Shelley Hitzel, LMSW, is the Executive Director at The Child Advocacy Center of Niagara at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center. 

Shelley has been on staff at the center since 2008. She holds a Master's degree in Social Work and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice. With 15 years of experience working as part of a multidisciplinary team including 10 years of direct service, 5 years as a middle manager and 5 years as Executive Director, she brings a unique perspective of leadership that focuses on upstream thinking and thriving.

In addition to her work at the Child Advocacy Center, Shelley is an independent consultant for The Institute on Trauma and Trauma Informed Care and provides training, consultation and coaching via her New York based LLC. She is passionate about empowering first responders and other helping professionals to embrace wellness through radical acceptance.

What strategies can team leaders use to ensure that everyone's voice is heard and valued in a multidisciplinary team?

It’s important for team leaders to know the mission, vision and role of their
discipline but also the mission, vision and role of every discipline on the team.

When you have an understanding of the “full picture” of the MDT you are working
with, it’s much easier to facilitate conversations in a way that highlights the
value and importance that each MDT member/discipline has in the process of
investigating abuse and promoting safety and healing for child victims.

How do you build trust and mutual respect among team members who may have different working styles, priorities or ways of thinking?

One of the best ways to build trust and mutual respect despite differences is to
ensure the team is clear on their purpose, the responsibilities expected of them 
and the end goal. 

When everyone is on the same page regarding the “bigger picture,” MDT leaders can help build trust and mutual respect by encouraging the team to operate under the Platinum Rule of modern leadership. Instead of the idea of, “treating others how we want to be treated,” we should, “treat others
how they need to be treated individually in order to succeed."

Looking back on your experience working in multidisciplinary teams, what has been your biggest learning moment?

My biggest learning moment has been a collection of moments over time that
have allowed me to recognize and respond to our MDT in the same trauma-
informed ways that we respond to the children and families we serve. Working
as part of an MDT is difficult, there are a lot of personalities, views and opinions
to navigate. When working in a helping profession, you learn early that you can't
control or take personally the behavior of those you serve. To function well on an
MDT you have to apply the same concept to your team.

Can you share any success stories or outcomes that demonstrate the positive impact of a well-coordinated multidisciplinary team?

Our MDT has a process called Rapid Assessment that is used for severe physical
abuse and sudden, unexplained fatality investigations. The purpose is to bring
together the MDT and other professionals who respond to these cases as quickly
as possible to share information and coordinate investigations and
interventions. The CAC oversees the process and facilitates the MDT meeting
that occurs within 24-48 hours of referral, regardless of day of the week.

This process requires commitment and dedication from our entire team. It has
resulted in the successful prosecution of physical abuse cases of young children
as well as advocacy efforts to address the gaps that currently exist in New York
State Penal Code related to child physical abuse and torture (Noah’s Law).

If attendees could only retain one key lesson from your presentation on February 27th, what would it be?

It doesn’t matter what your role is on the MDT or if you have been working as
part of the team for ten months or ten years. Everyone on the MDT has the capacity to be a leader and to help their team function collaboratively and effectively.