I guess I should make it official and announce that Ross is no longer a bank employee!!
The whole process happened so fast, its hard to remember how it all came about.
A woman came in to do some banking and Ross happened to wait on her. He realized she worked for an agency right across the street called Family Preservation Services. Ross had always been interested in the agency and asked the woman a few questions about her job and what she did. The next part I’m fuzzy on, but somehow she mentioned they had an opening and upon finding out Ross had a Psych degree, encouraged him to apply. [how she was able to do that while standing in his place of work is unclear, but it happened!]
The next thing he knew, he had put together his resume – his Psych degree and 7 months at Discovery School being the two factors that made him qualified to apply – and had an interview scheduled. The second interview came quickly and before we knew it, a job offer had been made. Interestingly enough, two positions within the bank that Ross applied for and was a very strong candidate for, were denied, yet this job that he barely had enough qualifications for and was a complete career change fell into his lap in a matter of weeks. um, thank you God for sometimes being so clear in where You want us to go. we don’t always get the message on our own.
Ross’s official title is Therapeutic Day Counselor and he has been placed at Dublin Middle School, which is in Pulaski County. I imagine that his job description will become much clearer once he’s spent some time on site, but basically the program works like this: based on income and behavioral conditions, Ross will be assigned 3-6 kids every school year. He’ll work up an “action plan” of sorts for them based on an evaluation of where they need help and improvement and will be with them off and on throughout each school day, acting as an in-house social worker, in essence. During the summer he’ll be able to participate in summer programs hosted by FPS in order to not go three months without a paycheck.
Last Thursday Ross began his first day of work – Thursday and Friday were in-office training days, today is his first day shadowing other counselors in the school, and tomorrow he’s on his own with his kids (four 7th graders – three boys and a girl). crazy!
This is a huge change, obviously, but with Ross’s experience at Discovery School (in a nutshell: living 24/7 outdoors with 15 at-risk teenage boys), our experience leading the youth group (this will be our 4th summer), and our dream of someday owning a camp for at-risk kids (lofty, we know), we both feel like this was a huge change in the right direction. Time will tell how well things will start to mesh, but please pray for Ross’s quick and easy transition into this new job. we’re excited and nervous and very very thankful.
