EvenMORE For You

Staff Spotlight on Social Work Intern Sara Trohaugh

Bridging National Social Work Month & Volunteer Recognition Month

In celebration of National Social Worker month in March, we shined a “spotlight” on two incredible Crossroads social workers, Deanna Eder, MSW, social work team lead with Crossroads in Northeast Ohio and Malita Williams, MSW, Crossroads in Dayton SSD.

Social work internships typically span a full school year from August to May. Because they are unpaid for college credit, social work interns’ time on the job is logged as volunteer hours. These hours help Crossroads meet its volunteer hours requirement.

Sara Trohaugh Excels as a Social Work Field Placement Intern

In this first edition of April, we are shining a spotlight on Social Work Field Placement Intern extraordinaire Sara Trohaugh, currently with Crossroads at the Philadelphia site. She was recommended for this spotlight by Philadelphia SSD Patrick Loughlin.

Sara came to her internship having already had a successful and varied professional journey. She completed a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, specializing in metalworking and sculpture, more than 10 years ago. 

Now, while pursuing her master’s degree in social work at Bryn Mawr College she still maintains a busy massage therapy practice. Sara is also a longtime yoga instructor in her community.

Supporting Families in Times of Transition

Previously Sara worked as a birth doula, which is not so dissimilar to end-of-life care, according to Sara. “I appreciate how both (doula and hospice) are there in times of transition,” she said.

It was in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic that Sara began noticing how her—now online—discussions with clients could often evolve into productive, intimate conversations. This felt like a natural fit for her.

Sara saw this as a calling. It was then that she decided to apply to graduate social work programs. In one year, upon completion of her Master of Social Work Degree, Sara will have the credentials to be a therapist, which is exactly what she aspires to be. Her final internship next year at the Council for Relationships will advance her training as a therapist.

At Crossroads Sara values navigating the challenges of end-of-life care, learning alongside her mentors. The interpersonal nature of the work continues to inspire her career path. 

“It’s been wonderful to be amidst hard but beautiful moments” and to see the Crossroads team in action. Sara said, “I really appreciate the office camaraderie too.”

Philadelphia Social Worker Pauline Yeanay has had a large impact on Sara’s time at Crossroads. Supportive and approachable, Pauline keeps Sara sharp by asking challenging questions and demonstrating for her how to build meaningful connections with patients and families. 

While Sara has had her share of professional experience, she is also experienced in life as a married Mom of two daughters, ages 10 and 11. They keep her very busy on the homefront. A favorite family activity is a long walk through the woods with their dog Chloe.

Transformation: An Echo of Stuckness

By Danny Gutknecht

We all fall for it. The clickbait. "6 steps to figure yourself out." "How to do the work." "3 ways to spot a narcissistic boss." But what happens when we lift up the hood to see what's underneath — to see what's actually being covered up?

Because the advice that follows is often the disguise.  Let's use narcissism as an example — not the clinical kind, but Narcissus, the person in the myth. The one who loses himself staring into his own reflection. He's all alone at the pond, gazing into a distorted image of himself. But is he really alone?

No. Echo is there. Echo — a nymph who loved him, who called out to him over and over until she shriveled up in a cave and lost her body entirely. All she kept was her voice. Pure repetition, calling out to someone who would never turn around.

We spend enormous cultural energy talking about the narcissist. How to spot one, leave one, recover from one. Millions of videos, articles, podcasts — all saying the same thing. But almost nobody talks about Echo. And Echo is where the depth lives. She's the part we don't want to look at in ourselves.

Think about it. Everyone has walked into their boss' office and disagreed in a way that sounded like agreement. That's Echo. That's a minuscule example of what happens when we lose our own voice in someone else's reflection. We stay stuck and the relationship stays stuck. 

Every feeling of “stuckness” masquerades as a pathology — and so does its corresponding solution. They remove the real mirror, the thing that will actually help you the most. Sitting in it. Working with it.

There's value in understanding something. Understanding can ease discomfort and give us a more sophisticated narrative. But we also all know, the feelings often persist underneath, that these narratives are not transformative — they're rehearsals. Enlightenment rehearsals. Most of these methods attempt to resolve a dissatisfaction with a function that doesn't require the tension of another. Cognitive development approaches build a more complex mind, but too often the essential qualities of you remain fundamentally unmet.

Here's the thing, though. Most of us have had transformative experiences. Hospice. Grief. Loss that cracked something open. But most experiences with a transformative component baked in are traumatic. So we've invented all sorts of sophisticated mechanisms to avoid those associations — to create models that pathologize whatever we want to label "abnormal" or unhealthy. But they don’t have to be traumatic. 

But what if ostracizing these very real parts of ourselves — narcissism, (insert your grievance here) — is exactly what keeps us stuck at the pond? Distanced and isolated, unable to hear ourselves? The very voice we need in order to transform? The one that could find a more honest way to disagree with the boss — one that doesn't sound like agreement?

Employee Assistance Program Offers Immediate Access Anytime

In recognition of April’s National Counseling Awareness Month, we invite you to take a moment to learn how your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) benefit can support your mental well-being.

Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week access to short-term counseling. That’s how accessible Crossroads’ EAP is to team members. Available through the My Benefits Work app, Crossroads’ EAP benefit is a short-term, confidential counseling benefit.

In addition to the Teladoc Mental Health benefit Crossroads team members have access to, which provides therapist and psychiatry visits within 72 business hours, Telephonic EAP provides 24/7 access to short-term counseling, according to Brian Del Savio of New Benefits, Crossroads’ enhanced benefits partner.

Advice and referrals to other specialists including psychologists and psychiatrists can also result from reaching out to the EAP provider, Del Savio said when asked what he’d like Crossroads team members to know about their EAP benefit.

Referrals to experts who can assist with additional work life solutions like dealing with elder care, childcare, substance abuse, financial concerns, legal matters and stress management are all part of EAP’s menu of services.

We know team members’ days can be packed with action and stresses on the job and at home. That’s why we’re happy to make our EAP available to all Crossroads team members to use anonymously when and as they see fit.