Stay with your mission. I first learned about the impact and prevalence of trauma and the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs) in 2014 while working locally for the police to reduce drug-related, violent crime, and recidivism. This new knowledge influenced me so greatly as a mother and grandmother who was often witnessing children who were growing up in hard places through no fault of their own, that it changed my entire career focus. I now saw I had tools as “one lady” to help dismantle the cradle to prison pipeline. I committed that the rest of my career would be spent achieving this goal.
Fast forward 10 years. Along with being a contributor to PACEs Connection (welcome back!), I’ve written training content and delivered it to thousands of diverse professionals including police, judges, teachers, physicians, youth, early childhood educators, the faith community and more. It is humbling to see what these compassionate professionals do with this knowledge. I’ve seen high school students start a laundry program, healthcare leaders donating funds to a university to start an institute, school resource officers slow down on citations and start a mentoring program for kids, the faith community supporting individuals in recovery, and teachers who shifted from sending students out of school for discipline by using restorative practices and keeping them connected to healthy relationships at school. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. 
Training School Psychologists for Northside Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas
Often in my work, I only come alongside to support and encourage champions who are already engaged in compassionately supporting children, youth and families. One of my favorites was working with a medical school residency program who as part of their medical school experience were mentoring at risk youth through a program they designed.
In my Christian faith I’m often spurred on by a guy named Nehemiah who found the walls of this city were in ruins leaving them vulnerable to attack. So, he set out to rebuild the walls (and he did!) However, along the way people including friends called to him to come down off the wall. But he would not as he was committed to stay with his mission.
A few weeks ago, in my rural Tennessee town, tears filled my eyes one night to read the news of the death of two siblings under the age of 5 who died as a result of household dysfunction. My hopes are this word might encourage some of my wonderful colleagues who get discouraged over endless roadblocks, lack of funding, bureaucracies, or people too busy to listen - the list can go on.
Is this always easy, no. But is it worth it? YES!! If you need me, you’ll find me staying on the wall.
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