Resilient & Resourceful: community-based worker Derrick Kretschmer helps clients navigate complex systems
March 10, 2025
When people in need face feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, Derrick Kretschmer is ready with a toolbox full of possible solutions.
Kretschmer, a community-based worker with Serving Our Community, helps Pierce County clients get connected with services from established providers and resources in the community. Working with clients one-on-one, he meets with people at home, at their church — wherever he needs to go to make the connection.
“Services are only as valuable as people are aware of them,” Kretschmer says. “The system we have makes it hard to get connected to services.”
The role of the community-based worker is to bridge that gap, not only with the knowledge of which services are available, but with ongoing support to help clients overcome barriers.
On a typical day, Kretschmer can meet with a client, help the client navigate which services are needed, assist with online applications for help, remind the client to follow up with a phone call or check-in — or simply offer a listening and supportive ear.
“We continue to follow up with people,” Kretschmer says. “We are trusted members of the community. We are similar to the community members that we serve. We look like them. We are them. That helps bridge a lot of barriers.”
Serving Our Community is one of 14 organizations currently partnered with Elevate Health’s Community Care Hub to support the vital work of community-based workers and improve local health and wellness outcomes through community-based care coordination.
Community-based workers like Kretschmer focus not only on physical health needs, but also on emotional and mental health. He likes to think of himself a generalist.
“We do a little bit of everything, rather than one specific thing,” he says. “You have to have a general understanding of all the principles to be a good community-based worker.”
Whether a client needs behavioral health counseling, rental help, or food assistance, Kretschmer’s job is to find the professional who can offer help. He understands that funding is limited, and agencies and nonprofits can change programs or directions.
“A lot of resources we encounter come in and out of funding,” Kretschmer says. “Programs pop up and programs shut down.”
That’s when he puts on his research hat.
“It isn’t always knowing everything, it’s knowing who to turn to,” Kretschmer says. “You have to stay up on what service providers are available. You have to do a lot of complex problem-solving when you don’t have a solution.”
Kretschmer moved to Washington from California, where he worked in mental health care.
In addition to working as a community-based worker, he attends meetings with government agencies such as the Health Care Authority or Department of Health so that he can advocate for needed legislative changes.
He is also pursuing a master’s degree in social work.
“If I hadn’t become a community-based worker, I wouldn’t be becoming a social worker now,” he says. “It opened the door to a lot of things.”
Doing the work isn’t always easy. The key, Kretschmer says, is persistence and focusing on a client’s strengths.
“Just because you can’t move forward doesn't mean you have to move back,” he says. “We’ll try something else. I strongly believe in a solution-based, strength-based perspective.”
What motivates him? Kretschmer says it’s “being there to help shape the future and wanting the people I interact with to have a better world.”
“When you advocate for changes, or interact with a single person and change their perspective, that is purposeful, driven work,” he says.
Asked to describe himself in one word or phrase, Kretschmer pauses, then says “maybe.. resilient to change, adversity, to whatever comes along.”
Others describe Kretschmer as one of the kindest people you will ever meet.
“All we have is each other,” Kretschmer says. “Kindness — how we treat each other — is all we have.”
ABOUT THE STORYTELLERS:
-Writer Debbie Cafazzo is a Tacoma-based freelance journalist and communications professional. She was a reporter for 25 years at the Tacoma News Tribune where she covered education, health care, breaking news and a variety of other subjects.
-Photographer John Froschauer is a Tacoma-based photographer who has shot for the Associated Press for nearly 30 years. He also recently retired from Pacific Lutheran University where he served as the campus photographer for more than a decade.