Marc Maddy, Regional Director, Southeast PA, JusticeWorks YouthCare
Marc’s experience as a direct service worker, clinician, and manager spans various capacities among numerous child-serving agencies.
As a Regional Director, at JusticeWorks YouthCare, he oversees the day to day operations in Berks, Delaware, Montgomery, Chester, Lycoming, Northumberland, and Philadelphia County.
Marc currently serves on Pennsylvania’s statewide advisory committee for the implementation of the “Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol” in addition to serving as part of a data workgroup targeting outcome development as part of Pennsylvania’s implementation of the “Juvenile Justice System Enhancement Strategy.” In the recent past, Marc was intimately involved with various quality service initiatives collaborating with the National Center for Juvenile Justice and Georgetown University Center for Juvenile Justice Reform.
Marc is currently a Doctoral student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he is pursuing his Ph.D. in Administration & Leadership Studies.
Degree/Institution: MSW/Kutztown University
Number of years in management: 5-10 years
Tell us about your path to management:
As a young social worker, I imagined I would pursue career options in mental-health counseling. Fortuitously, before finishing my graduate degree I was promoted to a management position within a public child welfare organization. I loved the position; and, although I felt challenged everyday to convey empathy and competence in this role, I didn’t feel I had the requisite skill and knowledge to be an effective social work leader.
As these moments of self-reflection intensified, I attended a local conference where Dr. Jeanne Anastas was the keynote speaker. Dr. Anastas identified a number of imperatives for the profession of social work to address in order to maintain a workforce of relevant and effective social workers. One of these imperatives included attention to developing new leadership. She talked about trend data indicating that the social work profession would be facing a shortage of seasoned social workers (who typically hold positions of leadership). She implored current academic institutions, and young social work professionals, to partner together and begin cultivating capacity within younger generations of social work professionals to meet this anticipated professional need.
I think Dr. Anastas’s keynote validated my struggles as a young social work manager, and challenged me to begin thinking about ways I could develop my leadership competence. I began exploring Doctoral programs and made a decision to enroll in a Ph.D. program in Administration and Leadership Studies. Now, I can’t imagine working in any other capacity than a social work manager/leader, because of the professional rewards and challenges this type of position has offered.
Read the rest of Marc’s interview by clicking here.
Congratulations on your selection to be the spotlight for the Monday Morning Manager Blog Series by The Network for Social Work Management!
To contact Marc Maddy for any inquiries please email him at mmaddy@justiceworksyouthcare.com