Shelly Crouch is the second recipient of NEN's Best of Child and Youth Care Awards. An outreach worker for the Children's Community Support Collaborative, a program of The Home for Little Wanderers, Crouch works with children between the ages of 6 and 18 years, providing home-based support, counseling and case management as part of the Metro Boston Department of Mental Health continuum of care.

It is the last day of a holiday weekend – time to relax, refuel, have a little fun. But not for Shelly Crouch, 28, who, despite being off duty, has just picked up an urgent voicemail message from work.

It's a client with a medical emergency. Her work cell suddenly rings; Crouch answers it. It's the same girl, saying she's called 911 and is heading to the hospital. She's frightened and needs help.

It may have been Memorial Day, but for Crouch, an outreach worker for the Children's Community Support Collaborative (CCSC) of The Home for Little Wanderers, it's more like a regular day at work. She heads off in her car, picks up the girl's guardian and together they meet the girl at the hospital. Crouch spends the night there, helping the family navigate the hospital system and providing them with enough support to get through the crisis.

And she's still off-duty.

According to her supervisor, Dr. Katherine Ellin, this episode is just one example of Crouch's commitment to her job. "As a colleague, Shelly is great," Ellin said. "When she picks up a case, you know she has it; she cares and will do it without a fuss." Many times, her colleagues never learn about the length to which Crouch goes for her clients.

What they do know, according to Ellin, is that Crouch specializes in "unusual occurrences" with clients. One example: She hooked up a seriously aggressive teenage girl with a kickboxing instructor, who taught her to "get her swings in" in a safe and constructive way. The girl's behavior has greatly improved.

Another of her teenage clients was hopeless about her future, struggling with sexual identity issues and at risk for suicide. But this girl had a secret strength: a beautiful voice. Crouch worked to connect her with a music, theatre and dance program, transporting her to the program's audition and staying with her to offer support. The problem was that spectators weren't allowed. So Crouch decided that she would audition, too. She didn't get the part (and hadn't wanted to), but her client did. Now the girl is actively involved in the program. She's performed in a TV video and at a Celtics game, where she sang the national anthem. She's even excelling at school. To get all this accomplished, Crouch again had to work outside of her regular shift hours. But she accepts that not all crises and opportunities are convenient. She adapts because that's what success requires.

Crouch started working with children as a psychology major in college, initially focusing on children diagnosed with autism, and then children with special education, behavioral and mental health needs. She may have been destined to enter the childcare/youth work field; her mother is a social worker. Even her friends turn to Crouch for help when their own children get out of line.

Her inspiration? The children she works with. "Being a kid today…there is a lot of drugs, poverty, violence," she said. "But they have to get through life anyway." Her clients don't have much support, and she's proud to be able to provide it. Her goal is to get them to stop and weigh their options rather than respond impulsively to the difficult situations that will invariably arise. "Shelly provides a different way of maneuvering in the world" for the clients she interacts with, Ellin said.

She loves her work, and says she approaches it with a sense of adventure, fun and humor. "I laugh a lot - every time I get stressed out," she said, adding that the ability to laugh at herself in front of kids teaches them that it's ok to be silly and make mistakes. And by making work fun, she engages youth and their families and keeps herself motivated.

Like all highly successful youthworkers, Crouch knows how to replenish herself, too. An enthusiastic Red Sox fan, she often plans her vacation time around games. She spends a lot of time with her family, talking and laughing.

Crouch recently enrolled in Regis College near Boston to study psychiatric nursing, where she intends to further her knowledge of issues affecting children and youth. Though she's still young herself, she passes on encouraging words to the next generation of youthworkers coming up behind her: "You really are helping; you're doing a good thing in this world. Every minute you spend with a child is time off the street. And every once in a while, they say 'thank you'."

NEN Best of Child & Youth Care Award recipients receive public recognition, a 50% discount to one NEN event during the year in which they are nominated, and a professional development opportunity with NEN. Nominations are accepted any time, and will be presented in the order they are received. To learn about the awards program, or to nominate a youth or child care worker from your agency, click here.

To read about Brad Smith, the first award recipient, click here.