My Story 

“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.”

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During the day, McCollum is a professional trauma specialist at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee where she worked in the field of mental health for much of her adult life. She said she connects with the veterans because family members, including her father, a brother and both of her sons, have served in the military. McCollum said she’s also suffered depression. “Because of my history and my past,” she said, “I am able to relate really well, I think.”

Her past has not been easy. Her husband died when she was 28 years old and the young mother, who had dropped out of high school, could only read at the fifth- grade level. While McCollum was working as a certified nursing assistant at Milwaukee County’s mental health complex, a nurse encouraged her to get an education, so she studied for her high school diploma.

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“I got my GED results back and I’d passed all the tests,” she said, “and then I realized I could learn.” She earned a bachelor’s degree at Mount Mary University and later landed a job caring for veterans who are ill. “It’s a God thing,” according to McCollum, who believes the work is something she is meant to do.

She earned her master’s degree in social work at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2010 and now works at the Veterans’ Recovery Resource Center with veterans who suffer illnesses including schizophrenia, severe depression, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She works with her supervisor, Dr. Erin B. Williams, and a team of others in a program aimed at integrating veterans back into the community. FULL STORY HERE