People aren’t problems to fix—they’re stories to honor.

In Episode 8 of The Brenton Peck Podcast, I’m joined by Denise Cook—an Oregon DHS eligibility worker, former I/DD service coordinator, longtime foster mom/adoptive parent, and compassionate front-line helper with decades of experience guiding people through SNAP, Medicaid, and TANF.

Denise traces a life of “natural helping”—from front-desk triage at Lifeways to championing independence for adults with developmental disabilities to foster care and adoption. Her experiences reveal how relationships—not labels—move people forward.

We talk about the realities of foster care, I/DD support, addiction and recovery, and the essential role of community resources like food banks, churches, Love INC, and Project DOVE. This is a practical, hopeful conversation for parents, pastors, and neighbors who want to move people forward with real relationships and usable resources.

Denise Cook is an Oregon Department of Human Services eligibility worker who helps families navigate SNAP, Medicaid, and TANF. Before DHS, she served as an I/DD service coordinator, a front-desk triage specialist at Lifeways Behavioral Health, and a longtime foster mom/adoptive parent.

Her lived experience—working with families in trauma, supporting adults with autism and Down syndrome, navigating addiction recovery on the front lines, and raising teens from the foster care system—gives her a rare blend of humility, resilience, and deep relational wisdom.

Denise’s career is built on one guiding conviction:

People deserve dignity, no matter their story.

Her work reflects that belief every day.

• Real relationships in a digital age

• Becoming a “natural helper”

• Foster care realities:

  • the honeymoon period

  • reunification vs. adoption

  • adopting a teen aging out

• Trauma, counseling, and CASA support

• Why kids bounce between foster homes

• Lifeways: the front desk, mental health triage, and dignity

• Stigma around addiction → respect in small interactions

• I/DD work: autism strengths, independence, daily living

• Are disabilities “superpowers”?

• Building skills: hyperfocus, 10,000 hours, outworking talent

• DHS today: helping families access SNAP, Medicaid, TANF

• Church–community partnerships that actually work

• Food banks, Love INC, Project DOVE, and finding help without internet

• Homelessness, shame, and the power of a human voice

• Words we speak to kids → daily gratitude habits

• Home rhythms: social media boundaries and Sabbath

• Faith & Formation

• Family, Fatherhood & Legacy

• Redemption & Integration

• Responsibility & Becoming

• Story & Identity