What are you doing now?

Since I am on sabbatical, which means I am not currently working as a school counselor for ASD, I get asked almost daily...
What are you doing now?

The answer usually gets clarified in my head after the person asking walks away or hangs up  the phone.
The answer develops in my head while on a hike, a dog walk, on the treadmill, or during a 2 a.m. wake-up.
The answer is now engrained as my truth.
Here it is:

I made a choice in March of last year. The choice was not due to a problem, it was due to a passion.
The choice was to take leave for a year from my job as a school counselor.

I love creating, developing, and organizing programs and projects. I love helping kids and families. I love sitting with other like-minded folks to brainstorm what we can do better, different, more efficiently.

For the past 14 years I have worked physically inside Anchorage schools helping students, families and educators find success each day. I was thankful everyday I went to work in this city and in the schools because there was always a student or family need that required a community resource; a problem that needed solving; a staff member who needed to be heard, a parent looking for support. It was hard work, but rewarding.

So why leave?

Over the years, working at schools immersed with high needs populations, and working with low socio-economic families, I was faced with incredible realities. My students and their families struggled and suffered consistently. What I was introduced to in my office each day taught me more about life than any textbook or graduate degree. The resiliency of our Anchorage kids who live with poverty, inside the foster care system, who are abuse victims, who are homeless, is astonishing and eye opening.

So you ask again, why leave?

I like to be part of change. I like to help. I like to solve problems. I like to keep learning. I like to partner with others.
I found as the needs of my students and families grew, unfortunately the available time each day became more limited. I also found as my professional desire to make a difference grew, the means for making a difference was getting tougher. Budget cuts, shared duties, staff reductions, testing and scheduling…it is life as a  public school counselor - no blame, just a reality.

I made a choice to follow my passion versus being a victim to a problem.

This city-Anchorage- has incredible resources for kids and families and while working inside the school walls each day I found very little time to partner with these agencies and organizations that wanted to help. As the student and family needs grew higher inside my office, the time for networking outside the schools became more limited.

I want to help kids and families from outside the school, in. If I could make it a job, a business, an organization, here are some of the names I have come up with…

From Outside the schools, In: an agency that makes it easy for hard working educators and counselors to access community resources for their students and families.

Community Carabiner: Where every connection matters. Helping educators link to community resources, for the benefit of Anchorage students and families.

I have sat in the seat of an educator and counselor and know how much time goes into responsive services. I want to assist in helping educators, especially counselors, learn and have easy access to the incredible resources in our city.

What am I doing now?

I spend my days learning about the incredible non profit organizations that exist in our city and I brainstorm on a daily basis, how to make it easier for local families and students to access these resources.  I have conversations with Program Directors, ED's, CEO's and Board Members, brainstorming ways to partner with counselors and educators in the schools, in order to make the connections.

Our city and schools are filled with kids and families whose educational needs go beyond the schools walls. I want to develop and grow partnerships that will help create success inside our schools and out.

I am taking this year experiment with this process, from outside the schools, in.

* Disclaimer: The above narrative is my personal opinion as an individual. I am not claiming to speak for Anchorage School District.