Lisa Winkler, a social worker and one of two hub coaches at the Salvation Army, helps those in need in the Oshkosh area by connecting them with services throughout the community.
The Oshkosh Salvation Army expanded its impact to reduce poverty in the community by becoming a hub coaching site in March 2017. Hub coaches help clients achieve financial stability by creating a step-by-step action plan and connecting clients with resources throughout the community to help them achieve their goals.
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Lisa Winkler
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"We identify barriers that are preventing clients from achieving self-sufficiency, which might be transportation, child care or education. Based on that, we set goals and encourage them to achieve those goals," Winkler, who started coach in April 2017, said. "It's not that easy to do-to facilitate change. I really like when you can start seeing someone make changes toward self-sufficiency."
"Prior to joining the Salvation Army in 2015, I worked in corrections and child protective services, which was really hard," Winkler said. "This is the best job because I know I can really make a difference in someone's life, especially those struggling to make ends meet."
The key to coaching success, Winkler said, is to create smaller, actionable steps so reaching the goal doesn't seem so daunting.
"My coaching is only secondary to what my clients have accomplished on their own," Winkler said. "My role as a coach is really to give them the confidence to know that they can do it on their own."
Clients often times feel overwhelmed and as though a solution will never come, but Winkler said sometimes all it takes is time.
"Never give up. Just be kind and brave and that's all you really ever need to be," Winkler said.
