Helping the People Who Help People: EmberHope HR at Kansas SHRM

When EmberHope’s HR team traveled to Manhattan for the 2026 Kansas SHRM Annual Conference, they went looking for ideas they could bring home to the people who work here. The September 16–18 conference, themed “All Aboard the HR Soul Train,” gave them time to learn from HR professionals across Kansas, reflect on their own work, and connect as a team.

For Benefits & Compensation Manager Kylie Goering, those connections are a reason to return each year. “I have always looked forward to the annual SHRM conference,” she shared. She especially enjoys the roundtables, where HR professionals compare what they are seeing in benefits, learning, labor law, and other areas of their work.

Those conversations give Kylie ideas to research when she returns to EmberHope. Hearing how another organization approaches a challenge can open up a useful question: Could something similar help our employees?

Vice President of Human Resources Misa Daily also values the chance to learn with her colleagues. “I look forward to going to the SHRM conference every year to learn together as a team and have some team bonding time,” she said.

This year, Misa attended breakout sessions focused on leadership development and training techniques for adult learners and Gen Z. Bringing those lessons back is part of an ongoing effort to help employees grow, whether they are new to EmberHope or have served children and families for years.

HR Coordinator Will Klassen attended with two goals: finding new ways to serve employees and spending time with his team outside the office. He returned with an idea he hopes EmberHope will explore, which is revisiting its bereavement policy to consider how it could better support employees experiencing grief.

That idea reflects something the conference reinforced for Will: workplace culture and psychological safety matter, especially for employees doing demanding work. The people serving children and families need to know that their own well-being matters, too. Thoughtful policies are one way an organization can show that care in practice.

Talking with HR professionals from other organizations also left Will grateful for EmberHope’s willingness to consider new ideas. His hope for leadership is that it continues to support that openness as needs change.

Among the sessions Will attended, the closing keynote from Devin Henderson stayed with him most. Henderson spoke about what else is possible, and the message about confidence resonated with Will personally.

The time away from daily routines also helped him reconnect with the purpose behind his role. As he put it, “I am helping people that help people.”

That idea was a fitting takeaway from a conference built around finding your rhythm. For EmberHope’s HR team, the learning does not end when the conference closes. It continues in the questions they ask, the ideas they explore, and the ways they support employees who show up for children and families every day.

Join a Team That Cares

At EmberHope, passion for children and families takes many forms. It lives in the relationships our teams build, the care they provide, and the work behind the scenes that helps employees feel supported as they serve. The HR team’s time at the conference was a reminder that every role contributes to that shared purpose, and that caring for the people doing this work matters, too.