Staff Spotlight: Christin Nix, Case Manager “Extraordinaire”

If you ever have the pleasure of speaking with Christin Nix, it will not take you long to figure out that she loves her job at Ignite, which she describes as “such a blessing!” Christin is a Case Manager at Belfort House and has been with Ignite since May 2019. She is dedicated to helping others and moved to Chicago so she could make work with marginalized individuals and communities the driving force in her career and life.

Christin hails from Chattanooga, Tennessee and grew up in a “family of helpers” and a household where giving back was a part of the day to day. She recalls coming home from school in first grade to find her mom cooking a warm meal and providing hospitality for a community member in need. According to Christin, her mom volunteered regularly at their church and was always a “giver.” Her mom was the person who inspired her to integrate her passion for service into her profession.

Christin has a bachelor’s degree in Communications and her first job after undergrad was in advertising and sales with Hickory Hardware. When the company closed in 2009, she jumped at the chance to go back to school to get a master’s degree in Education, with a concentration in family and communities. According to Christin, the program “literally changed my life” and helped her realize that she wanted a career in social services and that Chicago was a place where she could serve a community of people who looked like her. So, in 2016 she packed up her car and headed for the Windy City.

Christin started out at the Ada S. McKinley Trumbull Park Head Start program, where was a full-time social service worker, and Rosecrance, where she worked part-time on the weekends. She joined the Ignite team just over a year ago is now able to use her social work skills and real-life experience to help youth navigate their lives and choices so they can successfully transition into independent living. She has a case load of 4-5 clients and develops individual action plans and goals with them so they can work on developing and strengthening their life and job skills. She also “works the milieu,” developing and completing group activities and projects with the youth and taking them on outings and field trips. This allows her to get to know and build relationships with all the youth at Belfort House, not just her clients. She explains that the case managers all work together as a team so they can provide the best care possible and model for youth that it’s okay to ask for help.

Christin understands that 18 months is not a lot of time to help the youth build trust and confidence in themselves, especially given the pain and suffering many of them have experienced. She works tirelessly and compassionately to help them understand that “I can be who I am” and that “they have it inside of them already to live independently and become productive members of society.” Her favorite part of working at Ignite is cooking with the youth. She loves to work alongside them to prepare a “real Sunday dinner” and give them a chance to display their skills in the kitchen. It is often in these moments that the youth pour out their hearts and feel they have the freedom to be themselves. For Christin, these are the moments that bring her the most joy.