Dyanne Letbetter, '22
During her years working with military children, Dyanne Letbetter, ’22, developed a passion for psychology. But after starting her degree program at USC Upstate, Letbetter felt drawn to learning more about the forces that shape a person.
“I felt like a lot of the issues people had that were related to the mind had a lot to do with their environment,” she says. “So I switched my major to sociology to learn more about the reasons people do the things they do.”
Now the community alliance specialist for Family Connects Greenville, a program offered through the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, Letbetter is helping develop a network of resources for parents of newborns. The information she gathers is shared with nurses who visit parents about three weeks after a birth to see what support they might need.
Letbetter, who is also pursuing her master’s in social work at Winthrop University on a full military scholarship, says it’s always been important to her to help others. “I wanted to serve the community, I wanted to give back and be involved and just do as much as I could to help out,” she says. Her work with Family Connects aligns with those goals, she says.
Because the program is new to South Carolina, Letbetter meets frequently with community agencies such as the United Way and First Steps to identify the resources they have available for parents and to discuss partnerships. She also does outreach events to help get the word out about the program and encourage other groups to share information about services that benefit parents and newborns.
Letbetter says knowing she’s assisting families is the most rewarding part of her job. By gathering information and getting answers to questions, she can ensure Family Connects is a one-stop resource for people who don’t know where to go. “Just helping one person has the ability to help many,” she says.