There was a time when Tamara Thacker would finish a long shift at a warehouse, come home exhausted, and wonder if this was all life had in store for her.
“I wasn’t happy,” she recalls. “I wasn’t happy at my job or really with anything going on in my life.”
At 36, Tamara made the life-changing decision to return to school. And as a single mother, the choice wasn’t simple.
“But I knew there was more to my life than this,” she says.
Tamara admits that life has never been easy. She’s faced her fair share of struggles and hardship—but those experiences ultimately inspired her career path.
“My own experiences inspired me to work in the mental health field,” she says. “After all that I’ve been through, I wanted to take my power back. And working as a mental health professional would allow me to do that while helping others who are facing similar struggles.”
In 2023, Tamara left her job to fully commit to her studies. She enrolled in Germanna Community College’s General Studies associate degree program, focusing on psychology.
Her first semester was challenging as she juggled coursework and motherhood.
“It was very overwhelming at first,” she says. “I’d be glued to my kitchen table for hours each night, trying to focus on my work and be a good student.”
But with every assignment completed and every class attended, Tamara became a version of herself she had always wanted to be.
Though she’d always dreamt of returning to school, life often took her in other directions. Her first job was at Hardee’s at 19, where she stayed for eight years before moving on to dishwashing and warehouse work.
“When I came to the realization that I was ready for a change in my life, I was working at a warehouse that supplies stair materials,” she says. “I wanted more. I wanted to do something that made a difference.”
That difference came through Germanna’s Behavioral Health Technician program—a one-year credential that gave her hands-on experience helping individuals with mental health challenges.
“The Behavioral Health Technician program offered so much exposure to the field—exposure to professionals—it was a huge motivator and showed me where this pathway could take me,” Tamara says.
In the spring of 2025, Tamara graduated from Germanna with a 4.0 GPA, a milestone that opened her eyes to the possibilities ahead.
“After getting my Behavioral Health Technician credential and being exposed to the mental health field, I am now working in an inpatient treatment center as a psychiatric technician,” she says.
Her journey is one of courage, perseverance, and faith in new beginnings.
“Germanna has changed my life,” Tamara says. “I’m happier, and I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be. Everything I’ve done and gone through has led me to this point.”
Today, Tamara is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in social work at Virginia Commonwealth University, with a minor in mental health and social work. Her goal is to become a licensed clinical social worker—continuing the same cycle of healing and hope that once helped her find her own way.