Woman who found Jayme Closs is former social worker – Channel3000.com – WISC-TV3

MADISON, Wis. – The woman who found Jayme Closs while walking her dog yesterday is a former social worker and current academic advisor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. 

On Friday, one of her colleagues in the UW System, Ellen Smith, says it was Jeanne Nutter’s training in social work that helped her to get Closs to safety. 

❤❤❤ “I knew it was good news, and I just, cried, cried, cried.” https://t.co/2aKkwxvGbq

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“Social workers deal with kids who have experienced trauma every day,” Smith said. “That’s the nature of the work.”

Smith, who is the director of the child welfare program at UW-Madison, says it was that experience that allowed Nutter to keep a level head in the moment. 

“We’re trained to remain calm when kids are asking for help or when children are telling you things that have gone on,” she said.

On Friday morning, Nutter described the moment to reporters. 

“I didn’t grab her and run off into the woods, which maybe would have been an instinct,” Nutter said. “I just held onto her, and I said we were going to find somebody who is home and going to call the police.”

Smith says as someone who has a heart for children, she was relieved to see Closs make it home safe.

“That’s part of what keeps driving me to do what I do,” she said. 

WCCO