About

beTI emerged in early 2023, the product of Jill's dedication to advancing trauma-informed care. During a turning point in her career, Jill McHugh, LISW-CP, founded both beTI and a private counseling practice with the goal of bringing easily accessible, high-quality, and engaging trauma-centered education to both professionals and clients.

Crafting a quality “About Us” section is challenging, but I find it best to share the “why” behind my work.

Sharing personal stories can be tricky, but this one flows naturally because it’s not about me; it's about the countless children and youths I've devoted nearly two decades to. My journey began as a nursing major, working part-time at a local healthcare clinic in an impoverished inner-city area of South Carolina. This clinic served low-income patients and children in foster care. Although I grew up in a small-town familiar with poverty, I was naive about the foster care system. But, that changed quickly.

A few months into my job as the receptionist, a phone call on a Friday afternoon just before closing time altered my path. A caseworker urgently requested a well-child check for a child new to the foster care system. Minutes later, I met the most beautiful five-year-old with captivating brown eyes - a face that would forever be ingrained into my mind. With only the nurse practitioner and myself left for the day, I was asked to take his temp and some photos of any physical abuse markings. That day, I had to photograph what would be the worst evidence of corporal punishment inflicted by his dad, a drill sergeant, for getting in trouble at school. It was a turning point that ignited my unwavering commitment to prevent this abuse for as many children as I possibly could.

This child’s face became my “why” and what kept me up at night. Over the next 15+ years, my career as a social worker led me to work with numerous young lives in the foster care system and teenagers experiencing homelessness, each carrying the weight of significant trauma. Countless stories similar to the young boy's etched their mark on my path. I knew that in order to create change for each individual child I had to level up to create change on a larger platform. I built and executed programs for children and youth, co-created task forces, served on boards, served as an adjunct professor to other social workers, and led numerous non-profits - all from a foundation in trauma-informed care.

The hundreds of stories of each child I’ve worked with ignited the spark for my extensive work: including countless workshops and training sessions that told tales of resilience and triumph. I reached out to social workers, educators, law enforcement, and more, fueled by a passion that will never expire. My experiences alongside colleagues inadvertently retraumatizing children due to lack of training led me to believe that there was not enough quality trauma-informed care training available.

I also spent years in boring workshops, highlighting critical data yet offering no practical tools to serve children (or adults) better. I watched as so many others worked day in and day out becoming jaded and pushing trauma symptoms to the wayside. I started offering trainings in my local community and it quickly grew to a national need. This year beTI expanded globally and a group of swim school instructors in South Africa introduced us to an international market. Providing education on what trauma is isn’t quite enough - professionals need to know how to recognize the symptoms of it and appropriately respond. There isn’t a blanket educational approach to all professions - each deserve their own tailored trainings to implementing trauma-informed care. And that is what we do.

These combined experiences and a fierce desire to meet the needs of professionals and clients birthed beTI—a passion project with a goal of fostering widespread understanding, raising awareness, and nurturing empowerment within the realm of trauma-informed care and adverse childhood experiences.