for your licensing exam. And um, after you pass the exam, that's it. You are uh a social worker, you get your LMSW, which is the basic uh social worker license. Now, if you want to advance a little bit more, you need to do 3,000 hours of supervision, mental health, and uh clinical aspect. And after these 3,000 hours of supervision, you can get your LCS, you sit down for an exam, and you can get your LCSW, which is licensed clinical uh social worker. But also anyone can apply to be a social worker, wants to be a social worker, they can if they choose that, even if they didn't get the bachelor in social work, they can get any other bachelor. But when they want to go get their masters, they have to do two years of social work um in their masters, but um yeah, I think five years, six years, uh it depends on the person to do that. But once you get to LMSW, you're sad, you're a social worker.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Um so how might a social worker work with a a Princey Clinic team? Like, how might they come as you know, come alongside advocates or the executive director or the center director and these different people on the board? You know, how might a social worker be helpful to these different uh people and workers and leaders?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So since I I talked about how a social worker is trained to work in a multidisciplinary team, the social worker can complement the strength and the work of every member, a key member in a PhC team. So basically, in a client advocate, social workers can assist in with complex client situations, provide case management, support, conduct assessment, uh help, and develop care plans for clients facing multiple challenges. Because there's certain things that a client advocate cannot do, and it needs a little bit more professionalism. So that's where um social worker can do that. Um the client, client director, uh well, center director, social worker can streamline client processes, improve service delivery, uh, develop referrals, networks, and strengthen organization procedures. In my own experience, I first became involved in the local PhD um seeking volunteer hours and internships, like I said earlier. And the training skills again through my academic program helped me identify the areas where systems could be improved and strengthened. So after joining the staff following graduation, I was able to help streamline those processes and hence uh client care. Uh alongside the executive director, which I don't do that, but uh if I were in that leadership role, social workers can assist with program development, they can evaluate the program, partnership, uh staff training, grant pro opportunities because social workers are actually trained to be grant writers as well. Strategic planning, their understanding of community needs can help shape programs that better serve the clients' uh families. But also, in addition to that, if there were a if there was if there were there was an idea of building a so a um new PhC in an area, a social worker can help streamline and understand what kind and how uh this PhC can be built in that area and how they can best serve others. Board directors, social workers can be on directors and can provide valuable insight into client needs, community trends, and program outcomes. This perspective can help board members make informed decisions regarding organizations or growth and service priorities, supporting volunteers. Most PhDs really rely uh heavily on the generosity of donors and volunteers. And we know that without them, we we cannot continue and do what we can. And because our volunteer time is valuable, social workers can help reduce pressure on volunteers by managing more complex client needs, coordinating resources, ensuring continuity of care. This also uh allows volunteers to focus on roles that they are best equipped to fulfill. Because early on in the social work, in early on in the uh pro-life movement, we saw a lot of uh volunteers trying to do everything, talking to you, they do the counseling, they give the resources, do all of that. It's a lot within 20 minutes, and then like that's a lot for a person. But as in as a care manager in my center, the the client coordinator or the advocate just have the conversation, they can write some notes on the file saying, Oh, these are some resources that I think like she might need, and I got from the conversation. And then me as a care manager, when I get the file, I look at the file, look at the situation, call the client, build another relationship with with her and with him, and tell them, Hey, tell me a little bit more, let's let's dig in a little bit more about those resources. Why can I help you? How can you do that? How we connect, let's meet, let's come back, and then we talk about resources and everything, but uh uh different thing. But also, depending on the licensure, which uh and state regulation, social workers may also provide counseling services, support groups, crisis intervention, and emotional support for clients experiencing difficult, difficult life circumstances, because of course we send out so much, we send out our clients outside to other resources. But if we can uh we can offer these things in our centers, that would be great, and also saving a lot of money. We know that because if you're already on staff but you're providing both, that would be really great. And it's sometimes really hard to find those great resources that are aligned with our values, aligned with the um not just our Christian values, but also aligned with our um center values. So if you already have somebody on staff who is already aligned uh and signed up on all the core values and conduct and all that, that can save a lot of time because you already are here, you just have broader capacity and do all that.
SPEAKER_00Wow, that's so good. I I think everything you said is gonna be interesting to those who are listening. But there's one thing that you said that I think is going to stand out as like a very um needed hole to fill, which is grant writing. Can you talk a little bit more about how a social worker does well, as you said, does all of these things and also can help write grants uh as someone on the team? And it's not like it sounds like you know, what percent of your time might go to that and what does that look like?
SPEAKER_03So for me within my within my organization, I do not do any gorny. That's that's more of our CEO's role. But if I were to to help one, um, because there are social workers are different routes you can take, uh, but one, I can take a training that I already know and understand. I did some of my training in my social work. I did children and families route when I was focused in my master's, and I did and I have an understanding of how do uh organizations work, and I studied that a little bit, and we can be able to identify the needs, identify stakeholders, identify different things is how to write a grant. And I also remember in my undergrad, I actually had a course where I had to learn how to write a grant, and that can save a lot of time because we know CEOs are so busy, they have a lot of things to do. So if our if a social worker can help with that and be like, okay, these are these uh these are the grants, or you want me to look for grants something, I can work on that. You can assign me that and I can work on that, and then have the CEO just review it and be like, okay, that's good, good to go. Uh, because social workers are trained to to learn how to do that, and I can save, save a lot of time. But for me, I haven't done that in my in my own uh organization. You know, social workers just fit whatever um whatever the need is, whatever the need is in the center.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's that's that's that sounds like such a great skill to you know to be able to onboard and then use. So, Ochinga, I want to ask you one of my uh pillar questions, like I have the the three pillars, you know, and one of which is uh where have you seen God's fingerprints in your pro-life journey, you know, working in this space? Like what's what's a story? You know, obviously there's lots of fingerprints, but what's one story that stands out in your mind? Let's let me think about that.
SPEAKER_03Number one. I remember I was well helping with one of our clients who just come in often. And I this is what I love about being a care manager. And we were talking about different resources and helping her look at different resources at different things that might she might need help with. And I gave her some homework. I said, okay, this is what we're working on today. And then we can come back to it at another time and talk about it. And I remember calling her back after a while and just checking on her and said, How are things going? All that she said, Oh yeah, I was looking to this resource and I did this resource and looking to this resource. I was like, oh my goodness, you're doing an awesome job. And she said, Yeah, I'm learning from you. And the fact that she, it's not like we would just assist him, but I just hand it off. Like she is taking control over her life and she's able to um to work in that. I was like, this is what I really care about. I really care about our clients being independent, our clients be uh strong in what they're doing and not um feel like they are a victim to the system. And there are some of them they are, but even when they are a victim to a system, that they can stand tall and become victors and be able to overcome all those things. And even when they're asking for help, that that does not change the way that they view themselves, and that not change how special and how uh important they are in God's eye. And even if life really hit them in all very difficult um all all the places that they can still be able to continue. And this is what I really love, and I think another story, I have another good story because I do have to give you a a father's story. Uh I think one of um this is one time where I actually said uh I had to go in my Princeton Center. Sometimes I have to step in as a client advocate. And I sat with a father, and I got to talk to him. He's really excited to be a father, but also he's really scared, and he turned out to grow in a home that did not really encourage him, anything that really doubted him. So he was really scared that he was not also going to be a good father because he never had that positive influence or encouragement in his home. And I remember saying looking at him, I told him, you know, you are actually doing an awesome job. Because and you are you are doing an awesome job, and you are a good father. Because if you didn't care, you wouldn't be sitting in this chair. You wouldn't be here in front of me, you wouldn't be talking to me, you wouldn't be aware about the thing. And this is what makes you a good father. And I remember he just cried. I'm known as a guy crier. I make a lot of fathers cry, like a good cry, not bad cry. But um, and even he was really happy, and he grew, and even uh a year later, as his child grew a little bit, and we invited him to one of our banquets, and he named me by name. I did not know I had that big impact. It's like, yeah, and and I'm really glad that uh Ochenga was the one who actually was there. I was like, Oh, I did not know I had that big of an impact. I just was doing what God was telling me, but it really warm my heart knowing that the little thing that I did really uh empowered him and changed him.
SPEAKER_00That's so good. So, one of my other pillar questions is to try and share things that are not common, which I think is just what you're doing is a non, it's not a common idea to have a social worker on a prixy clinic team. How would you re-summarize or share how this is something worth looking at? And how would you recommend this to a prancy clinic executive director is something that would be really helpful for her to consider? I know you've already laid out a lot of that, but how would you re, you know, if you were talking to an executive director and trying to say, you know, I really think you should consider someone on your team going through the you know additional two years of uh training to become you know to have that social worker um puzzle piece to bring into the team, how would you pitch that?
SPEAKER_03Well, one thing that I would uh I would say as um, well, first we know that sort of that our PhCs need a lot of pieces to work together to be able to um s really take care of our clients and we want to be center focused uh, we want to be client-focused, we want to be family focused. A social worker actually brings um has this multifaceted and multidimensional view of how to help and serve the client, serve the client. And because we're limited on resources, we are able to get a social worker, it would be great to have be that liaison between government assistance, community resources, mental health resources. So it would actually cut down a lot of the cost that you know of other things that need to be done so we can fully focus on our clients and do that. And having one person who is valuable and skilled, um, that would actually really add a lot of credibility to our centers. In the same way that we look at our nurses who are credible, who worked hard, and they're licensed and a professional, and in addition to that, uh in the held to a standard, the high standard social workers are also held to a standard to the Texas um well for me to BHC, the Texas Behavioral Executive Uh Commission, I guess. I I think, but I'm held to that standard that it's like double on that. And if anything happens, they follow through with that.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. So yeah, so I um yeah, even though I publish these podcasts on YouTube, I never ask people to subscribe, like, or comment. But what I would like to say, if anyone out there who is listening to this, if you decide to take two years of training and get your social worker, well, what would it be, Ochinga? A license, a degree. Well, you will have to do your master's and license. So if someone decides to do that because of this episode, I'd like you to contact me so I can interview you with Ochinga, and we we'll do a follow-up episode. If anyone decides to take this as like a spur, a Hebrews 1024 spur, to go and do something and bring it in. And we'd love to, you know, talk to you maybe a few months after you've experienced, you know, what it's really like to go through that training, experience at your center, and we'll do a follow-up interview with you, whoever's out there that may be thinking about it.
SPEAKER_03I would be really oh I will be really open to that. Uh it's it's really great. I love it, and especially as a man who's working at a pregnancy center and being a male social worker in a pregnancy center, it's very rare. I think I'm one of the only ones that I've met as a male social worker in a pregnancy center and among the pr a lot of pregnancy centers that I met. And it's really great. I love it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I can't say that I've met someone else with that um title. Then again, I probably have met someone that may have it, but I didn't, you know, they didn't say that they had that licensure or title. And I I mean I'm yeah, I I guess I don't know perhaps, but it does seem rare to me. Um and um so how, you know, based on the what you're what you've been doing as a social worker, how might you know how is how have you been in you know, with the social worker-related work, how has that been an encouragement to your executive director at your clinic? How would you describe how that's helped her? Or well, I don't even know if it's a him or her.
SPEAKER_03Uh um her. Well, yeah, I'll exit our CEO, uh uh, it's a female, and my center director is a male. Um it's it's been great. It's been really great. Also, it's been really uh like I'm and it's so weird that I'm talking about myself in that way, but um because I'm really unique in that way. Um I'm one of two guys on staff. Like, so there's my boss and there's me. And in addition to that, uh not only that I have a social worker, I have that aspect, but because I am also a multicultural person, so I am able to connect with people who may not actually feel feel uh encouraged to come to our centers. I also speak multiple languages, so I have worked in that capacity where I translated some of the opinion and actually gave some insight on cultural uh matters. And uh our pregnancy center really they they love me. They love me. They say that we want you to be here forever, they know they want me to be here forever, and they know that at some point, maybe in the future, that I may not be able to stay there, but they are taking advantage of every single second that I'm there, and they really advocate for me and they love me. And they make sure all the time, even though I don't necessarily they make sure all the time to really tell me how much they appreciate me, how much they appreciate my work and uh my passion uh doing that. And I gotta be honest, like out of all the jobs that I've had, it is one of the first jobs that I felt that my voice mattered and that I was important, even though I had the least experience out of all of them, and I was the youngest. I think I was the youngest male ever hired in our uh history of our pregnancy center, and I still earned that respect, and I love that that environment. And one thing that I will say about our my uh our pregnancy center is that it's a safe place to make mistakes, it's a safe place to make mistakes, you learn from them and you grow, and you have uh people not only they care about your well and your success, personal success, but they care about your well-being. And I remember my um my center director um who told me he said, you know, I care more about you in your personal life than I actually care about here in a center. And no matter where you're gonna be, we're always gonna cheer you on, and we're always gonna be by your side. So it's it's a great place. It's a great place.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I would I would completely agree that, well, I I look at mistakes through the entrepreneurial lens as that's the best way to get an education where you wouldn't be able to even learn some things in a traditional school. But mistakes, um, you know, they do come with a cost, but that's just simply like the price, you know, people go to college to avoid pain for mistakes in the real world. But some mistakes in the real world are just so valuable because people that experience the pain of a mistake um learn a great deal from that mistake, even more so than what they might learn from success. Yes, the education for mistakes is huge, while the education from success is often not nearly captured as deeply. So um okay, so I want to ask you about um your role when it comes to the male, or you know, when it comes to you know the the the boyfriend, the the male, the couple. What does that look like for you when it comes to you know talking to the dad that's in this unplanned pregnancy situation at your center?
SPEAKER_03One second, let me put my charger.
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SPEAKER_00No worries. That's a good thing. I don't want it to die.
SPEAKER_02Good thinking.
SPEAKER_03Hello, Kitty. I have my cat literally just at my feet. Perfect. Okay. Yeah. Um, I have two. One is wandering off and one is sitting by my foot. Okay. Um fatherhood. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So tell me about your yeah, how you um work in that fatherhood space with clients.
SPEAKER_03So for me for so because my role is a care manager, I don't really focus, like I don't call, oh, I'm just here for the dad. I was like, I'm here for the family. Generally, I'm here for a family. Is an aspect I've meet with the dad, yes. But I'm here for the family and I'm here to look from the outside looking in. So I when I meet with fathers, sometimes because these these are the instances where I actually meet with fathers. I meet with father in one uh instance if I'm gen like if I'm actually meeting them, meeting them to do the counseling or uh or do the options counseling. Two, when I meet with mom, do the care management. For example, applying for Medicaid or any other government assistance. And then the third one, which is one of the rare ones that I see them, is when I teach uh classes. So sometimes I do help in teaching education classes and doing that. And from the beginning, I always acknowledge the father. I always say, thank you very much for coming. I always acknowledge the father because I tell them, hey, here's the reason why you're here. I know here's what society says about men, here's what society says about fatherhood. And I want to tell you that everything they're saying is not true. Everything they're saying is not true, and you are so important, and that's why we have you here. I always use this example of as a father, you are a visionary and you care about your family and you want to support your family. How are you going to be able to support and plan and make a vision for your family if you do not understand the details? If you don't understand what's going on, even if you do that. And and I tell them, you know, and also I use like the sport uh kind of analogy. It's like you need to know the game plan. And for you to know the game plan, you have to know everything, even things that you feel that are unnecessary. So I tell them that, you know, there's some times where you have to fight for you to be in that space. You have to fight to be in that space. And you have to, and it's a weird way to put it, but you have to fight for you to be in that space. But say when you go to uh to visits with mom, ask the doctor the questions. Don't be intimidated because you're in a female space. Like, how can I help her better? Can you give me some research? Can I help her? How can I uh what does that mean? How can I be able? Because it's a partnership. Or let's say when a baby is born and you're taking care of your baby, and let's say baby is crying and everybody wants to come and save dad. And I'm like, you're supposed to say no, leave me, let me bond with my child, let me do that. I they're not gonna learn. I said you have to fight for it, and that you have to fight for your role because I feel that um a lot of people forget that just because a father is a provider does not mean that he's not a nurturer, it is in us, and something it's learned, and it's not um taking care of a child is not solely focused on mom. So a lot of fathers really start thinking and understand and giving them even very simplified ways of how they can show up for their families. I don't know they're like, yeah, maybe you may not be doing all the complex things that a mom is doing every single day because of just how things are uh happening. But I said you can show up and do so much because your kids are not gonna remember the times that you were working, the times that we're not there, but they're gonna remember the moments that you were there that you love and cared for. And I always like talking to the father and asking them how the relationship was with their dad. And I always ask them, like, what would you do the what would you do different? And what would you wish that your father did? And a lot of them have said, I love that my father worked hard and was and worked hard and provided in the roof of our head, but I wish he was spending more time with me. And that it's a healthy balance, it's like you don't have to sacrifice family time just to provide. And sometimes we have to think about the life that we want to have and do that. So uh that's how I kind of put it in their head and they start thinking, oh wow, this is a different aspect, a different way to look into fatherhood that you don't have to and an or uh like you just like this and that, they just have to do you can do both.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So Ochinga, how so when it comes to like your faith and spiritual direction, how does that how does that possibly get weaved in or not get weaved in when you're you know, based on the social worker um mindset or uh skill set, how you know how does that spiritual layer um connect in the Princey Center space from you know from how you see it and do it?
SPEAKER_03One specific one of my favorite um what's what's the word I'm looking for? Because I don't like to say it's story because it makes it seem like it's the it's there it is. Oh Bible passage passage passage, yeah, passage. But one of the most documented, like one of my favorite documented uh passage about uh in Jesus' life is the encounter of the woman at the well. It's one of my favorite ones, and honestly, I will use it for any sermon, anything that meeting my heart to pursue social work has has come from growing up in a environment that was not really great, that I had all the reasons to not really want to follow God, and all the reasons to be angry at God, even though I'm not supposed to, because who am I? But in general, just because as a human, that's what I think. But the fact that I could that I saw people who trusted God, loved God, that cared about me, where they had no business in caring about me, no business to be that involved, no business in being understanding, no business in giving me their time, because I'm like, who am I to then? I'm like, I'm just like some weird, but the fact that I care about you, God cares about you, and he cares about me too, and this is how I'm showing. So I decided to do social work because I believe that I mean all of us are broken and all of us have our own demons and messes, and sometimes it takes one person to sit down with you, get to know you, talk to you, uh, sit in the mess, and just help you all that. And I think about the woman at the well, where I mean, we only have that passage, but if we really think about the culture and all the things, that there must be so many things that have been on her mind while she was there, and seeing like the fact that she's ostracized not only from a society, but ostracized from other women who are supposed to be like kin and help, especially in that communal um communal uh society. And the fact and also not only that, that her and Jesus were at the opposite side of the coin. Um in basically and uh like like and also like you everything like Jesus also even had no reason to talk to her in any way just because of like you know the culture background and all that, and he's a man and she's a woman, but he still chose to be there, and still chose and he waited for her. Because I don't say, like, oh, he just with the key when he was there, he waited for her, he saw her. Where he saw he's like, I was waiting for you, and I'm meeting you. And I think a lot about of our clients and uh everything that I do is like I was waiting for you. I did not know that I was meeting you today because we're not God. I did not know, but I was waiting for you, and I'm glad that you came. It's kind of like this meeting that uh you you're waiting and they show up, and it's okay, let's get started. And that's how that's how I see it.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Wow, this has been so good, Ochinga. I really I'm excited to see if someone contacts us that you know takes this as like uh inspiration to to do this and then help us do a follow up episode maybe in a couple years or months, who knows what. We'll see. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see.
SPEAKER_03I really love this, and I've always been really passionate in uh bringing more like the male perspective and the voice uh um into how to serve and also being in this position as a social worker and uh I really really my hope that we see more and more social workers in the in the the PhDs uh all around and to be able because I know it is difficult it is difficult to have PhDs because they're expensive to and all that but um I hope that as we're growing and because we've been doing this for over 50 years as we're growing that we'll find ways to incorporate new things and make um be more successful be able to save families and so they can have life abundantly yeah one of the um there's this gentleman John Enzor out of Florida he would say things like when something's worth doing it's worth doing poorly and the reason why he would say that was because when people first started getting into the pre-clinic space 48 plus you know almost 50 years ago or 30 plus years ago people were just getting in with both feet without any prep without any training just to do the work because the work was so important.
SPEAKER_00But today we have the advantage of being in a mature movement yeah and so people we have a we're in a different um a different phase of the pro-life movement and so getting a um an education getting the right tools getting the right pieces being more strategic having more planning more prep we have the luxury at this point in the movement to to do things differently than those who were first responding um 30 to 50 years ago and so I think I think what you're saying really resonates today it may not have been an option 30 to 50 years ago but it does it is an option today and we've got to be creative we gotta be creative yeah yeah and I think you know finding ways for innovation excellence uh creativity uh using educational um tracks and and tools is at our disposal today and um and so I I I feel like it's you know it can be inspirational to think how can we be more innovative creative educated empowered and and having better tools to better equip and serve as servant leaders and servants to servant leaders.
SPEAKER_03I want to also point out like we we we celebrate of course the wins and the obstacles that we overcome but it's not done until he says it's done so as long as we're going people will still need help and support and whether it's an unplanned or planned pregnancy everybody needs to meet Jesus in some way I I would say that yeah maybe yes our form of work is just to help families throughout pregnancy but the most important thing is that they will meet Jesus that they will meet Jesus because that is a way more that's is the most important decision that they'll make in the they'll um make in their life so let's just do it right yeah I would agree I mean the reason why someone needs breath is in order to have more time to see Jesus um that that's that's that's what that's the that's the why and the why we need people to um to have more time is to see Jesus yeah yeah awesome well chinga as we wrap up this podcast you have any final thoughts and would you close this close out with a prayer for those who are listening to join in with yeah uh well first I want to say thank you so much thank you so much for inviting me here i i know we've been working on doing this for how many years three years i think so doing it's I know I know I've been getting all your emails and I'm like hey when you're gonna come in and I want to say I'm glad that it was a good time to actually do that and I feel really ready to speak on that and uh I really hope that everybody's listening that first I want to thank everyone who is in a live movement and everyone who is putting their hands and feet and into this movement whether you started yesterday or whether you have been here for years and years and in any aspect whether you are a donor a volunteer or even a prayer warrior prayer warriors y'all are important um prayer warrior we thank you so much for supporting us and doing all this and uh we know we understand what we're doing even when people don't understand what we are doing but uh yeah let's just pray um well father god i just thank you for this amazing time um where we get the opportunity to celebrate uh the skills that you have given us and celebrate uh celebrate you and allowing us to be in your kingdom and allowing us to also work within uh your ministry lord i pray god that anyone who is struggling um to have direction in the live understanding what they need to do next i pray god that you would get them guidance i pray god for all those who are uh in the movement who are growing and who are also facing so many difficulties because we know that what we're doing the work that we're doing uh will bring a lot of challenges and the devil would not be happy with that but I pray god that you will continue to empower us and let us be strong and courageous Lord and I pray God blessing on every single person who has been working and serving you Lord and uh we thank you for loving us so much that you sent Jesus for us and I pray God that more and more people will get to experience um eternal life and have an abundant life and uh in our encounter. In Jesus' name I pray.
SPEAKER_02Amen. Amen