Angela DeBerry Brings a Frontline Perspective to Organizational Improvement

Angela DeBerry’s approach to organizational improvement begins with a lesson learned in direct care: decisions made within an organization eventually become part of someone’s everyday experience. A training practice can affect how prepared an employee feels. A communication process can shape whether important information reaches the right person. A program’s structure can influence whether participants have meaningful opportunities to make choices and be heard.

That understanding developed over nearly three decades in nonprofit human services. DeBerry began her career as a certified nursing assistant, supporting people with developmental disabilities, complex medical needs, and behavioral health challenges. The work showed her the importance of thoughtful, consistent support to independence and quality of life. It also gave her a close view of how leadership, workforce preparation, communication, and operational choices affect employees and the people relying on their services.

Connecting direct care with organizational psychology

Rather than leaving those frontline experiences behind, DeBerry is carrying them into a new area of practice. She is pursuing a master’s degree in Applied Psychology with a concentration in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Baltimore. Her aim is to understand how organizations can improve while keeping the realities of service delivery in view.

Industrial and organizational psychology gives DeBerry a framework for examining workplace systems, employee experiences, assessment, and organizational effectiveness. Her human-services background adds practical context. She understands that processes do not operate only on paper: they influence whether staff members have useful tools, whether participants can communicate their needs, and whether organizations can learn from the information they collect.

This transition represents continuity as much as change. Her earlier work centered on providing direct support. Her current direction focuses on helping organizations build the knowledge and systems needed to support participants, employees, and programs more effectively.

Building practical tools for participant success

DeBerry is applying that perspective through her graduate practicum with Glow Forward Foundation, where she serves as Program & Participant Success Intern. Her responsibilities combine research, program evaluation, resource development, and individualized planning.

She develops surveys for participants and mentors, organizes information for analysis, creates community resource guides, and builds tools for setting individualized goals and managing follow-up. Together, these components are intended to provide a clearer way to identify what participants need, monitor their progress, and incorporate their feedback into program improvement.

The details matter. A survey must ask questions that produce useful information. Data must be organized before patterns can be examined. A resource guide needs to make complicated information understandable and usable. Goal-setting and follow-up tools must connect individual priorities with practical next steps. DeBerry’s contribution sits at the intersection of those tasks, linking participant experience with broader organizational learning.

Supporting a regional mental health network

DeBerry also serves as Co-Chair of NAMI Western Maryland. In that role, she helps develop community partnerships and broaden access to mental health education, support, and advocacy across Washington, Allegany, and Garrett counties.

The regional focus requires attention to both shared purpose and local needs. Partnership building, resource research, outreach, and accessible communication all contribute to creating a network that communities can use. The work reflects another dimension of DeBerry’s central interest: helping mission-driven organizations translate their goals into structures and materials that support meaningful participation.

Making information useful

Across her practicum and community leadership, DeBerry draws on an ability to see the larger system while noticing details that shape daily experiences. She enjoys research and the development of practical tools, especially when they turn complicated information into something people can understand and apply. Empathy and persistence inform that process, as does a willingness to ask how existing practices might work better.

The impact she values most remains grounded in the people she has supported throughout her career—their opportunities to participate, make decisions, and have their perspectives recognized. Her move into organizational psychology expands the level at which she can pursue that priority. Instead of focusing only on an immediate interaction, she can also examine the surveys, processes, communication practices, and follow-up systems surrounding it.

DeBerry’s next chapter brings frontline knowledge into research, leadership, and program improvement. Her work demonstrates how experience in direct service can inform a broader organizational view without losing sight of the individual. For the nonprofits and community systems people depend on, that connection between human experience and organizational practice is the point.