New talent joins New Morning Youth and Family Services

Mountain Democrat - 10/8/2017

Since its inception in 1970, New Morning Youth & Family Services that serves El Dorado County and is located in Placerville has been providing some of the most vulnerable in our community the care and attention they desperately need.

As if this isn't enough, the nonprofit raised the bar with the recent hiring of Linda Soto and Annah Wilson, both of whom are not only book smart, but street smart in ways that those they are serving can identify with.

Soto, program administrator, came on board July 3. Wilson, shelter director, was hired a month earlier.

Soto works directly under Executive Director David Ashby. She oversees all the program operations, grant funding, and so on.

Wilson is responsible for shelter functions ? the recruiting, training and hiring of "youth behavioral specialists." She also works with a case manager, a therapist and a social worker, making plans for each individual who comes into the shelter. This includes finding safe places for them to go when they leave the shelter, making sure they are enrolled in school and that they are getting the access they need to therapy.

Both women are highly educated: Wilson comes with a master's in English; Soto with a bachelor's in psychology. But when reaching for the necessary tools to address day-to-day situations at their new jobs, their life experiences will likely serve them as well, or better, than their college degrees.

Linda Soto

"My background is with the families of this community," Soto said, after reciting her credentials.

"We adopted three children who were from a very abusive home ? they were young siblings ? 3, 2, and 1. I stayed home with them and then as they got older, they started having emotional issues from the abuse," she said, noting that this inspired her to go back to school and attain a bachelor's degree in Counseling Psychology. The experience helped her to "help her children" and it also led to her getting involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters of El Dorado County, first as a volunteer and soon after as an employee ? a youth advocate.

"I am passionate about the children in our community. I think of them as being resilient," Soto said, pausing briefly while she searched for an analogy to help her explain what she meant. "There's strength to these kids ? like the foothills. This county is rugged and rough and you have to be strong." That said, she said she also feels it's "very important" for every child who is struggling to be able to receive counseling services for any issues they might face.

Soto became a bit teary-eyed, then regained her composure, as she talked about the different types of abuse children may face.

"Some of these kids still can look at me with a smile and say, 'I had anger issues, but now I have control (of my anger). I am OK now,'" Soto said. "My part is making sure that we are providing services and also supporting the therapists."

Soto works at the clinic in administration, but she also stops by the shelter every few days to check in and hang out with the children and teens, said Wilson, who was sitting with Soto during an interview with the Mountain Democrat.

"We have a kid here who is into making really disgusting sandwiches, like peanut butter and jalapeños and Cheetos," Wilson said. "One day Linda walked in, in her sort-of corporate, professional attire, said 'Hi' to the kid and I think he was looking at her like, what are you doing here, and Linda ended up taking a bite of his sandwich (upon his offer)," Wilson said.

"I loved it. It was delicious," Soto said.

"After she left, the kids said, 'She's so cool,' 'cause they didn't expect her to be on their level," Wilson said of Soto.

"They love Annah, too," Soto said.

Annah Wilson

"New Morning literally saved my life when I ran away at the age of 13," Wilson said, noting she came from a tumultuous household. "It was the first place where I felt like I had access to positive adult attention and was given a sense of value and worthiness," she said, before telling her personal story and what led her to not only achieve a high school diploma, but a master's degree.

Little did she know then that New Morning's emergency youth shelter would provide her more than just a safe place to stay. Her future was essentially decided one sleepless night while there, when she started talking to a behavioral specialist working the graveyard shift and was told to "go back to bed."

"I was being bratty, so I pushed back," Wilson said. "So (the behavioral specialist) pulled a Harlequin romance novel from her purse and told me to go lie down and read. I took the book back to my room and was so engrossed in the story that I fell in love with reading.

"I could read, but it took an adult giving me a book like that to show me that reading could be fun," she said. "After that, reading became a tool for me to withstand any traumatic situation I was in, because when you are engrossed in a story, it doesn't matter what situation you are in. Reading became a survival skill for me."

After getting her master's degree, Wilson became a professor at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, where she taught creative writing. She also published a book of poetry about growing up in El Dorado County. Then she decided to move back to her community of origin "to invest in the youth."

And here she is.

Wilson said she actually applied for Soto's job, but instead of being hired to do administrative work she was asked to work directly with the youth to develop the program.

"It puts me in a position of working with the youth from a place of solidarity and not charity ? kids can tell the difference, I think," she said.

Asked her favorite part of her new job, Wilson said: "There's so many things ?"

The most challenging part?

"I want to take kids home with me all the time and I have to maintain my boundaries.

"And it's hard."

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