Thalia Holbrook is an Out of School Youth participant from the Greater Flint Health Coalition’s Flint Healthcare Employment Opportunities (FHEO) Program, a GST Michigan Works! service provider. Thalia was working as a Barista at Starbucks when she heard about the FHEO Program from a friend. Thalia shared that she had been interested in working in healthcare since she was a child and felt that she was ready to pursue her career goals.

While in the Program, Thalia completed 160 hours of Life Skills and Healthcare Career Exploration training hosted by Flint Strive. Thalia stated during this training she was able to further develop her professional skills and believes that the training is a great community resource. Thalia began Medical Assistant training at Mott Workforce Development in July 2021. She choose this training because she felt that it is a versatile position that would allow her to learn many medical tasks and because she will enjoy being the first point of contact for patients when they arrive to a medical office. The FHEO Program covered the cost of tuition and required classroom materials such as textbooks and scrubs, for Thalia. She shared that her training experience prepared her for the workplace and she feels confident to provide patient care. She stated, “My time at Mott Workforce Development made me feel less like a fish out of water at my new workplace while still being open to learning new things about the job’.

During her training, Thalia also participated in a subsidized employment experience with Hamilton Community Health Network (HCHN), which provided her a paid work experience opportunity. Thalia said that her time with HCHN was educational and she enjoyed learning about the human resource perspective of the healthcare field and being in a professional office setting.

Thalia completed her certificate in Medical Assisting in February 2022 and secured a position with her externship site, Insight Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience (IINN) as a Medical Assistant earning $14.00 per hour. Thalia said she is most excited to apply her new skills and further develop herself and her career at IINN.