National Social Worker Month Spotlight: Tameika Hinton

Tameika Hinton has a ring that she wears every day that says “fearless.” Once you learn more about her and her career, you’ll find it’s probably the best word to describe her.

Tameika earned her master’s degree in social work from Clark Atlanta University. She came to Access in 2009 because she wanted an opportunity to do more one-on-one work with clients. She’s currently a Senior Therapist providing individual therapy, family therapy, and running 3-4 groups each week. She also spends 20 hours a week at Cornerstone as part of an integrated care team in a primary health care setting. There, she provides Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT); Crisis Intervention and TeleMental Health services. She’s working towards certification in TeleMental Health, a training Access sponsored for her. She’s also certified in Problem-Solving Therapy, an evidenced based treatment modality for which she provides training to her fellow clinicians.

What Tameika enjoys most about working at Access comes down to one word: diversity. She appreciates the diversity she gets to experience, not only with clients and coworkers, but also in the opportunities provided by Access. For instance, TeleMental Health was something of interest of her, and her supervisor was open to helping her explore that and get certification. Her advice to social workers entering the field is that it’s not an easy job, but you’re going to love it! Tameika recommends staying optimistic and building a support network within the social work community.

With such a busy professional life, it might seem that self-care would take a back seat; however, Tameika’s personal life is just as full as her career. She takes a three-prong approach to her health, doing things to nurture herself physically, mentally, and emotionally. She’s athletic, enjoys travel, and spends lots of time with her dogs.  She also loves being the “fun aunt.”

Tameika’s career continues to evolve. Amidst her busy life, in February she celebrated one year breast cancer-free. It’s just one more thing for Tameika to celebrate, and it’s a celebration of being fearless. Fearless in pursuing the career that she wants, fearless in beating cancer, and fearless in being the person she wants to be. It’s clear that fearlessness is something that she tries to instill in others, as she works to foster hope in the people she works with.