“I’m a Victims Service Coordinator with See the Girl: Open Doors. I’m overseeing, managing, guiding, work that is done, the way the work that is done – ensuring that the way the work is done is consistent with girl centered practice. Making sure that there is sensitivity, making sure that clinical aspects are caught.
This is hard work. But, it’s necessary work. And it’s misunderstood work.
The girls we serve are… They’re not bad girls. They’re not labels. They’re not things. They’re not throwaways. They’re not. They are human beings. They are individuals with feelings. They are people who have experienced the gravest injustices, the most horrific offenses, and they need… They need people who understand that. Their behaviors are attempts to meet needs. Their behaviors are a way of letting people know something is wrong – that I don’t have the vocabulary to say it. I don’t know how to pull all the words together, to say it. But this is the way I know how to say it. If parents, teachers and others could look past the behavior and hear what the behavior is really saying, that’s where the core of the healing starts. No matter where they are, they need us to be in that space with them.
I have over 25 years of human services, and I’ve worked with just about every population you could imagine, HIV, homeless, dual diagnosed, mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence, victims, and batterers, sex trafficked before I came here with Children, Parents, & families. Yeah. Little bit of, little bit of everything. My hands have kind of been everywhere.
My bachelor’s is actually in Community Health Education. My first master’s is in Human Services Management and Leadership. And the second one is in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. I will be taking a certification course for certified behavioral health, as well. I’m currently in school for my Doctorate in Clinical Counselor
I believe that this is my calling, I believe, everything that I’m doing and have done has been downloaded in me. My own trauma, you know, being able to take that and turn it around and use it as a strength and understand that, even though it had a very personal impact on me, um, that it really wasn’t for me, it was for the work that I’m doing. It was to be able to be in a position, to have the empathy, to really understand, to connect with individuals who have gone through similar circumstances and move them along that continuum of healing.
The trauma is astronomical when it comes to listening to some of the stories. But that just means that the healing is astronomical, you know? Being able to really, really sit. And this is where the Policy Center falls right into that. Being able to sit and listen, to be there with, to share that space with, to share those tears with, to share those hugs with, to let the survivor know, not only that I understand, not only that I’ve been there, but that… you can get through this, that this doesn’t define who you are, that this doesn’t say that you’re less than, that you’re not capable.
I’m thankful, and I’m grateful to be able to be here and do it. The leadership team is nothing I have ever experienced individually and collectively. I love the mindset. I loved the embracing that everybody does. Everybody is welcome, has been welcoming. You just come in and just feel like you’re a part of. You know? And that sense of belonging, aside of it being part of the Maslow’s hierarchy of means, it really just fits, and it has to fit here, because of the intensity of the work, being because of the business that goes on here.
I think Vicky is one of the most innovative leaders that I have ever, ever witnessed. I was blown away that she took that whole week and did Girl-Centered practice. Like, what CEO does that?
I hate the stigma that’s attached to our girls. I hate the labeling. I’m calling somebody a name, calling them something that they’re not. And it’s a hurtful place for them. So in addition to the trauma, now you’re calling me a name. A misfit. I don’t fit into society. I don’t fit into your definition of what I’m supposed to be. But I’ve experienced everything that I never should have. So where do I fit in? Is there anybody that will let me fit in? And we do. We do. And we sit in that space with you.
What brings me joy? The teaching, the coaching with my staff, and getting into that point where it’s that aha moment, where they’re able to bring everything together that we talked about in supervision, and that they have walked through with the girls, and they can come back and say, guess what? She got her GED. Guess what? She got a job. Oh, this one is so stable now. They’re doing really well. When we can talk about moving a client towards graduation, because they have walked that whole distance. and they have their footing. They have their grounding. They have that confidence. That’s what gives me joy. That’s what giving me joy.”
—Jaye
