ABOVE: Anna Garbers is one of this year's 4 Under 40 recipients.

FAIRMONT– Anna Garbers is one of the recipients of this year’s 4 Under 40 award. She is currently the Division Director of Behavioral Health and Social Services for Human Services of Faribault and Martin Counties.

The program, under Scouting America, is in its fifth year and honors up and coming leaders in Martin County.

Garbers is from the Trimont area originally and an MCW graduate. Following high school she went to Augsburg College and received her bachelor’s degree in sociology.

“Things that I would see, but didn’t really understand root causes, I love that exploratory piece of figuring out what’s going on,” Garbers explained. “I felt like sociology opened my eyes to a lot of trends and thing like that in society.”

Garbers worked for several years as a mental health case manager and adult protection worker and there she got to see the impact that therapists had working with their clients and how transformative the working relationship could be so she decided to go back to school.

“I ended up leaving the case manager job and I was the director of Kinship when I was in grad school,” Garbers said.

She said the job with Kinship of Martin County provided more flexibility for what she needed while she was in school. She talked about it fondly.

“It was the best job and so fun. I have a passion for mentoring,” Garbers said.

After going through a two year program, Garbers graduated in 2018 with a Master’s in social work from Minnesota State University- Mankato.

Soon after that, she began her journey with Health and Human Services of Faribault and Martin Counties as an intern in 2018 working in child protection. Then she began working as a family prevention case manager before she took a different role as a mental health supervisor.

“I was a supervisor for about a year and a half and then I got a job as a behavioral health manager,” Garbers said.

That job carried her into her current role of division director. In this position Garbers finds herself responsible for a wide variety of tasks.

“A lot of it is meeting with staff and supporting staff and providing guidance and direction,” she said.

She oversees about 61 staff members in her department and supporting them is perhaps one of the most rewarding parts of the job for her.

“I like getting to know them and seeing what they’re passionate about and being able to help build up their skillset. I like seeing how passionate they are about their roles. That’s the best part,” Garbers said.

In addition to supporting staff, Garbers is responsible for her department’s budget and for responding to changes coming from state and federal government, which has been significant recently.

“A lot of it has funding implications,” she said.

On that note, Garbers said she thinks there are misconceptions out there about what not only her department does, but the agency as a whole, which she said offers a huge range of services.

In her department, they handle child protection, adult protection, daycare and foster care licensing, provide mental health and substance use services and services for people with intellectual and physical disabilities.

She said that the goals are for families to stay safe together and to help people function at the highest level possible and to have the support and services they need.

Garbers was grateful for the opportunity to be nominated in order to highlight the critical work that staff in the department does everyday.

“Often times we’re working with people at really challenging times, but we have the chance to operate with kindness and give people hope,” Garbers said.

In this community Garbers said they have the same range of issues that more populated areas are up against, but they don’t have the same number or all of the resources.

“We have to be a jack of all trades,” she said.

However, she’s not only impressed with staff going above and beyond, but said that the people they serve really step up and put in the work, too.

“They’re making big or small changes in their own lives or the lives of their family’s and I want to celebrate those successes. It might be things that other people don’t see, but it can be monumental for them– like seeking services for mental health or finding housing or employment–those are huge successes,” Garbers said.

Moving forward, Garbers would like to focus on partnerships with other agencies in the community and use them to leverage bringing in services and funding to broaden the options they can provide to the community.

She would also like to go back to school to get a doctorate degree but said it’s a long-term goal right now.

“In my 20s I was so focused on grinding and I certainly still am, but at this point in my life I also want to focus more on my family and finding a balance with work,” Garbers said.

As the mother of a toddler and college student, she also doesn’t need more on her plate right now, plus she’s happy with where she’s at. Of her work, Garbers said with a laugh, “It’s so diverse that I will never be bored.”

Speaking to the qualities she believes a good leader possesses, Garbers said tenacity, curiosity, vulnerability, humility and grace are at the top.

“Anytime we’re being vulnerable in trying to move things forward and be a leader, you’re going to make mistakes so having grace with yourself is needed.”

She also thinks having gratitude for being in a leadership role and having the ability to make difficult decisions is important.

Garbers and the other three recipients, Lakyn Sathoff, Kristy Olson and Laura Spitzer will be recognized at an event on March 11 at the Best Western in Fairmont. Tickets for the event are on sale at scoutingtwinvalley.org/4under40.