Northwest Arkansas Childrens Shelter

Our Team

Our Team

Leadership Team

Rick Brazile

Sr. Director of Finance, Interim Executive Director

479-795-2417 ext 307

Krystal Bequette

Director of Human Resources and Administration

479-795-2417 ext 306

Administrative Team

Heather Edgmon

Kitchen Aide

JJ Thompson

Kitchen Aide

John Craig

Maintenance

Maggie East

Reception Coordinator

Will and Waltina Hanna

Individual Volunteer Coordinators

479-795-2417 ext 312

Joseph Gammon

Assistant Chef

Education Team

Anaiya Daniels

Elementary Teacher

Wade Wofford

High School Teacher

Youth Care Team

Larry Twaddle

Youth Care Specialist

Mandi Maclean

Youth Care Specialist

Sabrina Dwire

Youth Care Specialist

Katherine Robles

Youth Care Specialist

Corina Ward

Youth Care Specialist

Brett Nelson

Youth Care Specialist

Grayson Plumlee

Youth Care Specialist

Andrea Tisdale

Youth Care Specialist

Kaci Edwards

Youth Care Specialist

Fabiola Hernandez

Youth Care Specialist

Mallory Deets

Supervisor

Stephanie Bacon

Supervisor

Kelsey Conkling

Youth Care Specialist

Flor Garcia

Shift Supervisor

Shannon Lee

Youth Care Specialist

Akeem Coleman

Shift Supervisor

Lawrence Nguyen

Youth Care Specialist

Grace Anne Odom

Youth Care Specialist

Hunter De La Garza

Youth Care Specialist

Leah Cochran

Youth Care Specialist

Chanda Humble

Lead Shift Supervisor

Veronica Porto-Juarez

Lead Shift Supervisor

Micah Wood

Shift Supervisor

Cathy Lowry

Youth Care Specialist

Jackie Redfearn

Youth Care Specialist

Jared Hines

Youth Care Specialist

Jessica Minez

Youth Care Specialist

Jill Young

Youth Care Specialist

Katie Smith

Youth Care Specialist

Lisa Covert

Youth Care Specialist

Lisa New

Youth Care Specialist

Nakisha Snell

Youth Care Specialist

Sidney Graham

Shift Supervisor

Teresa Bingham

Youth Care Specialist

Karen Heath

Transporter

The Shelter Shop Team

Brandon Bulen

Manager

Riley Overstreet

Assistant Manager

Becky Johnson

Store Associate

Austin

by Paulette Nesbitt, Title I Aide, Bentonville Public Schools The effects of childhood trauma are vast and unique to each child. In the case of Austin*, an 11-year-old attending the on-site school at the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter, the physical, emotional, and social effects of trauma exposure impacted every aspect of his academic day. Initial […]

Read more about AustinImpact stories

Meet Austin

by Paulette Nesbitt, Title I Aide, Bentonville Public Schools

The effects of childhood trauma are vast and unique to each child. In the case of Austin*, an 11-year-old attending the on-site school at the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter, the physical, emotional, and social effects of trauma exposure impacted every aspect of his academic day. Initial reading and math assessments placed him two years below his fifth grade level. As our Education staff worked with Austin, evidence of an undiagnosed learning disability began to reveal itself. He shared with staff that he hated to read and that it triggered his fears. A great deal of his written work was illegible, with misspelled words that were constructed by a mixture of upper and lower case letters of various sizes floating across the page. Writing struggles flowed into math accuracy. Reading struggles flowed across the academic curriculum. As our staff uncovered his academic struggles, the polite, quiet and friendly Austin began to retreat under his ever-present red hoodie and sit with his head on his desk. He would fly into angry outbursts and refused to complete his school work.

Our amazing Education team was not deterred. They recognized Austin’s unlimited potential and let him know with each word and action that he was safe and cared for here at the Shelter. Through the tenets of trauma-informed education, Austin began to believe in himself make progress. When working with a child who has experienced trauma, all the lesson plans, diagnostics, intervention tools and targeted materials of the world are useless if the teacher cannot reach the student. Through the collaborative efforts of our education team, working together with our Youth Care Specialists, Austin has emerged from the hoodie and is actively participating in school activities.

We recognize his small and big successes.
We help him recognize the traumas of his childhood may have placed him where he is today but we hold a caring expectation that giving up, quitting, or hiding is not an option.
We listen to his conversations and discover his interests.
We design and construct targeted learning materials pertaining to his interests.
We helped him overcome his reading fears by providing time for him to listen to teachers read stories of interest. Then we gave him space to independently listen to audio books. He now readily comes to the resource room for reading and writing interventions.

These are just a few of the numerous trauma-informed techniques that have placed Austin on a learning path of success. He has improved his reading assessment to an average fourth grader at the beginning of the year and his math assessment to an average mid-year fourth grade student. More important than test scores, however, he ditched the hoodie, participates in classroom coursework and his handwriting is legible with the accommodation of Redi-Space transitional notebook paper. He is improving his decoding, fluency and comprehension skills as he reads aloud daily. Currently, he is reading and learning elements of real friendship through the book Bridge to Terabithia. Now, if he comes across a word he doesn’t know, his hand automatically reaches for the dictionary. He recognizes his own improvement in his written work as he confidently pointed out, “See how all my letters are on the line and all the letters are the same size?” We are so proud of Austin and his achievements. His next book of choice is Moby Dick!

*name and image changed to protect privacy

I’m so glad that I got to spend my 12th birthday here at the Shelter. It was truly the best!

Marly, age 12

The world’s not perfect, but people are there to help you. The Shelter was a good environment and people wanted the best for me, and it made me want to love myself more. If I had not gone to the Shelter, I don’t think I’d be in school and I would probably still be in a home when I’m the adult when I shouldn’t have to be.

Lauren, age 16

This place has made me feel the most at home. What makes it so special is the staff. I have never met such caring and dedicated staff.

Katie, age 14