We owe an immense debt of gratitude to our former Human Resources Director, Ivy Williams, who was instrumental in moving Blue Rose Counseling from an individual practice to a group practice. Without her, we would still be struggling in the weeds.

Here is a little of her professional history...

  She first became interested in social work while in the fourth grade during a visit to her mom who was in the hospital. While Ivy and her dad were waiting in the lobby Ivy was approached by a nun who was a medical social worker and as they talked about what the nun did for a living, Ivy became hooked. Ivy got the start of her dream career in 1978 as the Social Work Director at a nursing home in Miami, Florida.

  During her career, Ivy held a variety of positions for the State of Florida’s Department of Children and Families in the 23 years that she worked for them. The positions working in foster care; at Youth Hall (YH) where she decided whether adolescents were to be detained, handling calls or drop ins relating to neglect, physical or sexual abuse or abandonment of children eighteen and younger; working with the State and Local Ombudsman Council which was an advocacy group monitoring adult living facilities and nursing homes. 

  Ivy says that she was fortunate to spend eighteen of those years at the only urban maximum security forensic hospital in the state which became the first State-owned hospital to receive National accreditation which was through the Joint Commission. Ivy started there as the Director of Social Work, became the hospital’s EEO Coordinator and spent the last nine years there as the Assistant Hospital Administrator for Operations or the COO. Ivy established and has maintained very close friendships with many of her coworkers there, many of whom are closer to her and her daughter than family. 

  Ivy moved to North Carolina nineteen years ago and has worked in community mental health in Durham, Orange, Person and Chatham as Program Director for a child case management program or as the Human Resources Director at two agencies. 

  Her goals include becoming fluent in Spanish and obtaining a Masters in Divinity. When Ivy isn’t working, she enjoys reading, assembling jigsaw puzzles, spending playing way too many hours playing games on her cell phone and being with her two grandsons.